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New here... but feels like home

Sabir Asaria

New in Town
Messages
46
Location
Qatar
Greetings all! :)

This is my first post here however, I have been a lurker for well over 2 years. My tryst with TFL started with my quest to acquire my first ‘real’ leather jacket. I had decided on going with Aero prior to lurking on here as they were regarded as pretty much the gold standard where I come from and I had always wanted to someday own an Aero jacket.

I decided on a Premier Highwayman in Brown CXLFQHH and spent countless hours pouring through the expert advice available on here. Right from the sizing and desired fit, to the choice of leather to finer details like Olive drab contrast stitching, the choice of liner and most importantly the choice of zipper. Oh!...the zipper!!. I remember spending a week debating between the hookless and a talon and after reading more about zippers than I ever thought possible, I decided to go with the talon zipper as even though I loved the detail of the gromets, I felt it wasn’t worth the risk. I also requested Holly (unfortunately to no avail) if they’d be willing to use gromets with a talon zipper as one lucky member on here managed to do.

For those interested and for posterity, my PHWM specifications ware as follows:

Size: 40 with a 0.75” taper
Heavy Duty Olive Cotton Drill for body and sleeves
Heavy Duty Corduroy strip at the hem for durability
Stitch Color - Olive Drab
All hardware in Brass
Talon zipper
Front Chest pocket to be angled as in the 1930s Half Belt
Two vertical inside Pockets – Open (No snap or zipper)

I received my jacket after making it through the LONG Covid wait, and couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I would never have been able to get it right were it not for the immense wealth of information available here on TFL!

My plan was to acquire one grail jacket and be done with it. I thought it would be easy as I live in a desert and can wear a leather jacket for 3 months of the year at best. So, after being completely blown away with my PHWM, I was confident that I would not ‘need’ any more jackets. This false sense of security lulled me into continue lurking on TFL and lo and behold, I caught the bug to try a Shinki jacket. I wanted to see first hand what all the buzz was about. Also, I rationalized it a 'needing' a black jacket to go with my brown PHWM to round up my small collection.

So in comes The Flat Head Single Riders Jacket. The jacket is BEAUTIFULLY constructed with French seams used on almost all panels. Although I am not a stitch counter (yet!), the stitch work is simply amazing. The contrast stitch makes it stand out even more and I’ve come to realize I really love the way French seams look. Though the jacket is similar in style to my PHWM, the cut is way more sculpted/contoured. Unfortunately, the jacket I got is one size too small. It looks great unzipped, however its too small for me to zip up. I’ve also added a few pounds in the past year which doesn’t help.


I intend on posting it on the Classifieds at TFL, but thought it would be more appropriate to post first on the Outerwear forum and say Hi and introduce myself and my mini leather jacket journey :)
 

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Sabir Asaria

New in Town
Messages
46
Location
Qatar
great first post! That Premier HWM looks great on you and too bad about the flat head jacket not working out in the end. All the best and welcome here

Thanks Jin431 :)

You sir are definitely one of the enablers that pushed me to try a black Shinki jacket!... your Mulholland looks great on you and it was a close call between The Flat Head SRJ and The Mulholland for me... it was the French Seams and Cuffs on the Sleeve that made me go with the SJR
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
24,736
Location
London, UK
Must .... resist.... lol

If I was located a little more north... I'd be knee deep already!

...and Thank you for the warm welcome! :)

I can imagine options to wear leather in Qatar are.... limited. ;) I have never properly visited, but about a decade ago I had to get to and from Beijing booking flights at relatively short notice, and the only option available was to go Qatari via Doha. Took over 24 hours each way with the two flights plus the stopover, but the service was lovely. I remember leaving Beijing in a B3 and with thermal undies all over on a December Friday night when the cold would have taken your head off. Then I arrived in Doha and walking the short distance from the plane to the terminal bus I was close to heatstroke.... ha! I only saw the airport, but I'm sure it's lovely outside airside. :)
 

Marc mndt

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,798
Greetings all! :)

This is my first post here however, I have been a lurker for well over 2 years. My tryst with TFL started with my quest to acquire my first ‘real’ leather jacket. I had decided on going with Aero prior to lurking on here as they were regarded as pretty much the gold standard where I come from and I had always wanted to someday own an Aero jacket.

