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WouLD YoU ALTeR a CLaSSiC Leather Jacket?

johnnyjohnny

New Member
just like to get the opinions of some astute VintageLeatherJacket-O-phiLes...

i bought a size 50 (stock size) vanson mercury jacket on ebay...surprisingly the large size is almost a perfect fit chest/shoulders at 26 1/2"" armpit to armpit, but the waist is too big at 46" all around...this jacket does NoT have the little leather straps on the side to adjust, and i think putting those on this jacket would be like doing a chevy engine swap on an 80s jag...better performance but, it's bLasphemic

so i searched out an excellent tailor in LaLaLand here, and am considering having the side seam pulled in 2" on each side (moving the back panel over the side panel along the seam should not create any new holes, etc)...

the jacket now has a 7" drop from a 53" chest to a 46" waist...i have a 10" drop from a 44.5" chest to a 34" waist...

SuBmiTTed for your approval then: Should someone do this type of alteration to have a jacket fit better, or is this defacing a classic jacket in the scheme of things, and just enjoy it the way it was built?

thanks for any input
 

deeb7

Gone, but not forgotten.
My opinion ...... don't alter it.

Jacket alterations should be limited to sleeve lengths. I think they always end up looking altered, and never quite right.

Better to live with it, as is, or re sell.
 

johnnyjohnny

New Member
but whatttaBouT...

thanks deeb...but i must ask then, how do you feel about a custom sized jacket...

i know if i had ordered this jacket from vanson they will allow only so much customization, i think from their sizing charts they would have knocked off at least 2" around the waist...

is getting a custom made jacket to size different than having a stock one altered after the fact, hypothetically if you do find a leather tailor who can do a job as well as the original construction...

and then, what if a tree falls in the forest and...just kidding...but i would like to hear your position on the custom thing

thanks
 

deeb7

Gone, but not forgotten.
Custom made is fine, just cut slightly different on the stock pattern. It can sometimes be easier to make a jacket from scratch, than to pull one apart, and mess with it.

You will always find something not quite right with alterations. A flappy piece under a sleeve, pockets now in the wrong place, it pulls somewhere ....

You'll find something, and THEN sell.
 

johnnyjohnny

New Member
you're scaring me man : 0

i guess you've tried it and seen things go awRy?

thanks for the warNing...i just may heed it
 

Harlock

New Member
johnnyjohnny said:
the jacket now has a 7" drop from a 53" chest to a 46" waist...i have a 10" drop from a 44.5" chest to a 34" waist...

thanks for any input

You know, it sounds to me like you bought a jacket way too big; you should have bought a size 44 jacket. The norm for a mc jacket -- in terms pit-to-pit measurement -- is approx. 4 inches over your actual chest size. I suppose if you were going to heavily layer under the jacket that you might want a bit more space, but a 53 inch chest is enormous. You bought an XXL jacket, but with a 44.5 inch chest, and 34 inch waist, you're a L.

The waist on that jacket is 46 inches because a 50 inch jacket is sized for a fat person. Start eating more junk food maybe?
 

injunjack

New Member
I also think your jacket is too big.

I'm also 44 chest but with 32 waist. I have (and was suggested to get by Gail in Schott) a 44 Legendary Black Horse MC jacket. It's adjusted to smallest at sides (has laces) and I still feel it's a bit too big overall without the zipout liner. I should have taken 42, but considering the weather here in Finland, I think I will stick to what I have.

Sell the one you have and get another that is proper size.

Jack
 

johnnyjohnny

New Member
iT's tOO BiGGGGGG!

yes, alas, i knew that going in...i just saw it on ebay, always wanted the vanson mercury...kinda like that woman in a bar you see...not quite right, but you've had too many jack and cokes...and...

but i don't think it turned out all that bad...i am on a bodybuilding program...my 44.5" chest is sure to grow to just shy of 45" in the next decade...

but seriousLy...the vanson size 50 measures really 26" armpit to armpit, for a 52" chest...so yes, too big...however, when ziPPed, the shoulders are right on, or perhaps 1/8" too wide on each side if i'm being truthful...

but i'm not just bLowing hot air about my indiscretion...there is a point here...>>>

i've found that all my mil jackets (a-2 and g-1, all milspec) fit very nicely and not oversize in sizes of 44, and these (milspec, current day though) usually have a 25 1/2" to almost 26" armpit to armpit...and the shoulders are usually bigger than the 19" on the vanson size 50

i think the reason might be the more Lax goatskin leather, or even the thinner and more naturally draping horsehide a-2s i have...i came to this rather obvious conclusion when sLathering a buncho pecard's style leather conditioner on the jacket, and noticing the stiff cow/steerhide on the vanson (and this is their 'firenzo' leather, lighter than the groundskid/hellsangels bad boy stuff) draping more...more like my mil jackets...

trying it on, it now looks a bit better...not so much the cobra-fLared back and sides from stiff leather not draping, but looking rather like a diving beLL on me (it did, before the conditioning)...

still a size too biG...the vanson's run tiTe, so a 46 would have been too tight...the 48 probably is my size...but this doesn't look bad...oddLy, i did bite on another jacket on ebay, a 48 schott classic style (like this merc), and that also has a 26" chest...however, the shoulders on that are about 22", and the collar is a biGGer, flappier collar, so that looks a total size too big, despite being a size smaller...go figure

anyway, point to be made is the conditioning of the stiffer leather has allowed it to drape a bit more, and thus not have that biG sheLL look, which probably would have required me to walk around with a croWbar or tireiRon...

so, for anyone with the same problem, of a thick leather jacket that may be too big and boxy, some conditioning might give it the drape not to look so much so

this was the first time the vanson had been conditioned...rather new jacket...really a nice deal...so i think i'm ok with it...will wear it when i'm in a brando mood...beats sticking toilet paper in your mouth and talking with an iTaLian accent i guess

thanks again for all the info and responses...

oh, i guess one other point to be made is that leather military and motorcycle jacket sizes do not follow any fit pattern or rhyme...kinda like that woman in the bar around cLosing time...

good luck with both gentLemen

p.s.s. one more noTe...the aero highwayman i ordered is definitely the correct size in a size 44...this from their factory guys, and their u.s. rep, mark noyes...all of whom i drove nuts going back on forth on the size...i got the definitive answer when i let mark know i needed 25" armpit to armpit to be right on...the aero highwayman size 44 is 25" armpit to armpit...again, oDD since the vanson size 50 only measures 1 inch more armpit to armpit, or 2" more full chest, yet is 6 sizes larger (ok, 3 sizes if you count two for each size jump)...

i won't get into the stories about women who are just as incomprehensible...cept to say that you get in less trouble with motorcycle jackets
 

johnnyjohnny

New Member
ooooooooooooPs!

for a guy who's been as nice to me as he has, i shouldn't have gotten his name wrong...Mark Moye...thanks!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
deeb7 said:
johnnyjohnny said:
i guess you've tried it and seen things go awRy?

I owned a men's fashion store .... :)

You'd never guess that from your various avatars :lol: I s'pose its a bit like chain smoking Dr's and fat coaches and bald hairdressers ? ;)

J_H
 
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