Scarecrow Yah Ta Hey leathers

[Alan@JohnsonLeather]

I knew it. Man I wish the one I picked up had fit better. I had sworn myself to just three leather jackets but now I think I might have to extend that figure. You and your wares have been on my mind as of late and that worn out west m/c jacket was so damn nice. We might need to talk soon. Hope all is well with you in the new year!

All is good and staying busy. When your ready you know where to find me.

 

[Alan@JohnsonLeather]

@Alan@JohnsonLeather was this yours too? Out of all the photos I've seen of YTH, I think this one is the nicest looking leather and nicest designed cafe racer type jacket. Really love that 4.5oz stuff you got.
Not sure without seeing the lining but it may have been mine. The 4.5oz is a beast and not for the faint of heart.

 

[sweetfights]

Thanks for the info.
Beast of a jacket!! Great design.
Do you have a website with styles and available leather options??
Jarrod

 

[Alan@JohnsonLeather]

Thanks for the info.
Beast of a jacket!! Great design.
Do you have a website with styles and available leather options??
Jarrod

Our website is a work in progress and hope to update it very soon. You can check us out on Instagram johnsonleathersf and see some of our custom work. We offer cowhide, horse hide , bison, goat skin, deerskin, elk, steer, alligator and lambskin.

 

[Guppy]

Thanks for the info.
Beast of a jacket!! Great design.
Do you have a website with styles and available leather options??
Jarrod

http://www.johnsonleather.com/

 

[Guppy]

Some more information, this from Scott at Langlitz Leathers:

The guy who owns Scarecrow was one of our very first contacts in Japan, and we did make some co-branded gear with both his and our labels. But we needed a distributor, and he was only interested in retail sales at his shop. No problem.

The next fellow on our list was a great guy, and was already wholesaling his brand of garments to motorcycle gear/culture shops around Japan. So, he became our guy there, and we parted ways with Scarecrow.

Afterward, he [Scarecrow] started having his jackets made somewhere in Cali. that used the name Ya Ta Hey, which is some sort of Navajo greeting. But that’s all I know about Ya Ta Hey. I’ve never seen any of the garments, so I can’t speculate on them at all. As for Scarecrow, I don’t know if he’s still in business or not. ​

So, this information is consistent with what I've been able to piece together already, and tends to confirm that:

1. Scarecrow was a retail boutique, not a maker.
2. Scarecrow was one of the first, if not the first in Japan to carry Langlitz.
3. Scarecrow co-labeled the Langlitz gear that they sold.
4. Scarecrow later had jackets produced by "someone in Cali" (Johnson Leathers in SF confirmed by Alan himself, but possibly others he is not aware of) to produce leather jackets using the Yah-Ta-Hey label.

So, then most of this mystery appears to be solved, with the exception of were there other garment makers also producing goods with the Yah-ta-Hey label for Scarecrow, and is Scarecrow still in business.

My guess is that quite possibly yes, others may have produced garments for Scarecrow which were given the Yah-Ta-Hey label. I don't know if Johnson does denim, and we've seen at least one denim trucker jacket from them; additionally, Alan didn't claim that he recognize all of their jackets as his patterns when he spoke earlier, and it doesn't sound like he's still doing business with them. So, that all adds up to it sounds like there were other, still unknown companies producing goods for Scarecrow at various points.

My guess, then, is that a Scarecrow/Langlitz labeled jacket is definitely Langlitz, and a Scarecrow/Yah-Ta-Hey label is possibly Johnson, but potentially some other maker's product.

I think I did also find a white-pages type listing for the Scarecrow store some months ago when I was initially investigating, but I'm not sure where that was now, and I couldn't tell from the listing whether it was current or not, so it's possible the store still exists, but whether it does or not, and what goods they might carry, I cannot say. That listing did not have a website, but I recall it had a street address and telephone number. If I could find it again, I might be able to phone them, but I doubt I'd get very far unless I was lucky enough to find a patient Japanese man on the other end who spoke English reasonably well and cared to talk about history for idle reasons. I don't think I'll bother. Edit: I did include the listing info in comment #12 in this thread, if anyone is curious and wants to reach out to them.

However, since it appears that I have learned what I needed to, and can source a jacket from Johnson at some point, my curiousity on these jackets is about 97% settled now.

This has been a fun little excursion.

 

[ton312]

Some more information, this from Scott at Langlitz Leathers:

The guy who owns Scarecrow was one of our very first contacts in Japan, and we did make some co-branded gear with both his and our labels. But we needed a distributor, and he was only interested in retail sales at his shop. No problem.

The next fellow on our list was a great guy, and was already wholesaling his brand of garments to motorcycle gear/culture shops around Japan. So, he became our guy there, and we parted ways with Scarecrow.

