Field Leathers

[Harris HTM]

I believe this jacket was a standard ready to wear run made by Field Leathers- not really to a specification for a particular customer. But yes, I also believe this particular influencer co-designed the jacket with Field Leathers.

Yes, you are right, this is what I meant, probably should have used the word "designer" instead of "customer".

 

[SolisLumen]

Looking forward to read the first reviews and see pictures. For a new company with no customer base nor standing in the community (yet) I feel the 800-1000 GBP pricing is quite ambitious but I'll gladly be proven wrong. Maybe that's just me being disappointed, having hoped for a new player in the 500-600 GBP price segment with Aeros prices having gone up and beyond over the past decade, we'll see!

I’ve been reading through these forums for a long time now – some threads from the very beginning – and I genuinely enjoy the passion and knowledge this community brings together. But since most voices here seem to come from collectors and enthusiasts rather than makers, I’d like to offer a perspective from the other side of the sewing machine, if I may.

A handmade, lined leather jacket from a one-man operation in the UK for £800–1,000, year 2020, isn’t ambitious pricing – it’s actually quite modest. Eastman, Aero, Lost Worlds – they’re all in that range or well above it, and they have actual workshops with multiple people.
If Greg is doing everything himself – cutting, sewing, lining, finishing – there are easily 20–40 hours of work in each jacket. At a fair UK craftsman’s rate, £800 is already cutting it close. Expecting £500–600 basically means expecting him to work below minimum wage.

And as for being “new” or unknown – that’s simply not an argument when it comes to craft. Leatherwork is a skilled trade. You learn it, you master it, you practise it for years before you ever hang out a shingle. The fact that someone isn’t yet known in this community doesn’t mean they lack experience – it just means they haven’t been discussed here yet. Those are very different things.

The comparison with Aero is telling, actually – their prices haven’t gone up for no reason. Quality handwork in the UK costs money. If you want cheaper, you buy from a factory in Pakistan or China – and that’s fine, but it’s a different product entirely.

 

[jacketjunkie]

I’ve been reading through these forums for a long time now – some threads from the very beginning – and I genuinely enjoy the passion and knowledge this community brings together. But since most voices here seem to come from collectors and enthusiasts rather than makers, I’d like to offer a perspective from the other side of the sewing machine, if I may.

A handmade, lined leather jacket from a one-man operation in the UK for £800–1,000, year 2020, isn’t ambitious pricing – it’s actually quite modest. Eastman, Aero, Lost Worlds – they’re all in that range or well above it, and they have actual workshops with multiple people.
If Greg is doing everything himself – cutting, sewing, lining, finishing – there are easily 20–40 hours of work in each jacket. At a fair UK craftsman’s rate, £800 is already cutting it close. Expecting £500–600 basically means expecting him to work below minimum wage.

And as for being “new” or unknown – that’s simply not an argument when it comes to craft. Leatherwork is a skilled trade. You learn it, you master it, you practise it for years before you ever hang out a shingle. The fact that someone isn’t yet known in this community doesn’t mean they lack experience – it just means they haven’t been discussed here yet. Those are very different things.

The comparison with Aero is telling, actually – their prices haven’t gone up for no reason. Quality handwork in the UK costs money. If you want cheaper, you buy from a factory in Pakistan or China – and that’s fine, but it’s a different product entirely.

I hear you but the market is not "1000 GBP plus or buy in China", that is an oversimplification. You are right, for a one-man operation such as Greg, at the time, these prices were as competitive as he could be, with material cost and his own time involved, but you could buy high quality made in the US jackets such as Vanson for half that back in 2020. No one man operation, but not made in China either.

Anyway, that post was 6 years old, Greg has in fact established himself on the market by today and I bet people wished he still offered jackets at 800-1000 as he did back then. If he still does, Kudos to him.

 

[SolisLumen]

I hear you but the market is not "1000 GBP plus or buy in China", that is an oversimplification. You are right, for a one-man operation such as Greg, at the time, these prices were as competitive as he could be, with material cost and his own time involved, but you could buy high quality made in the US jackets such as Vanson for half that back in 2020. No one man operation, but not made in China either.

Anyway, that post was 6 years old, Greg has in fact established himself on the market by today and I bet people wished he still offered jackets at 800-1000 as he did back then. If he still does, Kudos to him.

