Johnson Leather Custom Jacket (and Aero Teamster and Vanson Stadium)

Hello everyone,

after reading along for quite a while and taking advantage of the collected wisdom and experience on this board, I finally managed to sign up with a tolerable e-mail adress and would like to contribute some of my experiences and purchases with all of you in return.

I bought three jackets over the past 18 months. First one was an Aero Teamster in late '13 I think. I could find very little information about it here back then (unlike now, it appears the Teamster is all the rage these days, eh? ) and it was my first high-end leather jacket purchase, but it paid off and besides some minor concerns, I was happy with it. I might write a more detailed comparison or review when I get around to it, but for now short summary will have to do: leather is stunning, cut of armholes is terrible.

Next, I wanted some military-inspired-bomberish-designed jacket. That turned out to be more difficult than you would think, maybe because historical accuracy did not matter to me and frankly, I strongly dislike the patch-on-flap-pockets on the A2s. In the end, I bought the Vanson Stadium, which combined the bomber look with a more civil pocket design even though there was zero information about it on the internet. However it was a real bargain at astonishing 450ish dollars, so how could I resist and what could possibly go wrong? I'll probably write a review on that one because of the very reason there is very little information about it on the Internet and it certainly deserves some, so short story: It's a great jacket for the money, however the cut is (what I suppose historically correct) extremely short while the sleeves are a tad too long for me. Anyone interested into the design, I can recommend the jacket, but would advice to add 1" in body-length and double-check with Vanson about the sleeves as well. Leather feels incredibly strong. Must be something about Vansons tanning. The Aero Teamsters FQHH is crazy-thick and makes the praised Vanson competition leather look thin, however the later has a ruggedness about it, which I would not contribute to the buttery-soft FQHH.

The latest jacket I received was a custom cafe racer / Highwayman mash-up by Johnson Leather. Leather is 3.5 oz naked cow hide. Alan sent me different samples of 3.5 oz naked cow, SFPD one, something called Californian something and the one, I ultimately chose. Of the three, it was the dullest, least shiny one. Business with Alan was a real pleasure. I literally mass-bombed the poor bloke with mails and he replied to every single one of them, in shortest time, kind and helpful and made sure everything on the jacket got just like I wanted it to. I will post fit pictures at the weekend, but I can tell you, the fit is spot on. It's a very snug fit which I wanted as a contrast to my Teamster and Stadium, yet complete freedom of movement. I mean, I can actually raise my arms in that one. Size is a 42 with a strongly tapered waist. (I have a 42" chest and a 37" waist)

You always find some things you would have done differently looking back at it and design-wise that's it with that jacket too, but I still love it as my best fitting jacket. I have already decided to order another custom job at Johnson Leather where I will adress these minor things I noticed wearing this one. Hopefully my exit-jacket then, before this addiction gets completly out of hand.

Now, I registered at photobucket only today to upload the pictures for this thread, so don't be surprised and remain patient if it takes me some edits and tests to properly link them here.

Teamster; don't understand why people are so concerned with stiffness of FQHH. Wore it like a month every day for 1-2h and it's buttery soft already in warm climate. I noticed the leather's condition very much depends on temperature, probably due to the immense amount of wax in it:


Vanson Stadium; it's basicly unworn and not broken in at all, as it's too thin for winter and now in spring I currently wear my Johnson Leather instead which I feel more comfortable in due to the mentioned issues with the Vanson fit. I'll post a fit picture of this too this weekend, so you can judge by yourselves.


Last, the Johnson Leather. All of the pics were taken in a bit of a hurry with the underwhelming camera of my Iphone 4, so I apologize for the poor quality. I will eventually take better ones.






If you have any question about any of the jackets, ask!
Yours,
TD

Oh no, bad links.....:-(

No bad links for me. The photos show up...

Okay, I'm not sure whether that is because I moved the pictures to another album at photobucket or because the privacy setting is set as private. I'll change the later and update all links, just to make sure. I can see pictures btw, when I started the thread, all of them, now: all except the last two. Strange stuff.

edit: done as said, hope no more problems now. Any specific questions or picture requests welcome!

Now they work...
Nice jackets you have there!

Very nice jackets indeed! The Vanson Stadium is rarely seen on the Internet. I find it odd, though, that you find the Vanson competition weight cowhide to be thinner than the Horween FQHH. The CXL FQHH is supposed to be 3oz, while the Vanson comp. weight cowhide is around 3.5oz. Could be a lighter batch of leather or the fact that your Teamster is lined with thick, Alpaca wool .

probably that vanson stadium is not popular due to the raglan shoulder. Understandable from classic aesthetic point of view, however I can testify raglan shoulder has much nicer mobility and won't bunched up as normal shoulder.