Afterward, he [Scarecrow] started having his jackets made somewhere in Cali. that used the name Ya Ta Hey, which is some sort of Navajo greeting. But that’s all I know about Ya Ta Hey. I’ve never seen any of the garments, so I can’t speculate on them at all. As for Scarecrow, I don’t know if he’s still in business or not. ​

So, this information is consistent with what I've been able to piece together already, and tends to confirm that:

1. Scarecrow was a retail boutique, not a maker.
2. Scarecrow was one of the first, if not the first in Japan to carry Langlitz.
3. Scarecrow co-labeled the Langlitz gear that they sold.
4. Scarecrow later had jackets produced by "someone in Cali" (Johnson Leathers in SF confirmed by Alan himself, but possibly others he is not aware of) to produce leather jackets using the Yah-Ta-Hey label.

So, then most of this mystery appears to be solved, with the exception of were there other garment makers also producing goods with the Yah-ta-Hey label for Scarecrow, and is Scarecrow still in business.

My guess is that quite possibly yes, others may have produced garments for Scarecrow which were given the Yah-Ta-Hey label. I don't know if Johnson does denim, and we've seen at least one denim trucker jacket from them; additionally, Alan didn't claim that he recognize all of their jackets as his patterns when he spoke earlier, and it doesn't sound like he's still doing business with them. So, that all adds up to it sounds like there were other, still unknown companies producing goods for Scarecrow at various points.

My guess, then, is that a Scarecrow/Langlitz labeled jacket is definitely Langlitz, and a Scarecrow/Yah-Ta-Hey label is possibly Johnson, but potentially some other maker's product.

I think I did also find a white-pages type listing for the Scarecrow store some months ago when I was initially investigating, but I'm not sure where that was now, and I couldn't tell from the listing whether it was current or not, so it's possible the store still exists, but whether it does or not, and what goods they might carry, I cannot say. That listing did not have a website, but I recall it had a street address and telephone number. If I could find it again, I might be able to phone them, but I doubt I'd get very far unless I was lucky enough to find a patient Japanese man on the other end who spoke English reasonably well and cared to talk about history for idle reasons. I don't think I'll bother.

However, since it appears that I have learned what I needed to, and can source a jacket from Johnson at some point, my curiousity on these jackets is about 97% settled now.

This has been a fun little excursion.

Reminds me very much of the “Worn out West” label. Another retail store that carried Johnson Leathers jackets with the WOW label in lieu of JL’s label. Significantly more mystery with scarecrow but interesting for sure.

 

[sweetfights]

Some more information, this from Scott at Langlitz Leathers:

The guy who owns Scarecrow was one of our very first contacts in Japan, and we did make some co-branded gear with both his and our labels. But we needed a distributor, and he was only interested in retail sales at his shop. No problem.

The next fellow on our list was a great guy, and was already wholesaling his brand of garments to motorcycle gear/culture shops around Japan. So, he became our guy there, and we parted ways with Scarecrow.

Afterward, he [Scarecrow] started having his jackets made somewhere in Cali. that used the name Ya Ta Hey, which is some sort of Navajo greeting. But that’s all I know about Ya Ta Hey. I’ve never seen any of the garments, so I can’t speculate on them at all. As for Scarecrow, I don’t know if he’s still in business or not. ​

So, this information is consistent with what I've been able to piece together already, and tends to confirm that:

1. Scarecrow was a retail boutique, not a maker.
2. Scarecrow was one of the first, if not the first in Japan to carry Langlitz.
3. Scarecrow co-labeled the Langlitz gear that they sold.
4. Scarecrow later had jackets produced by "someone in Cali" (Johnson Leathers in SF confirmed by Alan himself, but possibly others he is not aware of) to produce leather jackets using the Yah-Ta-Hey label.

So, then most of this mystery appears to be solved, with the exception of were there other garment makers also producing goods with the Yah-ta-Hey label for Scarecrow, and is Scarecrow still in business.

My guess is that quite possibly yes, others may have produced garments for Scarecrow which were given the Yah-Ta-Hey label. I don't know if Johnson does denim, and we've seen at least one denim trucker jacket from them; additionally, Alan didn't claim that he recognize all of their jackets as his patterns when he spoke earlier, and it doesn't sound like he's still doing business with them. So, that all adds up to it sounds like there were other, still unknown companies producing goods for Scarecrow at various points.

My guess, then, is that a Scarecrow/Langlitz labeled jacket is definitely Langlitz, and a Scarecrow/Yah-Ta-Hey label is possibly Johnson, but potentially some other maker's product.

I think I did also find a white-pages type listing for the Scarecrow store some months ago when I was initially investigating, but I'm not sure where that was now, and I couldn't tell from the listing whether it was current or not, so it's possible the store still exists, but whether it does or not, and what goods they might carry, I cannot say. That listing did not have a website, but I recall it had a street address and telephone number. If I could find it again, I might be able to phone them, but I doubt I'd get very far unless I was lucky enough to find a patient Japanese man on the other end who spoke English reasonably well and cared to talk about history for idle reasons. I don't think I'll bother.

