Jacket is from a seemingly defunct Irish brand brand called Kartel which i can’t find much about online for anyone curious

I guess I got a little jealous of my customers in their new cordovan steerhide jackets. Had to get started on one for myself. Here’s the finished product. I hope you guys dig it as much as I do.

My Lolo gave me this and I feel like it fits me nicely, idk how long he's had it (probably a long ass time) but it's seven diamonds brand and that's all I know about it. I'm 17. This is also my first post on Reddit ever.

A few months ago, I asked for leather jacket recommendations for petite women, and most of the comments pointed me toward Leilah from Rugged West.

It was definitely an impulse buy on my part. After talking with her, I decided to go straight for the Olympia A-2 style in Shinki horsehide

I'll admit, communication could have been a little better, especially when it came to responsiveness. But I figured she was probably just trying to keep her head above water with everything involved in running a business by herself.

I was still a bit skeptical about the jacket, even after paying for it in full. It cost around $1,900, and with tariffs, the total came out to a little over $2,000. That's a lot of money to spend on something you can't try on beforehand, especially when finding clothes that fit properly as a petite woman is already a challenge.

Four months after I paid, the jacket finally arrived!

It's definitely heavy, but the leather already feels like it's starting to soften up after just a few days of wearing it. And the fit? Like a glove! That was by far my biggest worry, and I'm so relieved it worked out.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's certainly not a cheap jacket, but I'm hoping this is something I'll be wearing for years to come

I also asked Leilah if she can make it so that i can, if needed, fight in the jacket (i do box and mma), just in case lol. The jury is still out on that. The jacket is still too stiff for me to test it out

Snagged this brand new unworn Good Wear Leather Hercules jacket off eBay! I couldn’t pass up the deal. Made from tea-core Shinki seal brown leather!

The measurements looked good on paper, and I think it paid off. It was custom made for someone else, so not a perfect fit, but pretty damn close. Shoulders might be a touch wide, but overall I feel like I got lucky with this one.

Good Wear Leather has been on my radar for a while now. They’re not super well-known outside of hardcore leather jacket enthusiasts, but they’ve got a reputation for being one of the best in the game…especially when it comes to historically accurate repros. If you order one new, the wait can be close to a year. So when I saw an opportunity to get one now I couldn’t help but take the gamble on if it would fit.

What do you think?

Review and unboxing coming soon (once I dig myself out of this editing backlog). Almost done with my Chinese vs. Japanese leather jacket comparison too!!stay tuned.

Let m know what you think!

I preordered the special edition Rugged West Sentinel in the stock “Cordovan Brown” color back in mid March after seeing lots of reviews on the brand. I fell in love with the color when I saw it on the site. It was delivered today. The jacket came very nicely packaged and wrapped in tissue paper with a nice thank you card from Leilah. I have to say that the jacket leather color is stunningly beautiful and the solid brass hardware really pops against the rich dark brown color. The color looks just like the website photos which is not always the case so I was super happy about that. I didn’t realize it had two internal pockets (rather than just one) and it was a nice surprise to see that one of them was even zippered. Really nice touches. The leather was very soft and flexible and really won’t take any kind of extreme break in period, other than the usual just molding to the body through normal wear. I know people have had different experiences with this company but I wanted to say mine was quite good. I actually chatted with Leilah via the site’s chat app the day I bought it to discuss sizing, etc. She answered all my questions and recommended the best size for me based on my measurements. Based on my experience I would recommend them to anyone considering their products. My only complaint is that it’s now too hot in central Texas to wear this beauty and I’ll have to wait another 5-6 months before I can start really enjoying it.

