High Notch Leathers (House brand) Izumiya clothing store (Retail store)

[Canuck Panda]

@Retserrof Great fit! Congrats.

Ume san makes great stuff but he only makes A2 flight jackets now.

 

[cbez]

The rarity is part of the appeal for me. Super niche, top quality made by an expert. There are probably only a handful outside of Japan at all. Best kept secret.

 

[Jonanah]

The rarity is part of the appeal for me. Super niche, top quality made by an expert. There are probably only a handful outside of Japan at all. Best kept secret.

Well said. Would love to go to his shop when I finally visit Japan someday

 

[Retserrof]

Those last two jackets look so good, even though I have my black single rider from them you guys are making me want another High Notch! I haven't been able to find another as they hardly ever seem to appear on Buyee, though I guess I could check more consistently.

Can't believe I fully caught the jacket bug just like everyone else around here. But I think High Notch will go down as one of the most underrated makers out there -- the quality at the prices they go for is unmatched.

Still keen on that single rider when it no longer fits you!

 

[cbez]

When the kid has better fit and grain than you.

 

[Retserrof]

When the kid has better fit and grain than you. View attachment 707678

I saw that on Instagram! I also saw that the price was 200k yen, ouch

 

[cbez]

 

[jchance]

If you make your own leather jackets, you might as well make your kids one (or several). The labor is “free”, as in you don’t have to pay anyone to do it. Otherwise leather jacket is not a good use for kids who’d outgrow it in several months-1 year.

 

[jchance]

A-2 repro

 

[Retserrof]

A-2 repro

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Is this a pic for one on sale or just showing off a really nice example? I'll have some new pics to share in a few weeks of my second High Notch!

 

[cbez]

looks nice but i prefer his moto jackets

there are already a lot of well made military patterns

 

[jchance]

Is this a pic for one on sale or just showing off a really nice example? I'll have some new pics to share in a few weeks of my second High Notch!

The latter. What model did you get this time? Can’t wait to see some fit pics. Umeno is on top of his game—a real artisan!

 

[Retserrof]

So here's the one I got from a member on here, it was originally the one shown on page 2.

A thicker, softer, grainier leather than used on my High Notch Catoosa. This one I believe is struck through, the Catoosa is teacore. Same crazy quality. Unfortunately I think it's too trim on my belly, but I'll re-evaluate that once I lose a few kgs, or this jacket starts accommodating my shape haha.

Thoughts?

 

[Retserrof]

View attachment 500365

Here's the original, both the belt and the pockets. This is the jacket that Freewheelers saw and ended up making a fantasy jacket instead for their Leathertogs cafe racer.

Real McCoys and Heller's Cafe also make/made versions of the original. I didn't like it at first, but I dig how the pockets look when jacket is worn open/unzipped.

So in my deep diving of the internet yesterday, I actually found a copy of this jacket that High Notch had made! (Long sold though). Check out the pics below:

 

[ColeH_10]

High Notch Leathers is a house brand from Japan. Not very active right now. But there are jackets on the second hand market.
Izumiya is the retail store that owns this brand. This store also carries other brands like Toys Mccoy and Freewheelers.

Here is my High Notch leathertog, NOS from maybe 12 to 15 years ago. Not quite sure.

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This was the largest size I could find and still a bit small. But until I find a larger one this stays. Very cool leathertog design.

Believe or not this jacket was on Mecari for mere ¥30000, the guy didn't know what he had. Someone bought it and flipped it on Yahoo Auction to me at just over 2.5 times. Still worth it to me. I can't find a jacket like this for about $600.

If you buy used stuff from Japan, don't shy away from High Notch. Very high quality.

Exceptional leather grain! I will keep an eye out for similar listings of this style- those pockets are beautiful.

 

[ColeH_10]

So here's the one I got from a member on here, it was originally the one shown on page 2.

A thicker, softer, grainier leather than used on my High Notch Catoosa. This one I believe is struck through, the Catoosa is teacore. Same crazy quality. Unfortunately I think it's too trim on my belly, but I'll re-evaluate that once I lose a few kgs, or this jacket starts accommodating my shape haha.

Thoughts?
View attachment 746006 View attachment 746007 View attachment 746008 View attachment 746009 View attachment 746010 View attachment 746012 View attachment 746013

Looks like a Fine Creek Leather with that grain!

