Advice when buying leathers
Discussion
Now, I know that some of you detest shop-bought, so-called "fashion" leathers, so don't flame me here as I'm just passing on info which may be of interest to others.
I was in a fairly well-known shop yesterday which deals only in bike kit - no bikes or parts - so I guess they know their stuff reasonably well. I was looking for a new one-piece suit, and tried on "A" suit from "A" well-known manufacturer, which turned out to be too small. I asked if they had a larger size or would be getting any larger sizes in. The guy in the shop said that he was scaling down his purchases of this particular brand of leathers, since the manufacturer had not only moved production to China, but was now insisting on chinese-sourced leather as well, to keep costs down.
He then showed me a pair of jackets, both from manufacturer "A", both supposedly equivalent models. One was new/old stock, the other from the "new" Chinese range. The difference in quality was immediately apparent just from looking at them, let alone feeling the quality/thickness of the leather. Cuffs weren't finished properly, stitching wasn't straight (or parallel where dual seams existed), zips were smaller, the leather felt thinner and less supple - etc etc etc.
About 2 years ago, I had an 80mph off on track in a suit from this manufacturer, the suit being maybe 2 years old itself at the time. I walked away with a small friction burn on my elbow and the suit, albeit not all it once was, is still useable. I can't see that would be the case now.
I'm trying to find time to get myself along to one of the UK specialist manufacturers now for a decent hand-made suit.
Thought you all might like to know about the apparent drop in quality on some stuff though before you shell out hundreds of you hard-earned quids.
I was in a fairly well-known shop yesterday which deals only in bike kit - no bikes or parts - so I guess they know their stuff reasonably well. I was looking for a new one-piece suit, and tried on "A" suit from "A" well-known manufacturer, which turned out to be too small. I asked if they had a larger size or would be getting any larger sizes in. The guy in the shop said that he was scaling down his purchases of this particular brand of leathers, since the manufacturer had not only moved production to China, but was now insisting on chinese-sourced leather as well, to keep costs down.
He then showed me a pair of jackets, both from manufacturer "A", both supposedly equivalent models. One was new/old stock, the other from the "new" Chinese range. The difference in quality was immediately apparent just from looking at them, let alone feeling the quality/thickness of the leather. Cuffs weren't finished properly, stitching wasn't straight (or parallel where dual seams existed), zips were smaller, the leather felt thinner and less supple - etc etc etc.
About 2 years ago, I had an 80mph off on track in a suit from this manufacturer, the suit being maybe 2 years old itself at the time. I walked away with a small friction burn on my elbow and the suit, albeit not all it once was, is still useable. I can't see that would be the case now.
I'm trying to find time to get myself along to one of the UK specialist manufacturers now for a decent hand-made suit.
Thought you all might like to know about the apparent drop in quality on some stuff though before you shell out hundreds of you hard-earned quids.
C8PPO said:
I'm trying to find time to get myself along to one of the UK specialist manufacturers now for a decent hand-made suit.
Thought you all might like to know about the apparent drop in quality on some stuff though before you shell out hundreds of you hard-earned quids.
give adam at halo http://warking.ultimateservers.net/haloleather/ a bell they make made to measure and I will be popping to see in ( only 150 mile round trip) a week friday to get measured upThought you all might like to know about the apparent drop in quality on some stuff though before you shell out hundreds of you hard-earned quids.
Chilli said:
Indeed, I'm sure everyone on here would love to know.....so who is it???!!!!
Well, I'm not sure I should be specific without having something more concrete than a retailer's word on this, but as I said, it's "A" well known manufacturer at the top end of the standard retail market 
I'm now looking at Hideout whose prices seem quite keen and they're not a million miles away - about half the distance to Crowtree, for example.
C8PPO said:
Chilli said:
Indeed, I'm sure everyone on here would love to know.....so who is it???!!!!
Well, I'm not sure I should be specific without having something more concrete than a retailer's word on this, but as I said, it's "A" well known manufacturer at the top end of the standard retail market I'm now looking at Hideout whose prices seem quite keen and they're not a million miles away - about half the distance to Crowtree, for example.
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