I decided on a Premier Highwayman in Brown CXLFQHH and spent countless hours pouring through the expert advice available on here. Right from the sizing and desired fit, to the choice of leather to finer details like Olive drab contrast stitching, the choice of liner and most importantly the choice of zipper. Oh!...the zipper!!. I remember spending a week debating between the hookless and a talon and after reading more about zippers than I ever thought possible, I decided to go with the talon zipper as even though I loved the detail of the gromets, I felt it wasn’t worth the risk. I also requested Holly (unfortunately to no avail) if they’d be willing to use gromets with a talon zipper as one lucky member on here managed to do.

For those interested and for posterity, my PHWM specifications ware as follows:

Size: 40 with a 0.75” taper
Heavy Duty Olive Cotton Drill for body and sleeves
Heavy Duty Corduroy strip at the hem for durability
Stitch Color - Olive Drab
All hardware in Brass
Talon zipper
Front Chest pocket to be angled as in the 1930s Half Belt
Two vertical inside Pockets – Open (No snap or zipper)

I received my jacket after making it through the LONG Covid wait, and couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I would never have been able to get it right were it not for the immense wealth of information available here on TFL!

My plan was to acquire one grail jacket and be done with it. I thought it would be easy as I live in a desert and can wear a leather jacket for 3 months of the year at best. So, after being completely blown away with my PHWM, I was confident that I would not ‘need’ any more jackets. This false sense of security lulled me into continue lurking on TFL and lo and behold, I caught the bug to try a Shinki jacket. I wanted to see first hand what all the buzz was about. Also, I rationalized it a 'needing' a black jacket to go with my brown PHWM to round up my small collection.

So in comes The Flat Head Single Riders Jacket. The jacket is BEAUTIFULLY constructed with French seams used on almost all panels. Although I am not a stitch counter (yet!), the stitch work is simply amazing. The contrast stitch makes it stand out even more and I’ve come to realize I really love the way French seams look. Though the jacket is similar in style to my PHWM, the cut is way more sculpted/contoured. Unfortunately, the jacket I got is one size too small. It looks great unzipped, however its too small for me to zip up. I’ve also added a few pounds in the past year which doesn’t help.


I intend on posting it on the Classifieds at TFL, but thought it would be more appropriate to post first on the Outerwear forum and say Hi and introduce myself and my mini leather jacket journey :)
Dang, your PHWM looks absolutely perfect. You really hit it out of the park on your first try. Congrats!
 

navetsea

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,711
Location
East Java
congrats on your aero, too bad the other one didn't fit, isn't a dessert climate suitable for leather jacket once the sun has set? and welcome to the forum!
 

Jin431

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,912
Location
Bay Area CA
Thanks Jin431 :)

You sir are definitely one of the enablers that pushed me to try a black Shinki jacket!... your Mulholland looks great on you and it was a close call between The Flat Head SRJ and The Mulholland for me... it was the French Seams and Cuffs on the Sleeve that made me go with the SJR
I'm glad I helped suckered you to getting a black jacket then lol thanks for the kind words. The Mulholland has 5 French seams (under collar, 2 on the leather band, 2 on the inside leather facing) that you can't see lol can't wait to see what you try out next for a black leather jacket option
 

jonesy86

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,610
Location
Kauai
Hey, it is perfectly normal to amass a huge collection of leather jackets while living in a hot climate.
Nice entrance to TFL, welcome! The Premier are Highwayman looks great.
 
Last edited:

Sabir Asaria

New in Town
Messages
46
Location
Qatar
I can imagine options to wear leather in Qatar are.... limited. ;) I have never properly visited, but about a decade ago I had to get to and from Beijing booking flights at relatively short notice, and the only option available was to go Qatari via Doha. Took over 24 hours each way with the two flights plus the stopover, but the service was lovely. I remember leaving Beijing in a B3 and with thermal undies all over on a December Friday night when the cold would have taken your head off. Then I arrived in Doha and walking the short distance from the plane to the terminal bus I was close to heatstroke.... ha! I only saw the airport, but I'm sure it's lovely outside airside. :)

That's quite the story Edward!

Doha's changed drastically since... even Google maps struggles to keep up.

The old airport has been replaced with a new state of the art shopping mall which also happens to have a terminal and a runway! :D
 

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