The Lost Cowboy
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,507
- Location
- Northern Alabama
I spent the weekend researching 1970s and 80s Sears and Montgomery Ward motorcycle jackets. There really wasn’t much to research - the consensus on TFL seems to be that they are hardly worth the 100 USD price tags they generally go for on eBay.
And there are a LOT of ugly and poor-quality jackets from these makers on eBay. But the motor jackets from these two brands that I saw didn’t look to be bad quality to me - they looked very comparable to Schott Perfectos from the same era.
I’m a total newbie to leather though, and I’m just not confident yet that I have a discerning eye or i’m even aware of what I’m looking at.
One TFL thread I didn’t see while researching was one dedicated to some old jackets that members might have that have aged particularly well. I am mostly interested in brands that slip past the eyes of the discerning public, though - because we see enough of the high-end stuff already. Brands like Sears The Leather Shop or Montgomery Ward Brent (or post-Brent) or anything similar (I guess these could be considered the original mall jackets, no?).
I don’t know if anyone has any such jackets they’d like to share, but I’d love to see them - jackets that have proven over time to be winners despite being from brands otherwise known as losers.
I’ll start by showing the jacket I purchased today on eBay - it’s from Sears The Leather Shop. There were two on eBay with similar characteristics but one was $80 and the other $180. I bought the cheaper one and the photos I am attaching here are the ones from the eBay listing. Like I say, most of the rest of the moto leather I saw from these makers reminded me of Perfectos.
The big picture photos aren’t clear enough to tell if this has aged well or is complete crap. What really captivated me were the close ups: there’s one of a sleeve and another of the back and one of the kidney panel. The leather in those photos looks “textured” by age or maybe “marbled” in such a unique way that I suspected it might be more fun to own than any of the Perfecto-esque choices. Maybe it will be a dud but at least I will learn.
However, being a complete FNG, I do wonder if I’m attracted to the wrong thing here. Are these “textured”, “pebbled” and “marbled” effects that I take as signs of good character actually signs of bad character? Or, are there other signs of bad character on display here that should tell me straight away that this jacket isn’t worth owning? Is the shininess a bad thing? Aesthetically I like it on this jacket, but does such a treatment weaken the leather in the long run?
The pattern looks like it’s fairly boxy but I don’t know if that will be something I will like or hate. But I can totally see rejecting it for that or for the missing belt. I bought it based solely on the belief that I will either 1) be very happy with the leather or 2) learn something significant enough about leather to make the cost worth it. If all I do is purchase Aeros or Japanese Horsehide or even Schotts, then that’s all I’ll know. I find life more interesting when I venture off the beaten trail.
Anyway, thanks for reading my novel. I welcome all comments.
Peace.
PS if you have a jacket from a “disreputable” maker but it has aged surprisingly well, I hope you’ll post a photo or two. I really believe I would learn a lot from seeing what members judge to be “well aged”.
And there are a LOT of ugly and poor-quality jackets from these makers on eBay. But the motor jackets from these two brands that I saw didn’t look to be bad quality to me - they looked very comparable to Schott Perfectos from the same era.
I’m a total newbie to leather though, and I’m just not confident yet that I have a discerning eye or i’m even aware of what I’m looking at.
One TFL thread I didn’t see while researching was one dedicated to some old jackets that members might have that have aged particularly well. I am mostly interested in brands that slip past the eyes of the discerning public, though - because we see enough of the high-end stuff already. Brands like Sears The Leather Shop or Montgomery Ward Brent (or post-Brent) or anything similar (I guess these could be considered the original mall jackets, no?).
I don’t know if anyone has any such jackets they’d like to share, but I’d love to see them - jackets that have proven over time to be winners despite being from brands otherwise known as losers.
I’ll start by showing the jacket I purchased today on eBay - it’s from Sears The Leather Shop. There were two on eBay with similar characteristics but one was $80 and the other $180. I bought the cheaper one and the photos I am attaching here are the ones from the eBay listing. Like I say, most of the rest of the moto leather I saw from these makers reminded me of Perfectos.
The big picture photos aren’t clear enough to tell if this has aged well or is complete crap. What really captivated me were the close ups: there’s one of a sleeve and another of the back and one of the kidney panel. The leather in those photos looks “textured” by age or maybe “marbled” in such a unique way that I suspected it might be more fun to own than any of the Perfecto-esque choices. Maybe it will be a dud but at least I will learn.
However, being a complete FNG, I do wonder if I’m attracted to the wrong thing here. Are these “textured”, “pebbled” and “marbled” effects that I take as signs of good character actually signs of bad character? Or, are there other signs of bad character on display here that should tell me straight away that this jacket isn’t worth owning? Is the shininess a bad thing? Aesthetically I like it on this jacket, but does such a treatment weaken the leather in the long run?
The pattern looks like it’s fairly boxy but I don’t know if that will be something I will like or hate. But I can totally see rejecting it for that or for the missing belt. I bought it based solely on the belief that I will either 1) be very happy with the leather or 2) learn something significant enough about leather to make the cost worth it. If all I do is purchase Aeros or Japanese Horsehide or even Schotts, then that’s all I’ll know. I find life more interesting when I venture off the beaten trail.
Anyway, thanks for reading my novel. I welcome all comments.
Peace.
PS if you have a jacket from a “disreputable” maker but it has aged surprisingly well, I hope you’ll post a photo or two. I really believe I would learn a lot from seeing what members judge to be “well aged”.
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