I know how confusing this is even if you know your measurements. I think for your first jacket you need trust the maker. Also as jacket junkie said, typ of jacket determine the fit as well as cafe racers will be more tight fitting compared to civilian jacket.
Ahh I see. Then it seems to be good fit.
Ahh I see. Then it seems to be good fit.
I have little bit gut going on good to have some extra room.
For leather I am still leaning towards horween cxl brown, just because I have read they age very well. My ideal jacket is this new jacket 20yr down the line. Is it too much of a fantasy?
yes, cxl steer hide. From what I gathered, HH sounds like very stiff and uncomfortable to start with. I have heard lot about Shinki HH and SB offer lighter (1.2mm) HH than Horween Steer(1.4mm), but they are a bit pricey.
I think that initially both chrome steer and horse are stiff, I have only handled CXFQHH (aero) but people say that chrome steer softens easier. As for shinki, this is veg tanned, a completely different story.
Everyone loves Shinki and they are considerably light compared to other HH i suppose. But to make it in budget i might go with cxl steer.
I like my jacket to sit on just at my belt line. And with 20" bottom hem, i think it would give me enough room.
Here are the samples for Blattwerk Torf, Blattwerk Dark Brow(though it looks black) and Shinki chocolate brownCan only tell you no one has posted a Blattwerk jacket here yet and the leather is fairly new so no one will be able to tell you how it ages. It's interesting to hear how soft it is, though. After all it's 1.2mm+ too, which is quite substantial. (1.2mm = 3 oz, 1.6mm = 4 oz) Try and scrap it and see how the leather looks if the topcoat comes off. I use to experiment with leather samples to get a feeling for the thing. Try to rub off color etc.
Regarding which leather to choose: Not taking into consideration the cost, I would always pick Shinki out of the bunch. It's widely considered top tier leather, most of the very high end leather makers use it, such as Himel, Good Wear and a number of Japanese brands.
That being said, you do nothing wrong here picking the Horween steer. Horween is a well established tannery and there is plenty of people in this forum who made good experience with their stuff.
Clayton is a fairly unknown leather because it's a SB only thing and not many people have ordered a jacket in that leather yet or at least didn't post pictures here. When I was at the factory, I favored the other leathers color-wise but that's a very personal question of taste. If you like the color of the sample; why not. It's less stiff than Horween stuff initially is, so that's a good thing.
In the end, choosing the leather is like choosing chocolate bars. All of them taste well and you can still get the others next time.
