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We are out of touch with mainstream jacket consumers . . . .

Superfluous

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While passing the time in the veterinarian's waiting room, I came across the following compilation of the purported 50 "best black leather biker jackets" as of October 2017:

https://www.gq.com/gallery/best-black-leather-biker-jackets-to-buy-right-now/amp

Not surprisingly, most of the brands we discuss here are not listed. The absence of established brands such as Aero is surprising given that some of the listed brands are esoteric, niche companies that cannot possibly sell more than a handful of jackets per year.

Cross-zips are the overwhelming favorite. It appears that café racers are out of vogue. Cross-zips provide a more interesting, complicated and diverse look that is presently drawing wide appeal.

Setting aside some of the eyesores on the list, I gotta admit that there are few very cool looking jackets offered by the high end fashion brands. Of course, their leathers are likely of a different ilk than that exalted here.

As evidenced by the "list" promulgated by GQ Magazine, the vast majority of global jacket buyers -- even very high end jacket buyers willing to shell out considerable sums for a signature piece -- are wildly uninformed lemmings myopically fixated on the intensely marketed fashion brands. They are unwilling to think outside the box, explore uncharted waters, and seek out new/better options. Instead, they follow their peers lockstep, intent on conforming to the fashion de jour dictated to them by Madison Avenue. Oh well. Let the majority remain uninformed sheep. Less competition for the brands I favor.
 

red devil

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I guess these niche makers they found are still playing the fashion game somehow?

Also interesting to see that the major fashion brands keep increasing their prices regardless of market situation...
 

Sloan1874

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The two Ralph Laurens are nice, but that quilted Balmain monstrosity, and at almost $5K? Jeez.
It's striking how shapeless so many of them are, which completely misses the key aspect of this design: the cool, heavily waisted, broad shouldered silhouette. I can only imagine this is down to using the softest, most corrected leather they could find.
I certainly wouldn't say no to a Perfecto somewhere down the line, I almost bought one in Aero's sale in 2016, but the majority of these just feel as if they've designed by somebody trying to remember what Brando wore in The Wild One or was simply altering a base template to fit.
 

Justhandguns

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Obviously we are not their target audiences. GQ and alike are selling high-fashion styles which are perfectly aligned with their sponsors anyway. Some of their articles are simply copy and paste from the other magazines from the same publisher.

Honestly, a few those jackets do look very good regardless of the pricing. The writer probably is some twenty-ish young fellow who think the more you pay the better you get. Here is in London, I am pretty sure there is no shortage of rich men who can easily afford a 5k jacket, especially those young men who are born in the oil families. At the end of the day, they only need to sell a few hundreds of those jackets around the world.
 

Edward

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The two Ralph Laurens are nice, but that quilted Balmain monstrosity, and at almost $5K? Jeez.
It's striking how shapeless so many of them are, which completely misses the key aspect of this design: the cool, heavily waisted, broad shouldered silhouette. I can only imagine this is down to using the softest, most corrected leather they could find.
I certainly wouldn't say no to a Perfecto somewhere down the line, I almost bought one in Aero's sale in 2016, but the majority of these just feel as if they've designed by somebody trying to remember what Brando wore in The Wild One or was simply altering a base template to fit.

Indeed. It's a style that gets much abused - such as, for instance, the second one on their list, which is far too long in the body and throws off the balance of the design significantly.

The Perfecto is very much a classic design. I would love to have an Aero one made for me eventually, though TBH its' such a generic style, it's actually not hard to find one that's much cheaper than any of the premium brands and still plenty wearable (to that end, I've always found new Schotts in the UK wildly overpriced). I picked up a second hand Schott 618 a few years ago which does for now, though the Aero is a much, much nicer jacket.

Interesting - is it mainstream? The only mainstream jacket buyers I know would never pay more than $100 to $150 for any kind of jacket.

IME, GQ is the kind of magazine that sells, as it has been put above, an "aspirational" lifestyle, regularly featuring jeans at £300, suit trousers at £400, Jackets north of £1,000..... all "this season", too.... Overpriced, disposable fashion in the main. Most of the magazine buyers won't be able to afford it; I don't buy GQ because they rarely feature anything I'd want to buy even if I could afford it.
 

Doctor Damage

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If anyone is looking to Schott Perfecto jackets for the broad-shoulder, narrow-waist look then one look at their measurements numbers should end that dream.
 
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Cyber Lip

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Seems like the only people wearing cross zip MC style jackets anymore besides real bikers, are women. Women wearing really awful and cheap looking versions of this style in every possible variation is a fad that I'm surprised hasn't burned out yet
 

technovox

One Too Many
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San Francisco
Most of them seem to be over-priced fashion statements. Except for the Schott. Too bad they didn't include an Aero or a Vanson.
Personally, I've always thought that once an item makes it into GQ, its fashion shelf-life has definitely expired.
I'm hoping they'll leave cafe racer jackets off the pages for a while.
 
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