Aero Blue Label Project

Mich486 said:

Still quite pricey though. At that price point I might drop another £100 and get a regular one. I think they should discount them at least at 30% of their original price otherwise I see little incentive.

But yeah to an untrained eye like mine sone really look like they have no defect whatsoever so kudos to aero for describing exactly what is not right compared to standard jackets.

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There won't be any defects because these aren't 'seconds', they are exactly the same as the regular item that leaves the factory, except that some details might vary, or - as in this case - there might be a variation in the hue of the leather panels. Given that the sole difference is cosmetic, I'd say that's quite the whack of a pricecut Aero are offering. Remember, the only difference in the production of this jacket is that the materials will have cost a bit less, given they are (mostly) based on using what might otherwise be scrap. The hardware, lining, labelling and, most of all, labour cost in putting them together is gonig to be exactly the same, so you can't really expect them to cut to the extent where it isn't worth it to them as a business. After all, much as the folks who work at Aero love what they do, they could hardly afford to do it all if they didn't make money from it.

willyto said:

My Aero half belt made by Ken has one of these Blue Labels too. As I recall it was a sample made by him so this can't be something new, they're just promoting it.

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Indeed - and at that, it's purely a differnece in shade from one his to the next: this is most assuredly not the same as the frnakenstein jackets that were part storse and part horse!

The Blue Label was put in my Apprentice Made Highwayman when I bought it in Spring 2012, not long before they created the Robin Hood AM label (presumably to mark them out as one or two appeared on ebay later on looking for more than they went for new, being represented as the regular line, when the earlyu AMs were sold at almost cost), and it had already been around for a while then.

It's funny, we have a few people who come here to say that their brand new very expensive jacket has some very slight problem and should they return it and demand it be remade.

Then we have people who are all too happy to have an opportunity to buy a slightly cheaper jacket with some irregularities.

Then we have people who claim that these irregularities aren't problems and that they are the equal of the full priced product.

I guess it comes down to what you consider to be "second" quality.

True, SOME of the Blue Label jackets are very close to the quality Aero put their main label on. Certainly not all of them are as bad as the mismatched Dust Bowl I singled out. And that Dust Bowl was a good bit less than the others.

But these are not as high standard as the jackets Aero sells with their regular label.

Whether they're worth it is up to the buyer to decide. I'm not saying that they're not (although I wouldn't have paid 50GBP for that Dust Bowl, personally) but some do look like a good deal if you are willing to overlook some minor flaws.

My only point in bringing this up was that I was concerned that their willingness to let these out the door could be a sign that they are in need of some quick revenue to offset recent losses. I'm not saying that *is* the reason for the sale -- I don't know that. But it's just the impression that I got from their announcement.

I think this is the comment that was a little disturbing, seemed to me a little irresponsible to suggest a company may be in financial difficulty without any kind of evidence other than an opinion the sale of these six or so jackets.

Just seems an odd conclusion to jump to?

l0fielectronic said:

I think this is the comment that was a little disturbing, seemed to me a little irresponsible to suggest a company may be in financial difficulty without any kind of evidence other than an opinion the sale of these six or so jackets.

Just seems an odd conclusion to jump to?

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Who said I had arrived at a conclusion? I've only said that it looks as though they may be a bit strapped, and that I hope it's not the case.

Edward said:

There won't be any defects because these aren't 'seconds', they are exactly the same as the regular item that leaves the factory, except that some details might vary, or - as in this case - there might be a variation in the hue of the leather panels. Given that the sole difference is cosmetic, I'd say that's quite the whack of a pricecut Aero are offering. Remember, the only difference in the production of this jacket is that the materials will have cost a bit less, given they are (mostly) based on using what might otherwise be scrap. The hardware, lining, labelling and, most of all, labour cost in putting them together is gonig to be exactly the same, so you can't really expect them to cut to the extent where it isn't worth it to them as a business. After all, much as the folks who work at Aero love what they do, they could hardly afford to do it all if they didn't make money from it.