Fair points, and you’re right – I oversimplified with China. Vanson is a great example and a perfectly valid middle ground.
That said, it’s worth keeping in mind why a US manufacturer like Vanson can hit those price points that a UK one-man-band simply can’t. It’s not magic – it’s scale. They run a proper factory, buy leather by the hide-load, and spread their overhead across hundreds of jackets. Greg is buying materials in small quantities, paying UK prices for everything, and – this often gets overlooked – carrying all the costs of running a small business in the UK entirely on his own shoulders: insurance, liability, workspace, tools, accounting… the list goes on. None of that is cheap, and none of it shows up on the jacket’s label, but it absolutely shows up in the price. A solo craftsman in Britain and a mid-sized American manufacturer are simply not comparable on costs, even if the end product sits in the same category.
And yes – six years on, Greg having established himself really does say it all. The market agreed with him, even if the forum didn’t at the time.

 

[codex]

I’ve been reading through these forums for a long time now – some threads from the very beginning – and I genuinely enjoy the passion and knowledge this community brings together. But since most voices here seem to come from collectors and enthusiasts rather than makers, I’d like to offer a perspective from the other side of the sewing machine, if I may.

A handmade, lined leather jacket from a one-man operation in the UK for £800–1,000, year 2020, isn’t ambitious pricing – it’s actually quite modest. Eastman, Aero, Lost Worlds – they’re all in that range or well above it, and they have actual workshops with multiple people.
If Greg is doing everything himself – cutting, sewing, lining, finishing – there are easily 20–40 hours of work in each jacket. At a fair UK craftsman’s rate, £800 is already cutting it close. Expecting £500–600 basically means expecting him to work below minimum wage.

And as for being “new” or unknown – that’s simply not an argument when it comes to craft. Leatherwork is a skilled trade. You learn it, you master it, you practise it for years before you ever hang out a shingle. The fact that someone isn’t yet known in this community doesn’t mean they lack experience – it just means they haven’t been discussed here yet. Those are very different things.

The comparison with Aero is telling, actually – their prices haven’t gone up for no reason. Quality handwork in the UK costs money. If you want cheaper, you buy from a factory in Pakistan or China – and that’s fine, but it’s a different product entirely.

Please lay off the AI. It's incredibly off-putting and brings nothing to the forum.

 

[SolisLumen]

Please lay off the AI. It's incredibly off-putting and brings nothing to the forum.

Oh ha. I need Deepl to express myself and find the right words in English. My native language is German. It’s a pity that the content isn’t recognized as is. What other options do I have for communicating? In fact, I know what I’m writing about here. For the past 14 years, I worked as a senior patternmaker for a major German fashion group, and I’ve been self-employed since January. I’m not looking for confrontation here, but mainly for the knowledge and exchange within the community. Nevertheless, I’d also like to be able to speak for myself as a craftsperson.

 

[codex]

Oh ha. I need Deepl to express myself and find the right words in English. My native language is German. It’s a pity that the content isn’t recognized as is. What other options do I have for communicating? In fact, I know what I’m writing about here. For the past 14 years, I worked as a senior patternmaker for a major German fashion group, and I’ve been self-employed since January. I’m not looking for confrontation here, but mainly for the knowledge and exchange within the community. Nevertheless, I’d also like to be able to speak for myself as a craftsperson.

Then I would advise you to post translated text that you have written yourself. That would be proper use of the AI.

 

[SolisLumen]

Then I would advise you to post translated text that you have written yourself. That would be proper use of the AI.

Translation tools tend to produce clean, structured language. Being publicly called out for AI — without any prior direct conversation — is discouraging. I understand that forums have their own informal tone and I respect that. But I hope it is also understood that not everyone who writes clearly is using AI, and that people who communicate across a language barrier deserve a little good faith.

 

[cbez]

Deepl does not - produce - ai sounding writing - with 78 ampersands - in fact that is an indicator of ai.

 

[SolisLumen]

Deepl does not - produce - ai sounding writing - with 78 ampersands - in fact that is an indicator of ai.

Dashes (—) NO hyphens (-). You have to press it too times. I appreciate the clarification on AI markers — a hotly debated topic. So a comma instead of a dash. I appreciate the clarification on AI markers, a hotly debated topic. But getting back to the actual topic. I’m curious what others think about pricing transparency in the leather jacket market or how different business structures affect it — seems like nobody cares — or what? Oh sorry. I did it again. I was just looking to network.