New Jacket

[53Effie]

Hello everyone. I received a new Johnson Leather M-200 this week and thought I would share some photos. I ordered it in dark brown. It is naked cowhide. The stock jacket is black with zip sleeves. I had them eliminate the zippers and replace with a Highwayman style cuff with inner storm cuff. It is pretty heavy. They estimated between 3.5 and 3.75 oz. Very comfortable jacket...and only about three weeks from start to finish. They sent me a try-on jacket in stock form and I sent back pictures to verify the fit and final arrangements were made by phone. Alan at Johnson was great to work with. Very good communication. A nice experience all around.

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[HighandDry]

Very nice jacket!

How does the quality and leather compare to your Highwayman?

 

[P5640blouson]

Very nice jacket

Very nice indeed, workmanship looks top notch. So, we have quite a few makers in the U.S. it seems, as I have not heard of Johnson, before. Langlitz isn't too far away from there, just north of the border. Still thinking of getting a Langlitz.

Wear in good health.

 

[53Effie]

I would say that qualitywise there is not much discernable difference from the Highwayman. One nice feature on this one is that it has a built in wear strip on the interior waistband. I wish I'd had one added to the Highwayman. Of course the cowhide and horsehide are characteristically different. This jacket is just a shade heavier than the mid-weight horsehide and while it is not as stiff it will still take a bit of breaking in. It is convenient that Johnson is located in San Francisco for those of us on the west coast.

 

[crimsonofsam]

Great looking jacket and the "try on" jacket is a really good idea.Lots of grief could be spared if other companies did this.

 

[captaincaveman1]

Just an FYI, Fox Creek also sends trial jackets before building custom jobs.

How much was this jacket if you don't mind sharing? After hearing your review I would definitely consider Johnson over Aero were I looking to get another collared riding jacket.

 

[TheSnark]

Really nice look... very clean, and fits great!

Thanks for the posting the photos.

I just received a custom jacket from Johnson about a month ago. As I live in Tucson, I need a jacket suitable for very warm summer riding (110+ F is typical summer weather here). I wanted a custom deerskin jacket... for all of it's other shortcomings, nothing breathes as well as deerskin, so it's perfect for a hot, dry climate. It is surprisingly difficult to find someone both competent and willing to build a deerskin riding jacket (deerskin is usually reserved for fashion jackets not suitable for riding,though it's easy to find gloves). After searching 3 years, I finally found Johnson Leathers, and they were great to work with. Took about 8 weeks for the entire process, and I love the result. Sorry, I haven't mastered the photo-posting technique yet, but Johnson did post a photo of my jacket on their website:

http://www.johnsonleather.com/custom_50.htm

 

[53Effie]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I am very pleased with the jacket.

CC I don't have the final invoice here at home with me, but I believe the total on it was about $530.00. I think it was pretty reasonable. I believe Alan mentioned that horsehide is an option, but I don't know what the increase in price would be.

 

[andy richards]

Congratulations, enjoy breaking your jacket in! Don't forget to post some pics after a few months' wear .
Andy

 

[jchosko]

Great looking jacket! The fits is perfect. I live in the Bay Area, and enjoy stopping in to Johnson Leathers as frequently as I can. Alan is a great guy, and very knowledgeable and loves to talk vintage leathers. I own two Johnson jackets, and they are both superbly crafted, with impeccable stitchwork and top grade hides. If you ever get a chance to go into the shop there's a ton of stuff in there that is not on their website, and most of it is relatively affordable. I believe he can pretty much build whatever you want, and there are a number of limited run items he has in there. I know that he makes a lot of jackets for the Japanese market, and may even produce some vintage repro jackets that get relabeled in Japan.