The Relapse

[hondurasdave47]

I used to buy leather jackets. I still do, but I used to too.

What I tell my wife every day!

 

[Carlos840]

The problem with this forum is that you can always point to someone else and tell yourself “I don’t have a problem. That guy has a problem.”.

Unless you are Carlos, that is.

Wrong, i point to @tmitchell59 and @Mysteryo, i am fine, they have a problem!

 

[dudewuttheheck]

I can't talk about the "hipsters" much because as much as I like to think I'm not one, I probably am...

I go back and forth between @Monitor and @Marc mndt 's attitudes on clothing. This is definitely a hobby for me and perhaps it's even more of a hobby considering how much time I spend on it. I also want to make sure that what I wear every day makes me feel great and confident and wearing all of this does. To be honest, I don't even wish to be "done" and I really enjoy the process of looking for deals and new jackets and clothes as well as being inspired by jackets that I see on here.

 

[Superfluous]

Great observations!

Whether our focus/fixation is repros or vintage, military or moto, leather or denim, the underlying, core addiction that fuels each of us is remarkably similar and transcends the varied outward manifestations. In other words, we all suffer from the same fundamental disease.

Fortunately, I can quit anytime I want. In fact, I quit at least a dozen times during the past month.

 

[TG3]

What is this TFL effect you speak of?
I really have never experienced it... I don't even really like leather jackets....

I can stop any time, i swear, i just don't want to right now....

Holy shittttttt. Nothing to see hear folks haha. Carlos has so many jackets that one didn't fit on the rack and fell on the floor lol.

That's a hell of a collection brotha!

 

[Mysteryo]

Wrong, i point to @tmitchell59 and @Mysteryo, i am fine, they have a problem!

No more! I’m done with leather jackets now, hum...

 

[Mysteryo]

I’m so impatient this COVID situation ends, so that we can have a new leather addict meeting in London!

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

Whenever my wife gets on me about owning now I think 22 jackets (aye ya ya ya). I tell her, you know, a lot of guys go and drop money at strip clubs. To which, I usually get a "so which one are you thinking about getting now"

In all honesty, I'm mostly having fun. I've got two boys that will soon be able to wear some of this stuff. So in the back of my mind I justify it as I really don't own 22, more like 22/3.

Of course like a lot of us, this has been more of a journey to find out what I like, which brands fit best, what is my "real" size, etc. And along the way, I've met some real nice people. Even had a TFLer come over last week to check out a jacket.

BUT, if I could take all the knowledge I've picked up over the past year and start over, I'd probably have about 8-9 jackets. Pretty much one for every day of the week and a couple special situation type stuff like a B-3 for instance. The look a lot of these jackets have that a lot of us are chasing, require the jackets to be worn. They need to be exposed to the elements and stress of twisting and stretching, etc. etc. So I do feel like at some point (probably already way past it), I'm just not going to get the most out of what I got. But it's still fun nonetheless.

 

[Benny Holiday]

I have to 'fess up to being, really, a dandy. I've got about 15 vintage suits from the 1930s-40s and about the same number again made by my tailor, including 5 zoot suits. These are what I wear most days, to work, going out, whatever. There's something like 150-170 vintage 40s and 40s ties in the wardrobe next to them.

When it comes to leather jackets other than the basic black cross zip, my interest began with the movie Pearl Harbor. I knew that the A-2 and variations thereof were worn by civilians, and I thought that I 'd like to get one. But then I got sidetracked a couple of years later by this site and a another movie called Seabiscuit. Those led me to Aero and my first halfbelt.

With two kids and a mortgage and the usual load of bills, these days my clothing hobby is financed by my extracurricular job performing with a jump blues band - but for the past year, courtesy of the virus, gigs have been all but nonexistent, so I haven't had any spare money to lay out on new threads, leather or otherwise. Even so, with winter coming (why does that always sound like Game of Thrones now?), the other night I dreamed about buying a LW leather vest like Monitor's one that I love so much. I wouldn't really admit that to anyone else, but you guys understand.

 

[nick123]

Have to laugh at the targeted ad on my phone. Looks like a nice place for all of us to get together and do lunch.

 

[Marc mndt]

Have to laugh at the targeted ad on my phone. Looks like a nice place for all of us to get together and do lunch.
View attachment 320855

Would we be allowed to wear a leather jacket when we sit out there on that porch?

 

[Bfd70]

At the end of the day it’s cheaper than a lot of other “addictions.”
Cheaper than watches, and motorcycles. I’m sure there are others, I’ve never golfed, but those two I can vouch for.

 

[Edward]

Exactly that. Buy a new piece of electronic and it's basically junk after a year. Car will get you on an express highway to frustration town, either because of increasingly deranged traffic or having to deal with random imaginary new fees they come up each year plus gas prices, worrying someone's gonna steal/damage it, etc.
It's really not that simple finding an enjoyable hobby that doesn't seem like a complete waste of money and clothes is closest I can think of. Plus it makes you look... Well, if not good then at least more confident. Which matters.

