Boutique manufacturer quality versus major labels

[cgreen]

Hi Everyone,

If you're in Southern Ontario at the moment you've been treated to some outstanding weather of late - today being no different. Wow did we suffer a gray winter for this.

Anyway, I've been out poking around and while it may not surprise anyone here, the prices of major fashion label leather moto and flight jackets is rather bananas.

Yves St Laurent has a cross zip for $8,900 CAD, while Brunello Cuccinelli has a nappa leather A-1 for $9,995. Ferragamo has a cross zip for $5,230 CAD, and the list of major label retailers just continues.

Surely you're paying for the names versus the quality of the hides and craftsmanship. For sure these are all made in Italy and craftsmanship is quite high but it can't be better than something by Bill Kelso, or Lost Worlds, or Freewheelers, or Eastman, Aero, etc, and my guess is the hides aren't as nice.

What are your thoughts?

 

[colekwok]

Designer or even bespoke boutique leather jackets are made with a completely different philosophy, soft, supple, made and cut to the latest styles. Craftsmanship are usually top-notch, with almost flawless finish in terms of QCs. As for Eastman/Aero, BK, RM etc (I am not including Goodwear here for the obvious reason because John is in a different league), they are made to replicate the original WW2 flight jackets as close as possible with modern materials. And obviously they are aiming at a completely different market. For the general jacket buyers, I would say 90% of the people would pick a flawless YSL biker over the Eastman Roadstar. It's probably lighter, more comfy to wear and looks stylish even if you wear it at some formal events.

In terms of craftsmanship, such as stitching, cuts, styles, top designer jackets are probably even better than the average Aero or BK, because people paying that much money would probably expect perfections. The hide, on the other hand, is really a subjective thing. We have to understand that heavy hides with lots of grains are not everybody's cup of tea (outside of our niche community here).

 

[Micawber]

There is a distinct difference between high end fashion / designer label garments based, sometimes loosely on designs from the past that carry very high RRP versus small runs of accurate copies [reproductions] produced by companies that specialise in such items. Such companies tend to be relatively small scale businesses who have a detailed grasp of the background and how original garments were designed and assembled along with material used. The former may be produced on a production line basis, the latter hand produced by small teams of skilled workers, or individuals.

Perhaps neither could be classed as "bespoke" in the sense of garments being personally cut, basted, and fitted several times to an individual who has been measured by the tailor concerned as per Saville Row bespoke but more a "made to measure" basis. IMHO of course.

Retail price is not always a true reflection of quality of materials or attention to detail. People often pay stupid amounts for so called designer labels just for the association with the name.