regius

My interest in leather clothing started back in 2004, when I was a high school student in the UK (I came from China, originally) and had only one jacket all year round, a cheap cord jean jacket of unknown brand. That year, I had finally convinced my mother to buy me a new jacket, a leather Harley Davidson cafe racer from a Beijing mall. It was their merchandised, soft brown naked cowhide jacket. Shortly after wore it a few times, I started to feel how restrictive the chest and shoulder area was while how blousoned the waist was. It was not a cool look! So, learned I could sell it on ebay (ebay was new to me too). I successfully sold it with an auction and perhaps earned back the cost! After that, I walked into an English leather store owned by Pakistani businessmen and invested in a black lambskin civil A2 style jacket, very slim, very metrosexual, kinda like the Bowie Heroes jacket. Then I sold that one again on ebay and ever since started buying and selling leather jackets!
With the cash I earned at a local job outside of college, I bought a 40 quid water buffalo moto jacket, made by a London Indian leather shop. Then the whole realization dawned on me that the Terminator was wearing such a jacket, but why my Indian-made one just doesn't give me that look???? At that point, I started research the details of motorcycle jacket intently and figured I would need one without the epaulette, with a long lapel, with a D pocket. The closest thing I could find was Legendary USA's black stallion, of course, there was the Schott Perfecto. I was onto a whole new ball game (40 pounds to $200-$400). During that period, I visited a leather shop in Loughborough that sells Schott flight jackets. I still remember the visceral reaction when touching such a heavy duty jacket with my own hands (compared to all the fashion jackets I got off ebay), I thought wow, how can one even wear this beast?

Well, several years later, in New York city, after having owned many Schott jackets, I bought my first Aero FQHH. So, it was quite a progression from lambskin fashion mall jacket to a 10lb Aero FQHH.

Up until today, I have been collecting, trading and studying various vintage jackets (found in local vintage stores and off ebay) and other cool fashion items. I'm almost 40 Aero jackets away from 2012 and ten Goodwear jackets since 2013. Two years ago, I invested in a studio-full of equipments and started learning sewing and jacket construction. It is my ultimate goal to start my own hand-made vintage reproduction business here in Westchester, NY (I already have a very appropriate, inspiring name for my company, but my current job is taking up a lot of time).