Rainbow Country X Mushmans A-2 Ross Bruno

[Ishmael]

Nice looking new A-s from Rainbow Country at Mushmans.

http://blog.mushmans.com/?eid=922

Whatcha think?

 

[ButteMT61]

Ish! I think it looks great. But I did not took at the price.
I'd likely change my mind.

 

[Xenophon]

I think the red A2 is already a lot better than their blue A1. It's the combo of the blue and the tan collar there that kills it for me.

Like this mush man a lot:

http://shop.mushmans.com/?pid=22667665

Speaking about red jackets, what do you guys think about this Aero: http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/product-detail.php?id=1518

I was VERY interested and mailed Holly about this but once more: 6 months wait list. No way, no how, they have to do something about that. My Shackleton will take 3 months, the Maxwell 6, no way I'm going to wait another 6 months for the racer. I wonder what their strategy is, they keep pumping out new products but obviously have capacity issues. Of course as a retail customer in Europe dealing directly with them you always join the queue at the back as compared to the dealers who have quota per month with them. Anyway, took my business elsewhere for the last jacket.

 

[ButteMT61]

Jeez. Long waits have been the norm forever. How many jackets does one need at once? If you have none, the first wait sucks. After that, it's much easier.
I'll take a wait for a great product any day over assembly line output.
You can always go to someone that doesn't have a lot of orders and get one faster.

 

[Xenophon]

Jeez. Long waits have been the norm forever. How many jackets does one need at once? If you have none, the first wait sucks. After that, it's much easier.
I'll take a wait for a great product any day over assembly line output.
You can always go to someone that doesn't have a lot of orders and get one faster.

OK, 2 things:

1. It's not a question of 'need', who objectively 'needs' a leather jacket after they own the first one already? But patience is a scarce commodity with me and 6 months is beyond my comfort threshold so while I like Aero, they're not the holy grail to me. Just think that 6 months waiting is an inefficiency on their end and opt to look elsewhere where I can find similar quality with an acceptable delay in delivery, that's all.

2. Specifically for the racer: that's one I'd have liked to wear here (India) while riding my bike. I return to Europe in oct so could pick it up then. But now + 6 months mean I'll get it at the earliest in february (assuming I'd go back to Europe then, delivery in India is out of the question). By march it'll be 35 centigrade here, by mid may 45 in the shade so leather is definitely out, even my mesh jacket starts feeling hot then.

 

[Ishmael]

Yeah Butte, the RC's aren't inexpensive that's for sure. But it is less money than this Nigel Cabourn jacket at Mushmans. I really like this, but the price is nutso, well nutso for my wallet (after buying condo recently).......

http://shop.mushmans.com/?pid=61550813

 

[Brettafett]

OK, 2 things:

1. It's not a question of 'need', who objectively 'needs' a leather jacket after they own the first one already? But patience is a scarce commodity with me and 6 months is beyond my comfort threshold so while I like Aero, they're not the holy grail to me. Just think that 6 months waiting is an inefficiency on their end and opt to look elsewhere where I can find similar quality with an acceptable delay in delivery, that's all.

2. Specifically for the racer: that's one I'd have liked to wear here (India) while riding my bike. I return to Europe in oct so could pick it up then. But now + 6 months mean I'll get it at the earliest in february (assuming I'd go back to Europe then, delivery in India is out of the question). By march it'll be 35 centigrade here, by mid may 45 in the shade so leather is definitely out, even my mesh jacket starts feeling hot then.

Yes, this bothers me a little also. Esp when you wait almost a year for a jacket and it arrives totally wrong and then you're left back in the queue!
Also, when asked recently, if I were to make my way to a European Island (from a trip to mainland Europe in Sept), would they be able to squeeze in a jacket for me? No dice. Yes, I understand that may be cheaky, there are people in a queue... But then there are all these 'new' jackets popping up.. and large international orders...

I have recently been burned quite badly, twice, by South African import duties and return costs, that I am pretty much vowed not to import another jacket. So, these occasional trips to Europe or wherever become an opp to pick up a jacket. Leaves a narrow window.

I understand that some of these jacket makers have logistical issues, fair enough.
I have exercised long suffering and patience with many jackets, from months to 'many' months and am slowly becoming disillusioned with the waiting game...

There certainly are a couple of guys though, keen for the business with a couple of week waiting times...

 

[aswatland]

The A2s are excellent, but high quality is a hallmark of The Few! As one would expect the Rough Wear and Dubow repros are expensive.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

the leather has an extremely red hue, which I like.