It's interesting how viewpoints vary on this. I think, though, on reflection it might just be that for me the wearability factor is a good way of keeping acquisitions under control... I remember very early on, I decided I was only going to "collect" what I could and would wear as general clothing. I've been the same with other hobbies I've picked up as an adult. My hoarding problem was mainly caused by not clearing anything out for two decades. It was overwhelming at one point; about eighteen months ago, I paid a contactor to take away a huge pile of stuff for recycling. I have the photos still to shock myself with if I ever get close to as bad again: they filled a box van with the stuff.

It is nice though to be into something I know I can use, rather than thinking about how I'm going to store it. The point at which a hobby / interest becomes a problem must surely be when all the joy comes with the accumulation, with no space left to have it on display or otherwise being used.

Did you see those guys?? How is it possible to suck out all the cool out of a cross zip like that? I would not think it possible, I really wouldn't but then fjorde posts another photo and bam, he did it again. May God have mercy on his soul.

I have to admit I've avoided instagram. I only use Facebook, really, for social media. I'd happily switch to something else, but I can't be bothered with multiple accounts tbh. I'm waiting for the next big thing to turn up and 'myspace' Facebook. I won't miss it if everyone transfers to something else, but it serves a purpose for now.

Hipsters, well. I do try to remember that we are just as odd to many people on the outside looking in. The ones I don't get are those for whom it's all "ironic" - wearing clothes you hate because they're rubbish, isn't that funny? sort of thing. Often seems more to me like irony as a defence against feared ridicule for actually liking something. But hey ho.... we're a small niche, folks like us, and if the hipsters want to like "our" stuff too, it always helps make for a bigger market. Really until relatively recently when the supply of original vintage clothing started to dry up in most average sizes, much of the vintage market, especially in the US, was taken up with folks who only wanted to buy everything for buttons - at the sort of prices they had been able to in the 90s, and many of them objected/refused to the idea of paying what it costs to reproduce. For some time I rather suspect it was the hipsters keeping a lot of our preferred brands afloat rather than the "vintage" community.

OT
A fate that you will surely share with many.
It is also too tempting to indulge in indolence. But I know some who are fitter than ever when they work from home. And that with just a few minutes of time per day. The secret is to outsmart your weaker self.
Just as a thought, without wanting to offend anyone.

No offence taken. I've been pretty good on the food front. Actually, with being home all the time I eat better than when on the move, and at more regular hours. Less temptation to just have a burger when we have to go to the effort of ordering in. Exercise, another matter.... we're back out walking again, though, now the wife, who is on the vulnerable list, has had both her jabs and is now able to leave the flat for the first time in the guts of a year, so hopefully that will help. I've lost a pound or two in lockdown, just not as fast as would be ideal. It's been an interesting time!

I got pulled in by Aero initially, managed it for a few years then slowly kicked the habit, or so I thought. Then I got pulled back in by Eastman, which was an even more expensive habit, but I coped, dogs were fed, roof remained over my head... . Eventually I managed to get that under control as well. Unfortunately last year I fell into the Bronson, Five Star pit and a Bill Kelso to boot, not a full relapse but bad enough. At the moment the urge seems to have eased again, but I'm definitely worried that the knowledge there's a Five Star Irvin being planned may cause a third relapse, there really is no hope I'm afraid.

Be interesting to see if that means a rush on shearlings in these parts. They've been thinner on the ground than used to be the case with the price of a shearling in general rising this last decade.

So I have to say that I am generally prone to bulk purchases.
Whenever I find something I like, I always buy more and more of it. E.g. I bought every color of a model from chinos in a very short time only to find out later that they didn't fit that well. I have one and the same sports shoe in 5 colors and another one too. Cloth jackets, saccos, shirts exactly the same. But now I try not to reflexively buy the second and third version of new things, but first to wait to see how the enjoyment develops. I can still buy it then.
Hopefully my last leather jacket will be delivered the day after tomorrow.

I know what you mean. When I like something, I want all the colours... It's not always easy to stand back and wait to be sure the sizing is right and such. Especially complicated with online shopping and often buying from abroad which can make returns difficult and expensive.

There is no overcoming the TFL effect. In my opinion the larger issue is keeping it interesting. I've kind of found myself at a point where jackets seem pretty boring. I don't know where else to even go with it. Crosszip-been there/done that, same for halfbelts and Cr's. Vintage stuff, yeah cool but harder to fit and find in wearable shape. The answer is denim! No, it's not, never mind. I'm always looking but it seems I'm also buying the same stuff over and over in various degrees of quality which has no impact whether or not I'll wear it or enjoy it. I think the only way to overcome the TFL effect is to simply become bored with the hobby. Cowichan sweater anyone?
Next up: 70's era ski jackets....

The Holy Grail for me is worsted wool cloth that has magical non-mothing properties....

If I had a penny for every time someone said that the next jacket will be the last one, and then it wasn't the last one. I wouldn't be exactly rich, but I'd have a few pennies. But hey, maybe it will be your last one

Mioght not be enough to buy the Wilderness jacket I fancy, but at least a Blue Label Halfbelt...

the only thing I want more is vest, I'm thinking about leather vests some with V collar some with crew collar, after that I really have zero clothing goal for foreseeable future.