However, since it appears that I have learned what I needed to, and can source a jacket from Johnson at some point, my curiousity on these jackets is about 97% settled now.

This has been a fun little excursion.

Well done... thanks Guppy.

 

[Arrandale]

Yah-Ta Hey double motorcycle jacket was sold at Scarecrow Company in Tokyo. It was truely a heavy jacket, using 4.5ounce cowhide leather. It was arguably the heaviest leather jacket available. Unfortunately, the shop went bankrupt about 10 years ago.

 

[Arrandale]

More sleuthing...

I think I may have found an address/phone number for Scarecrow:

info from: https://www.tel-map.net/data/0357070689/1/

Store / company information
name Scarecrow
Industry Outfit
Postal code 158-0081
Street address 1-2 Fukasawa 1-2 chome Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
TEL 03-5707-0689
FAX
URL

They don't seem to have a website. Maybe they're too new? Or maybe that's something that only the most exclusive boutiques are doing in Japan these days... ?

 

[Arrandale]

Scarecrow Company used to sell Yah-Ta Hey jackets. The shop went bankrupt about 10 years ago. The jacket was really heavy, using 4.5 ounce cowhide leather. It was arguably the heaviest leather jacket available.

 

[Arrandale]

Came across this heretofore unknown to me maker of what appears to be seriously thick leather motorcycle jackets in the vein of Langlitz and Cal Leather: Scarecrow Yah Ta Hey. Seems they are as popular in Japan, if not more so, than they are in the USA, although they are USA made, in Yah Ta Hey, New Mexico (maybe?), possibly by Native Americans.

Anyone heard of them before? Are they still in business? I can't find a website for them.

Here's some photos of various designs made by them that I was able to find through google image search.

Here's a Japanese blog article on them: https://suposuta-2.blog.so-net.ne.jp/_pages/user/iphone/article?name=2013-09-28

 

[Arrandale]

Came across this heretofore unknown to me maker of what appears to be seriously thick leather motorcycle jackets in the vein of Langlitz and Cal Leather: Scarecrow Yah Ta Hey. Seems they are as popular in Japan, if not more so, than they are in the USA, although they are USA made, in Yah Ta Hey, New Mexico (maybe?), possibly by Native Americans.

Anyone heard of them before? Are they still in business? I can't find a website for them.

Here's some photos of various designs made by them that I was able to find through google image search.

Here's a Japanese blog article on them: https://suposuta-2.blog.so-net.ne.jp/_pages/user/iphone/article?name=2013-09-28

 

[Arrandale]

Scarecrow Company went bankrupt about 10 years ago.

 

[Arrandale]

That's correct... I have to wonder if that's an inflated Japanese import price, or if they're really that expensive. I'd love to know.

 

[Arrandale]

Its absolutely an inflated Japanese price. Ridiculous! Plain Langlitz Columbia costs 40 thousand US dollars here in Japan.Yah-Ta Hey jackets are slightly affordable, though still very very expensive.

 

[Arrandale]

This "Yah ta hey" does have the S-shaped stitching on the kidney panel. And it does look very similar to Langlitz Columbia.

On the other hand, the Columbia is just Langlitz's version of the California Highway Patrol jacket, which is a design made by many makers, including notably Langlitz, Cal Leather, and Vanson.

Looking at the front of that Yah Ta Hey, a few things I note:

1) There is a line of stitching going across the top of the (wearer's) left handwarmer pocket. A Cal Leather CHP jacket has this feature, but over both pockets. Langlitz does not have this stitching visible above the handwarmer pocket on either side.
2) The part of the jacket on the front where the belt loops attach appears to my eye a bit wider than is typical of a Langlitz.
3) The cuffs of the Yah Ta Hey have snap closures on long tabs, which is not something typically seen on a Langlitz. I've seen Langlitz cuffs that have snap closures on the cuffs, but not exactly like these.
4) The line of the hem of the back of the Yah Ta Hey has a more trapezoidal line to it, where a Langlitz back is a more continuous curve.

For comparison: Langlitz kidney panel, continuous curve

Of course, none of this is completely definitive, but there's enough differences here to question that it's a Langlitz with a different label.

Possible? Anything's possible. But I'm pretty far from certain.

We could find out by asking Langlitz if they have any information, and get a pretty quick and clear answr from them. Then again, it's possible the relabeling could have been done without the knowledge or consent of Langlitz.

I have found at least one example (the Timberline, above) where Scarecrow put their label next to a Langlitz label. So clearly they have done something with Langlitz in the past. But the existence of this jacket makes me more inclined to believe that Yah Ta Hey is something else, something not Langlitz. Surely Scarecrow would find the legendary Langlitz name more marketable than making up some different name that no one has heard of before?

