Review NOS Protech Leather Apparel Vintage Trojan Style Leather Jacket

[58panheadfan]

Intro
Recently I purchased a Protech Leather Apparel leather jacket type "Trojan". After admiring the jacket several times on buyee (japan yahoo auction), I've now bitten into it.

Company
Unfortunately, I don't know much about the history of the company and haven't really found much on the internet. The company was obviously based in the USA and was active in the 80's/90's before closing down in the 90's. Apparently Patrick Swayze wore a Protech Leather Label jacket as Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing. If anyone knows or can find out more about the company, any input is welcome.

Overall impressions
The jacket is made solid like I know it from Vanson or Schott. I would also see this jacket in about the same league. It's a mass-produced jacket, although I think the Trojan Type was probably less produced.

Leather
I think it's Cowhide approx 3oz. It's perfect for a biker jacket, flexible, solid with a good amount of protection but not too heavy and uncomfortable.

Finishing/Seaming/Hardware/Lining/Mouton Collar
The workmanship is also good and solid. The seams are overall okay, a wobbling here and there but nothing poor. The main zipper, a heavy #10 talon and the rest of the brass hardware are made to last. The quilted nylon lining is impeccable as you would expect from a NOS (New Old Stock) jacket. Also, apart from a little mustiness from the years of storage, I didn't detect any bad smells. After hanging the jacket out in the fresh air overnight, there is practically nothing left to smell. The real mouton collar is also in mint condition and a cool addition, I really appreciate.

Fit/Size/Measurements
Labelled as a 40". Chest/Chest 22" (56 cm) Shoulder Seam/Seam 19" (48 cm) Sleeve straight 25.25" (64 cm) Back Neck Seam to bottom 23.25" (59 cm) Bottom opening 19-75 (50 cm) Due the shorter back lenght, because I sit upright on my motorcycles, the jacket doesn't ride up on the neck.

Afterword
For a long time I was looking for an adequate replacement for my motorcycle leather jacket, an Aero "King of the Road" which I had regularly worn on motorcycle tours for 10 years. After a few tries, I think I found a nice replacement with this Protech Vintage inspired Trojan Leather Jacket.

Pictures:

 

[58panheadfan]

Fit Pictures:

 

[Carlos840]

It's interresting that it has side pannels that reach the front of the jacket.
The D pocket is actually stitched above the side panel seam, i have never seen that before on any D pocket...
A real Trojan doesn't have side epanels, i wonder why thdecided to use some on this one.

 

[58panheadfan]

It's interresting that it has side pannels that reach the front of the jacket.
The D pocket is actually stitched above the side panel seam, i have never seen that before on any D pocket...
A real Trojan doesn't have side epanels, i wonder why thdecided to use some on this one.

Good eye... I think they simply based one of their basic cuts on a Trojan Jacket without making an exact copy. Just some kind of a visual match.

 

[Will Zach]

Very nice jacket. You think you've seen everything on TFL, and out of the left field comes a Protech Trojan. Even better that it will be used for riding.

 

[Mich486]

Do you have any pictures of your old Aero KOTR? I don’t think I ever seen it posted. Thanks

 

[ton312]

Wow man Protech really went far beyond their usual fare with this one! I see mainly these styles from them:

A lot of Rocky 3 style, 80’s m/c gear, so I would say this Trojan is indeed quite rare. Cool find and perfect fit!

 

[ton312]

Also interesting to see yours has the Made in USA tag, at some point that changed and these were made in Pakistan

 

[Tom71]

Cool find! You wear it extremely well too.

Optic of the leather, hardware, even the colors of the label and it’s general optics: looks like a nod to Vanson to my eyes. I guess there’s no indication anywhere that Vanson may have had a side-brand?! Apologies if that’s a silly notion. I am really not at all familiar with the 80s US manufacturers.

 

[Damon141]

excellent fit, you always have good luck in that regard.

 

[58panheadfan]

Do you have any pictures of your old Aero KOTR? I don’t think I ever seen it posted. Thanks

I had to search deep in my photo archive because I sold the KOTR a few years ago...