Welcome to the Lounge, Jacketjunkie.
I also have the Vanson Stadium jacket, as well as the Team Logo version of same. The jackets did seem a bit short in the body, when new, but with continued wearing they have "eased up" a considerable amount and are now a perfectly fine length. I believe that sewing the heavy wool waistband in place caused the leather to roll inwards and to "draw up." With wear, this area has relaxed and straightened.
The sleeves, after developing quite a bit of creasing, have shortened as well. They will never be in danger of being too short but no longer appear overly long. The mobility of the raglan style is a real plus.
These are two of my favorite jackets and can be worn for much of the year, as out here we need a good windproof jacket for tornado season, which runs from December through November, or so.

I don't recall my brown FQHH Teamster ever being stiff and just keeps getting better and better with age, which is the reason my Teamster is probably my favorite. With moleskin body and cotton drill sleeve linings, it is my go to winter/foul weather coat.

Welcome and commiserations.
After joining this place, there's no way a man in his right mind could ever be satisfied with a collection of only three jackets.....

p.s. lovely jackets!!!

Three very nice jackets!

Thank you everyone for the welcomes and compliments. I'm dieing to show you fit pictures already, as there's no way you can actually appreciate the art of work Alan has delivered on the custom without seeing these, but long work days and living alone at an appartment at weekdays will delay this til Saturday.

Mendelboaz, I assume it's a combination of having received a crazy thick batch of FQHH from Aero (the jacket weighs in at 3-4kgs) and Vanson probably having used a thin batch of competition weight leather for better drape in that style of jacket. That being said, the Vanson is still crazy heavy for such a short jacket and perfectly stands by itself. (All three of them did when new.)

navetsea, yeah, the shoulder design is unusual but the mentioned effect was exactly what attracted me to it. Always looking strange when you raise your arms and the shoulder seams bunch up too much.

IXL, your experience with the jacket winning some length once the leather starts relaxing is good to hear and fit my own speculations. Good to hear other people out there are happy with the jacket, that encourages to throw it on and wear it in properly. The jacket is indeed wearable 12 months a year, due to very thin lining it's a decent summer jacket (at least for the moderate temperature summers we have here) and it's wide enough to layer thick below it, using it as an outer hardshell, which suits me well as I prefer layering to wearing one thick jacket due to the increased flexibility to adjust to temperature variations.

Fanch, the FQHH indeed just gets better with time, I love how the grain just keeps getting better every time I put it on. I wear it in early spring and in fall, even though I try to avoid strong rain. I know, fqhh can take it, but I'm no fan of taking it to the Limits for the sake of doing so.

Worf, I can't recommend Alan enough. They offer sending out try on jackets and if you're not from the USA like me, they send out mock-up cloth jackets, so you can nail the fit exactly as you want to. And they offer a wide range of leather and can also get the Horween FQHH, even though they do not always have it in stock. Having dealed with Aero, Vanson and Johnson Leathers (and a brief contact with Stuart from Lost Worlds which went exactly as you would expect and caused me to decide to rather drop my 1000 bucks elsewhere regardless of quality of product), it's for a reason I plan to get my next jacket from Johnson, again. They win in fit and customer service by a mile. The only thing that could make me go to Aero again is the FQHH which of the three leathers, is the most beautiful one. But if Alan can make you a jacket in that leather, it's going to be a winner, not even a contest there. (Aeros customer service, especially Holly are great too, but they are going the extra mile at JL.)

Yours,
TD

it's very nice that naked cow registers even subtle creases and dimples individually throughout its surface, whereas a finished hide would group them up into a single deep crease mark.

Very nice jackets, but I prefer the design of Johnson leathers jacket the most.

Beautiful selection of jackets. Another vote for the Johnson. More and more, they're looking like my next order. Good to hear that they can get the FQHH if you're willing to wait.

Worf said:

Sounds like you've "got the sickness" alright, good and proper. I love the Johnson Leathers jobby, gonna have to get one done up for me one day.

Worf

Click to expand...

+1

That JL speaks to me.

Really looking forward to fit pics!

Took me a while longer than expected to get fit pictures done, but here they are, at least a few. I had originally planned to photoshop my face out of them so please do not judge me for my "rugged finish", it's been my day off after 6 days of long working hours, couldn't care less about looks that one day in the week. Anyway, I suck at photoshop and I figured it wouldn't matter anyhow, as anyone who knows me and stumbles accross this forum, will recognize me by the jacket and overall appearance anyway, regardless of face on/off. (Hello NSA!)

Nice. . It takes courage to show your head on a public forum. You've swallowed the non-anonymity pill, and we thank you for it, as it makes your wonderful jacket photos more lively.

Hey jacketjunkie,

now I like Your Johnsons jacket even more Could You tell how much % increased the price of the jacket due to its import form the States (customs, VAT, shipping, .....)?

Best regards, Samo