 

[Arrandale]

This "Yah ta hey" does have the S-shaped stitching on the kidney panel. And it does look very similar to Langlitz Columbia.

On the other hand, the Columbia is just Langlitz's version of the California Highway Patrol jacket, which is a design made by many makers, including notably Langlitz, Cal Leather, and Vanson.

Looking at the front of that Yah Ta Hey, a few things I note:

1) There is a line of stitching going across the top of the (wearer's) left handwarmer pocket. A Cal Leather CHP jacket has this feature, but over both pockets. Langlitz does not have this stitching visible above the handwarmer pocket on either side.
2) The part of the jacket on the front where the belt loops attach appears to my eye a bit wider than is typical of a Langlitz.
3) The cuffs of the Yah Ta Hey have snap closures on long tabs, which is not something typically seen on a Langlitz. I've seen Langlitz cuffs that have snap closures on the cuffs, but not exactly like these.
4) The line of the hem of the back of the Yah Ta Hey has a more trapezoidal line to it, where a Langlitz back is a more continuous curve.

For comparison: Langlitz kidney panel, continuous curve

Of course, none of this is completely definitive, but there's enough differences here to question that it's a Langlitz with a different label.

Possible? Anything's possible. But I'm pretty far from certain.

We could find out by asking Langlitz if they have any information, and get a pretty quick and clear answr from them. Then again, it's possible the relabeling could have been done without the knowledge or consent of Langlitz.

I have found at least one example (the Timberline, above) where Scarecrow put their label next to a Langlitz label. So clearly they have done something with Langlitz in the past. But the existence of this jacket makes me more inclined to believe that Yah Ta Hey is something else, something not Langlitz. Surely Scarecrow would find the legendary Langlitz name more marketable than making up some different name that no one has heard of before?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

$40,000..you can't be serious....

 

[Arrandale]

This "Yah ta hey" does have the S-shaped stitching on the kidney panel. And it does look very similar to Langlitz Columbia.

On the other hand, the Columbia is just Langlitz's version of the California Highway Patrol jacket, which is a design made by many makers, including notably Langlitz, Cal Leather, and Vanson.

Looking at the front of that Yah Ta Hey, a few things I note:

1) There is a line of stitching going across the top of the (wearer's) left handwarmer pocket. A Cal Leather CHP jacket has this feature, but over both pockets. Langlitz does not have this stitching visible above the handwarmer pocket on either side.
2) The part of the jacket on the front where the belt loops attach appears to my eye a bit wider than is typical of a Langlitz.
3) The cuffs of the Yah Ta Hey have snap closures on long tabs, which is not something typically seen on a Langlitz. I've seen Langlitz cuffs that have snap closures on the cuffs, but not exactly like these.
4) The line of the hem of the back of the Yah Ta Hey has a more trapezoidal line to it, where a Langlitz back is a more continuous curve.

For comparison: Langlitz kidney panel, continuous curve

Of course, none of this is completely definitive, but there's enough differences here to question that it's a Langlitz with a different label.

Possible? Anything's possible. But I'm pretty far from certain.

We could find out by asking Langlitz if they have any information, and get a pretty quick and clear answr from them. Then again, it's possible the relabeling could have been done without the knowledge or consent of Langlitz.

I have found at least one example (the Timberline, above) where Scarecrow put their label next to a Langlitz label. So clearly they have done something with Langlitz in the past. But the existence of this jacket makes me more inclined to believe that Yah Ta Hey is something else, something not Langlitz. Surely Scarecrow would find the legendary Langlitz name more marketable than making up some different name that no one has heard of before?

Came across this heretofore unknown to me maker of what appears to be seriously thick leather motorcycle jackets in the vein of Langlitz and Cal Leather: Scarecrow Yah Ta Hey. Seems they are as popular in Japan, if not more so, than they are in the USA, although they are USA made, in Yah Ta Hey, New Mexico (maybe?), possibly by Native Americans.

Anyone heard of them before? Are they still in business? I can't find a website for them.

Here's some photos of various designs made by them that I was able to find through google image search.

Here's a Japanese blog article on them: https://suposuta-2.blog.so-net.ne.jp/_pages/user/iphone/article?name=2013-09-28

More sleuthing...

I think I may have found an address/phone number for Scarecrow:

info from: https://www.tel-map.net/data/0357070689/1/

Store / company information
name Scarecrow
Industry Outfit
Postal code 158-0081
Street address 1-2 Fukasawa 1-2 chome Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
TEL 03-5707-0689
FAX
URL

They don't seem to have a website. Maybe they're too new? Or maybe that's something that only the most exclusive boutiques are doing in Japan these days... ?