 

[58panheadfan]

Cool find! You wear it extremely well too.

Optic of the leather, hardware, even the colors of the label and it’s general optics: looks like a nod to Vanson to my eyes. I guess there’s no indication anywhere that Vanson may have had a side-brand?! Apologies if that’s a silly notion. I am really not at all familiar with the 80s US manufacturers.

Thank you, indeed it could pass as a Vanson sub-brand...

excellent fit, you always have good luck in that regard.

Thank you, indeed some luck and also some experience (paid with quite a lot of money, lol).

 

[tmitchell59]

Saw it on Instagram and love it! Probably a reasonable price?

You do have a knack for the right fit. What size do you consider yourself?

 

[58panheadfan]

Saw it on Instagram and love it! Probably a reasonable price?

You do have a knack for the right fit. What size do you consider yourself?

Thank you Terry! Paid Yen 49'800 (US-$ 375 plus shipping). There is still a size 38 available in NOS condition from same seller I got mine.

If the dimensions are given correct, I know pretty well whether a jacket fits or not. But sometimes it goes down the drain and has cost me quite a bit of money. This time with the Protech it worked out well and I'm really happy to have found a leather jacket that meets all my needs for a motorcycle jacket. I'm mostly in the 40-42" range with a 39" chest, 5'11" and 175 lbs.

 

[Harris HTM]

Wow man Protech really went far beyond their usual fare with this one! I see mainly these styles from them:
View attachment 508267
A lot of Rocky 3 style, 80’s m/c gear, so I would say this Trojan is indeed quite rare. Cool find and perfect fit!

Oh man, I had an exact copy of it, it was made in pakistan as well but with another tag, I literally had it on day and night from the mid 90's to the late 00's. I recently found it in my storage room, it still holds up well.

 

[Mich486]

I had to search deep in my photo archive because I sold the KOTR a few years ago...

View attachment 508329

View attachment 508342

Love it, thanks for that. I’m considering one of these although also keeping an eye half-opened for an original herc d-pocket.

Sorry for the disruption. The Trojan is pretty cool too.

 

[58panheadfan]

Also interesting to see yours has the Made in USA tag, at some point that changed and these were made in Pakistan View attachment 508270 View attachment 508271

In fact, the other Jacket types (besides the trojan) are not really appealing to me. They are definitely good motorcyle Jackets (at least the ones made in usa jackets) I think so. As I said, I would classify the jackets as vanson level, but as so often, many companies in the 80s/90s had no luck, some tried to outsource production to the far east before they went under...

 

[58panheadfan]

Sometimes it's funny when it comes to "real" Motorcycle Jackets. Who really nailed it is @Carlos840. I can quite good understand his statement to ride Motorcycles primarily in LW leather jackets. There are many beautiful leather jackets but only a few are good for motorcycling, to name a few, still in business today: There would be Langlitz, LW, Vanson, Kadora and maybe Schott (not final) but a lot of other leather jackets like FW, many other Japanese, Himel etc. are cool Bike Style inspired but "Fashion Jackets". Luckily I found a real motorcycle Jacket in the Protech, even if the company's reputation isn't great.

 

[tmitchell59]

Thank you Terry! Paid Yen 49'800 (US-$ 375 plus shipping). There is still a size 38 available in NOS condition from same seller I got mine.

If the dimensions are given correct, I know pretty well whether a jacket fits or not. But sometimes it goes down the drain and has cost me quite a bit of money. This time with the Protech it worked out well and I'm really happy to have found a leather jacket that meets all my needs for a motorcycle jacket. I'm mostly in the 40-42" range with a 39" chest, 5'11" and 175 lbs.

Thanks, I'm got to loose weight round the middle. Great deal on this one. Takes time and money to get the fit. You always nail it!

 

[Canuck Panda]

Great pick up. These gems pop up every now and then. Most of them seems to be like new conditions, ridden in for a short season or two and then put in the storage for years.