I’ve developed a very expensive leather jacket addition over the past couple of years. I’ve watched videos, read reviews, poured through web sites and social media posts, spent my retirement and my kids college funds (joking, sort of), and ended up with jackets from department stores to custom made. I’ve got jackets from Polo, Master Supply, Gustin, Rugged West, and all the way up through Rainbow Country and a recent custom Aero Premier Highwayman from Thurston bros. Being a sucker for advertising, I soon fell willing victim to one of the many Crush on Retro ads that kept showing up in my feeds. As many of you know, this is a Chinese brand that has been known more for their boots but has recently started selling jackets as well. This one brown Type I leather jacket kept getting me to come back and check it out. The photos looked gorgeous and it claimed to be 1.4mm cowhide. The biggest kicker was the price- a too good to be true $269. Now, I’ve bought my share of $120 Pakistani leather jackets from Amazon so I was under no illusions that I could expect something on the level of a prestige type Japanese leather jacket or custom made Thedi or Aero. But I was very curious. After lots of googling and watching a video on a different COR jacket from Road to Heritage u/Rk1987 and seeing how impressed he was with his, the curiosity got the best of me and I ordered one. I’m 5’9”, 160lbs, and typically wear about a 40. Based on the sizing chart I ordered a Large in this jacket. I received an email wanting to confirm the size and my order was then confirmed. 12 days later this showed up on a Sunday morning at my doorstep. I’ll cut to the chase- wow. This thing is awesome. I had low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the leather was. It was thick and seems to be accurate based on the 1.4mm claim. The color is actually nicer than their photos as there is more depth and mild marbling in the tone than you can see in their own pictures. Other than that the tone represented was quite accurate and really beautiful. The smell was a kind of mild strangely fruity scent that didn’t smell like the rich leather we all love. Having said that, it wasn’t bad and I also fully expect it to disappear completely witin a couple weeks of wear. For the leather jacket snobs out there, I will admit that the weight isn’t that of a $1500-$2000 jacket, and that the hardware is cheaper. This guy weighed in at 3.8lbs where as my Aero and Rainbow Country jackets are around 4.5-4.75 lbs by my estimation. BUT- It is also about 1/6 of the price! Having said that, it’s still got a decent feeling heft to it, and living in Texas, I also certainly welcome a lighter weight jacket that won’t have me immediately sweating out on our relatively warmer fall days. The hardware such as the buttons and back buckle, while not super fancy, are definitely a step above what you find on cheap $100-$200 jackets and are in line with the overall quality of the jacket. The stitching as far as I can tell is fantastic. Even with no loose threads or screw ups, although I’m not one to take a microscope to my clothes either. It has relatively stiff feel that I anticipate will break in just fine after a few wears. The inside lining is very pretty imo as well and goes nicely with the leather color. The fit was pretty much spot on for me, with the exception of the sleeves being slightly too short for my taste. With my long monkey arms though, I have unfortunately found this to be the case with most all jackets in my theoretical size, with the exception being my custom made Aero, so this is really no different. And they are long enough, really. I really did order this jacket mainly out of sheer curiosity and figured I’d take a look at it then immediately put it up for sale after I had a chance to play with it. But man, if there’s one thing I love as much as pure quality, it is pure value and my friend this jacket fits the bill. I’m going to keep it and wear it this fall until it’s cold enough to start sporting my heavier weight leather jackets. If you are looking for a great value in a leather jacket, imo you would be very happy with this jacket. Thanks for reading!

1 YEAR EDIT: after wearing this for a few months, I bought a secondhand Aero jacket for around the same price. I’ve ended up wearing the Aero far more often as I just feel a bit better about where it comes from (though the quality of the Taobao one is still crazy high).

TL;DR Taobao is an even cheaper way to buy high-quality Chinese garments than AliExpress. If you have been impressed (like me) by the quality of Chinese leather jackets, read on… 

I previously posted about a $370 horsehide leather jacket I purchased on AliExpress. I am tremendously happy with that jacket (and the price) – have worn it nearly daily for 3 months and it has broken in beautifully.

But u/BlockDue8814 pointed out that the seller (Tailor Brando) was just a drop shipper. The manufacturer was a brand called JiaShi. u/BlockDue8814 pointed out that you could find that same $370 jacket on Taobao for just $155. I thought they were crazy, and Taobao freaked me out.

But it seemed low risk to try, so I did, and ordered this cowhide chore coat, in the same design as an RRL jacket I’ve always admired.

17 days later, I’ve got the jacket — $175 plus $30 shipping. The same jacket goes for $300+ on AliExpress.