 

[Retserrof]

Looks like a Fine Creek Leather with that grain!

Feels like one too - very thick leather used.

 

[Pliksoff]

So here's the one I got from a member on here, it was originally the one shown on page 2.

A thicker, softer, grainier leather than used on my High Notch Catoosa. This one I believe is struck through, the Catoosa is teacore. Same crazy quality. Unfortunately I think it's too trim on my belly, but I'll re-evaluate that once I lose a few kgs, or this jacket starts accommodating my shape haha.

Thoughts?
View attachment 746012

The back and shoulder panels really look quite nice, it's a shame there's not that much discussion about this brand online. I saw a High Notch G-1 in a larger size on Yahoo Auctions a few days ago but the leather doesn't look anywhere as good as yours. The unzipped look pairs well with that flannel too imo.

 

[Pliksoff]

So in my deep diving of the internet yesterday, I actually found a copy of this jacket that High Notch had made! (Long sold though). Check out the pics below:
...

Another one of these jackets popped up on Yahoo Auctions recently (size 40). Attached some pics here from the listing below since the the lighting is more flattering.

未使用に近い High Notch Clothing/ハイノッチ ... - Yahoo!オークション

●当ストアをご覧頂きありがとうございます。 ※お手数ですが必ず最後までお読み頂きご了承の上ご購入下さい。 ●ご不明な点はお気軽にお問合せ下さい。 佐藤商店 TEL 080-1710-0784 メールアドレス [email protected] High Notch Clothing ハイノッチ ホースハイド

auctions.yahoo.co.jp

The seller's current asking price is too high compared to the earlier deals from this thread, but the stitching and leather look great. Makes me curious to see if High Notch ever made any niche jackets like a grizzly.

 

[thekiyote]

I would not be surprised when there is a higher demand than supply. I have heard talk about shell cordovan from the famous tannery that you either get whatever colour they give you or you have to reach a certain volume i.e. you get a small batch of the colour you want when you buy a bunch of other colour.
The failure rate is not low as well and the defective products are sold at discount to tradesmen who then move them on as some special "marbled" batch. That's why you see all those so called "marbled" shell cordovan wallets and cardholders around. Those "marbled" shell cordovan are originally defective products from the factory's perspective.
Back to High Notch. The jacket looks nice. It is almost exactly what I like save for the zippered cuffs. Congratulations. Good find.

As a Chicago area hobby leatherworker, who spends WAY too much time at Tannery Row (Horween's basically sister company that manages distribution to all but industrial-scale clients) it's interesting because I think people frequently have the pieces right but put them together weirdly.

To start with, maybe the marbled shell cordovan started as some kind of a mistake, or a special request, back in the day, but it is absolutely a standard colorway now that costs the same as any other shell color. It's not produced as much as other stuff, and usually on smaller ***** (edit: lol at the filter, shell cordovan is made out of derriere region of a horse), mostly because it's mainly used for small leather goods (the highest produced is, not surprisingly, black and brown). If you want to, say, make large shoes out of them, you will probably spend a lot of time hunting for large enough hides. But Horween absolutely doesn't see them as "defective".

I've never seen any evidence that a quota system exists, but the old boy system absolutely DOES. One of the first thing a smart leatherworker does is start to call up tanneries directly, because then you get a rep, start forming a relationship, so now I can email my guy and ask for specific stuff, or if he has any lower grade leather he can sell me cheap (frequently fine enough and I find that as long as I'm willing to work around holes, a tannery's reject pile is at least B grade or higher from a reseller website).


If you buy more stuff, it means you probably have a better relationship, so I guess in most cases it amounts to the same thing as a quota, but at the same time, I sometimes feel like I have easier access to shell cordovan (which IS an item where the demand outstrips supply), just by being able to show up at Tannery Row in person, talk to guys and ask what they got, and skip the line, compared to guys in other parts of the country who may buy more.

Japan, as a culture, does this even more so, placing HUGE emphasis on frequent face-to-face interactions. If I were to try to cold-call or email Shinki, chances are they'd just ignore me, until I showed up in person and gave them a business card. And even then, I would absolutely be treated as a lower class buyer, getting the lower quality items, than the locals who can show up every month or so and show pictures and examples of what I'm working on in person. And I'd STILL be expected to show up every six months to a year to keep that relationship.