Considering similar myself; I see it as a way of finding leather jackets I can still wear in the warm weather. With the right pocket arrangement, it's also vastly easier than coping with stuff in trouser pockets when travelling, especially at airports.

Now, I look at the others hanging in the closet fondly but not enough to wear them. With the exception of the Imperial, they need to go Get worn by someone else. Then I’ll have most of the funding for the “final” one...

Ha, yeah, I have a few to clear out too. Hopefully they'll similarly fund a new purchase.

Great observations!

Whether our focus/fixation is repros or vintage, military or moto, leather or denim, the underlying, core addiction that fuels each of us is remarkably similar and transcends the varied outward manifestations. In other words, we all suffer from the same fundamental disease.

Fortunately, I can quit anytime I want. In fact, I quit at least a dozen times during the past month.

A shrink once told me that if people feel the need to quit things for periods of time just to show they can, that's a sure sign of addiction. That's my excuse for not committing to quit....

I’m so impatient this COVID situation ends, so that we can have a new leather addict meeting in London!

Hopefully by the Autumn... I suspect there will still be significant limitations in place at that point, so we'll all also be able to show off our collection of leather covid masks. (Only me?)

 

[Edward]

I have to 'fess up to being, really, a dandy. I've got about 15 vintage suits from the 1930s-40s and about the same number again made by my tailor, including 5 zoot suits. These are what I wear most days, to work, going out, whatever. There's something like 150-170 vintage 40s and 40s ties in the wardrobe next to them.

When it comes to leather jackets other than the basic black cross zip, my interest began with the movie Pearl Harbor. I knew that the A-2 and variations thereof were worn by civilians, and I thought that I 'd like to get one. But then I got sidetracked a couple of years later by this site and a another movie called Seabiscuit. Those led me to Aero and my first halfbelt.

With two kids and a mortgage and the usual load of bills, these days my clothing hobby is financed by my extracurricular job performing with a jump blues band - but for the past year, courtesy of the virus, gigs have been all but nonexistent, so I haven't had any spare money to lay out on new threads, leather or otherwise. Even so, with winter coming (why does that always sound like Game of Thrones now?), the other night I dreamed about buying a LW leather vest like Monitor's one that I love so much. I wouldn't really admit that to anyone else, but you guys understand.

Maybe I should reactivate my punk rock Elvis cover-band plans. PELVIS. We would rock... and fund my clothes habit. UHm...

At the end of the day it’s cheaper than a lot of other “addictions.”
Cheaper than watches, and motorcycles. I’m sure there are others, I’ve never golfed, but those two I can vouch for.

Always been my excuse - "Would you rathe I spent it on booze and fags?"

 

[sweetfights]

What is this TFL effect you speak of?
I really have never experienced it... I don't even really like leather jackets....

I can stop any time, i swear, i just don't want to right now....

Jacket heaven?

 

[dannyk]

The hipster point is interesting to me. My fiancé likes to joke I’m a hipster. To be fair I don’t like much of anything you think of when you hear hipster. I’m not into any aspect of stereotypical hipster culture other than the clothes. No music, literature, films, irony death cults, just clothes. But I think the thing that I think of when I think of hipsters is irony as @Edward has said and also passing fancy. Hipsters are always evolving. At 35 I remember in the first part of the 2000s it was all about emo, and scene kids. My high school and early college years was full of emo kids that then evolved into wearing things like Iron Maiden and Motley Crue shirts for irony because they either hated them or most never even heard a song by them. Then it got into weird dance music and screaming and kept going. Right now hipsters are into vintage and the stuff we are into. What keeps me in my mind from being any sort of actual hipster is that I’ve always been into this. I just couldn’t afford any of it until I became a decently paid working adult. Which has been the last 6-7 years. Which now has dovetailed with where hipster culture is at. All I know is society will inevitably change again, but I’ll still be here with the same interests and the same outlook on life. So to me that’s why I’m not a hipster. But I’m fine with society thinking I am. 1. It doesn’t bother me I’ve got fairly thick skin. 2. There’s way way way worse things for society to think you are.

 

[Brandrea33]

I’m too new to relate to all of this...

The weather forecast here called for rain all day so I didn’t bother bringing my Imperial to work. Now I’m driving home to fetch it as the sun is peaking out.

No issues here

 

[Monitor]

I don't think those "rugged" guys on IG fall under the definition of the word hipster. They're just a bunch of middle aged men who never really developed any kind of style and just jumped into this heritage stuff. That's how they wear it - Or rather, that's why they don't have a clue how to wear any of it and rely on someone else telling them what to wear.

 

[navetsea]

I never open IG really, I live much happier and productive life since making that decision, also a lot less wanting clothes I already have in excess and not yet properly worn, or worse toys...
I HATE preorder cutout date bait, limited quantity bs, pretty common MO on jeans and toys these days

 

[handymike]

The IG algorithm is a very dangerous thing. I have fallen prey to it myself. I’m much happier here among friendly like-minded people.