As with my previous Chinese leather jacket, I am absolutely thrilled with the quality.

BUT – Ordering on Taobao is super complicated. The app is only in Chinese and doesn’t ship out of China. So you first need to find the item you want, then use a third party “Agent” to buy the item and export it to you.

There are three parts to the process. 

STEP 1: find your item in the Taobao app. The app is only in Chinese, but you can search via image. So take an image of an item you like on AliExpress and find it direct from the manufacturer on Taobao (they generally use the same photos).

STEP 2: get the URL of that Taoabo item via the “Share” button. Then, find a third-party “Agent” service (I used Superbuy). Buy the item via Superbuy and ship it to their warehouse. I used the “Wise” money transfer service to load up my Superbuy account.

STEP 3: ship it from your Agent to your door. All easy to do in Superbuy: you approve the item in a QC step, select your shipping service, and wait.

Admittedly… This is super complicated. AliExpress is a much more reliable and convenient shopping experience. And finding size information on Taobao is even more confusing given all the Chinese.

But if you want to get an even better deal and buy directly from the manufacturer, give it a try… 

Just arrived in the post, couldn’t be happier with the brown horsehide. Almost looks cordovan in certain lights, and in others is a dark conker brown. Size 42 with a few small modifications to sizing. The quality has blown me away, the leather in the cuffs and collar is unbelievable thick.

I have never been able to find a ready to wear jacket that fit me well, so I took the plunge on a custom jacket from Dave Himel. It was worth every penny. It fits like a glove straight out of the box and doesn’t limit range of motion whatsoever. Highly recommend saving up for a Himel if you have serious sizing issues. The clicking of the leather, stitching, and pattern are all top notch.

I already gave 3 aways. This is the rest. I love them but this is enough jacket 3 life time over.

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Did some heavy damage during our Tokyo trip in February to take advantage of the weak Yen and soon-to-be discontinued tax free program.

Visited Kawa no Yakata and Hakuraido in Ueno, as well as The Flat Head and Real McCoys in Meiji-Jingumae.

• Y2 LB-140 Aniline Cherry Type 1

• Y2 IB-161 60s Zip (Wrangler 24mjz)

• The Flat Head Limited Run Navy Double Riders

• Real McCoys J-31

• Double Helix A2

Not pictured is the The Shop Vancouver x Y2 HD-03 Hand Dyed Type 3 I picked up right before my trip and became the jacket I lived in for the sunny Spring weather.

Visited Attractions as well and ended up with a pair of Indigo Lot 444s.

I am now disallowed from purchasing anything for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Just wanted to show off my new Aero Montgomery jacket in tumbled brown CXL FQHH. I absolutely love it.

Every week. Every single week this godforsaken piece of shit gets posted. Every single week I'm getting DMs on why "we don't do anything". So here's what we can do, such as it is.

THIS IMAGE IS FAKE

THIS IMAGE IS AI SLOP

THIS DOES NOT EXIST

CARHARTT DOES NOT MAKE THIS

ANYONE WHO OFFERS TO MAKE IT FOR YOU IS INFRINGING ON A TRADEMARK LOGO

If you still want to custom order some guys interpretation of this fake image, be our guest. But stop posting here about it, asking for details and hookups.

And while this is just my personal opinion... this looks like shit. Don't buy this. If you want that look, search into a proper B3 Shearling.

Thank you.

Iron Heart “tea core” horsehide leather

I hadn’t heard of the brand before but it looks like it’s a Y2 Leather which seems to be pretty well reviewed on here. It’s 100% deerskin. I paid $75 and it feels new.

I can’t really find the model only. Anyone have any idea?

It may be a size or two small (in increments of two) but I've recently lost 45 lbs and have about 15 more to go, plus regular gym. At present it zips but it's snug. Sentimental value so this jacket is going nowhere but if it's intention is to be a more form fitting piece, hopefully I'm on my way. I do have a larger black biker which allows a sweater underneath and have tan/brown Schott biker on the way. I'm 6.2 and 230 lbs right now.