Indeed - and at that, it's purely a differnece in shade from one his to the next: this is most assuredly not the same as the frnakenstein jackets that were part storse and part horse!

The Blue Label was put in my Apprentice Made Highwayman when I bought it in Spring 2012, not long before they created the Robin Hood AM label (presumably to mark them out as one or two appeared on ebay later on looking for more than they went for new, being represented as the regular line, when the earlyu AMs were sold at almost cost), and it had already been around for a while then.

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I don’t know Edward... paying £500 instead of £600 for a jacket made with scrap leather - although stitched and put together with the same level of craftsmanship - to me doesn’t sound like a mighty good deal.

To each his own but what I wanted to say is that personally I prefer to pay that bit extra and get the regular product. Other people might see it differently.


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I will put a little link here to the information page which tells a little more about our Blue Label Range http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/product-detail.php?id=3482

Unlike fabric where every inch of a roll can be used, Leather is a completely different medium, especially when working with Full Grain uncorrected Leather that has all the natural scars and marks, some beautiful some not so. Also we are working with very irregular shaped skins of various sizes, some very small skins, different thickness and different colours. Each skin is as individual as a finger print. Sometimes we need to use as many as 4 skins to cut a jacket especially larger sizes/styles. As you can imagine we are left with a lot of larger pieces of leather (big enough for jacket panels) that are far from scrap.
Our Blue Labels are not cut from ‘floor’ scrap, we also do not just include any old mark into these jackets, they are still carefully selected and matched but due to those pieces possibly coming from different batches sometimes months apart 100% perfect matching is impossible. There is a lot of leather that we wouldn’t dream of including in our jackets regular or Blue Label.
We would prefer not to feel the need for a cheaper range of jackets but in these days where a lot of people want prestine unblemished jackets, want full grain leather but then complain if it has natural markings we have no option. ( forums like these may be somewhat to blame).
The Blue Label range is cut just as they were cut back in the day when Horshide Leather jackets were workcoats, or Army uniform and people weren’t as hung up on perfection.
The Blue Label jackets are not seconds, they are made by regular Aero Machinists, the Leather is current Aero leather, no serious marks, or holes will be present, branding, mane lines etc.... will be present (those pieces will be binned).

We are giving people that can see through the imperfections and imagine how good these jackets will look with a little bit of wear and once broken in a chance to grab a great jacket at an affordable price.


For those concerned about the companies finances, Thank you for your concern but we are doing just fine, we are just finding an avenue to reduce our leather pile.

For those concerned about the companies finances, Thank you for your concern but we are doing just fine, we are just finding an avenue to reduce our leather pile.

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That's great to hear.

Hide'n'seek said:

( forums like these may be somewhat to blame).

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Lol this made me chuckle.....I’m sure forums like these are more than “somewhat” to blame [emoji23]

ProteinNerd said:

Lol this made me chuckle.....I’m sure forums like these are more than “somewhat” to blame [emoji23]

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On the other hand I would never have heard of Aero, and gone on to buy two of their jackets, if not for forums like this!
I can see the flipside though. I am an electrician and I run my own business doing primarily residential work for homeowners and contractors alike. I have declined all offers to be listed on Yelp or other such review sites because I like to keep a low profile and grow my business through word of mouth referrals. I also know that if I had to read reviews of people critiquing and dissecting my work the way we do jackets and their makers here I wouldn't like it.
With that in mind I would like to thank everyone at Aero for being such good sports and for contributing the benefit of their knowledge and expertise to this forum. They don't post often, but when they do I usually learn something new.

I agree forums like these are double edged swords, weirdo obsessives like us can either give the most amazing positive feedback and reviews or heaven forbid we feel the opposite and have the need to vent and complain about some obsessive little detail that most people wouldn’t notice in a million years....

ProteinNerd said:

Lol this made me chuckle.....I’m sure forums like these are more than “somewhat” to blame [emoji23]

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We may make up for it by buying a new jacket every three months though.