 

[Sloan1874]

I like the A-2 knits/ ruby-ish leather combo - mind you, there's not very much of the Mushman's stuff that I don't like - and the Cabourn is really nice (love that collar!). As for the red cafe racer, Xenophon, I've seen it 'in the flesh' and it's a bit too bright for my tastes but each to their own.
As regards to the long wait, it's not inefficiency rather a hangover from the previous 'regime' - I won't go into it, you can read into it under the 'Aero/Horween joint statement' to get a sense of what happened - but as anyone who's spoken to Ken, Denny or Holly knows, they are working hard to get the times down.

 

[Tadite]

Some of those mushman jackets are insane. Love the Nigel in deerskin and the blazer.

 

[Xenophon]

Aero leather wait times

Just wanted to let everyone who read my post regarding my dissatisfaction with the wait times at Aero know that -to my great surprise- I received a personal mail from Ken Calder who -although he doesn't owe me any explanation- set out in detail how this came to be so and what they are doing about it. It was a private conversation so I won't go into it any further here but suffice it to say that a) I'm very positively impressed by the fact that he took the time and effort to contact me about this and explain and b) that I now have a better understanding of the situation and that -while there's no quick fix- I'm convinced that they really are doing their best to bring the waiting times down and are not as a matter of policy giving priority to their corporate customers at the detriment of people who want to purchase retail directly with Aero. It's not a matter of inefficiency, just a confluence of circumstances.

Sloane: I'm moving ahead on the red café racer. Time will tell but I think I can pull it off, will post some pictures once I have my grubby little paws on it. It's visible in the background on one of the pictures posted in the Aero trade show thread and judging by the pictures of it posted on the website -which I assume accurately display the colour as a vivid raspberry/strawberry red- it wont go unnoticed. Bit of a gamble because it's one of those deigns that will either look very good on me or be a spectacular fail and demonstrate my lack of taste and knowledge of what works well on me

 

[Sloan1874]

I salute your independent spirit, good for you - I suspect I may have taken that particular pic myself. Look forward to seeing the pics when it comes through!

 

[ButteMT61]

Cheers for trying the red. I really like the russets that go way red. Look forward to seeing it. Next year lol

JK!!!

 

[Ishmael]

Forget the red, I think I need this one.

http://shop.mushmans.com/?pid=61188412

 

[Ishmael]

Y'all might be interested in scrolling through Mushman's '13-'14 lineup of The Few jackets as well.

http://shop.mushmans.com/?mode=grp&gid=635277&sort=n

 

[Sloan1874]

Great post, Ishmael, as ever. I like this one a lot:



And the knit/leather combo on this A-1 is very nice, though not so keen on the emblem on the chest:

 

[Ishmael]

Yeah, I like both a lot. Although I'm also not into the emblem.

Not sure if I'd go for a jacket like this, but the "Rail Workers" appellation for this one got me wondering whether there were rail workers jackets likes this? Not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this.

http://shop.mushmans.com/?pid=59512501

Thought this two tone was really well done.

http://shop.mushmans.com/?pid=59512442#

And, as far as Indy jackets go, this one seems hard to beat.

http://shop.mushmans.com/?pid=59512438

 

[Xenophon]

All nice jackets, only thing is I don't like the big bellow-style pockets.

Very fond of this one:

http://shop.mushmans.com/?pid=22667665

And as a concept (but I'd be hesitant to order it as actually wearing it would be a different kettle of fish) I dig the leather shirt:

http://shop.mushmans.com/?pid=37772719

Looks like a killer cut and very nice work with the buttons.

Ishmael, do you know if they have many items available in their brick and mortar shop in Tokyo? Will be there for a week in march-april and am going to purchase a couple of items, am a UK size 38 so it should be doable to find a fit in Japan but I'd like to take the items along with me in my luggage for obvious ($) reasons. Also, do I need to take along my interpreter or do they speak decent english?

 

[Ishmael]

If you have an interpreter, I'd bring them along. I've never spoken to them in English, but I guess Fujita-san has some ability, and certainly he knows his way around the products (and most of the terms are English or other loan words). He's a very intelligent guy, I'm sure he'll be able to handle your q's.

All the items listed in stock on their online shop are also available at their store.

Hard to say what will be available in April. Most of the leather stock arrives between Sep and Nov I guess.

If you're going to make a trip to Mushmans, consider scoping out White Kloud too. It's just around the corner.

http://whitekloud.jp/