Freewheelers Caboose Jacket

Big J said:

@ton312
I occasionally come across really neat vintage bear skin boots, shark skin shoes, deer skin gloves, hakama and jackets for horseback hunting, but the sizes are all so tiny, and they are excluded from the official selection of 'traditional' Japanese wear that you can buy today. Which is a real shame. Deer skin hakama are something I especially like, working just like a cowboys chaps. And short deer skin jackets with cord ties instead of buttons look really neat, kind of lancer style. There's a rich heritage there ripe for reviving and mining for inspiration.

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Fascinating read, all of it, @Big J but this is something I find particularly interesting as I've been wondering if such a thing as a leather hakama exists! Which I guess I now known. I've always loved hakama, ever since I bought one while still practicing Japanese sword fighting. I sort of wore them everywhere for a while but people'd give me weird look so I figured I must've looked as a damn hipster (even tho that was long before the term even existed, at least in the context of today) but the point is, they're really great, comfortable and in my opinion, nice looking pants.

Then again my taste in pants isn't all that healthy as my favorite pants in the world seen are the ones in the original Star Trek. Yeah, the bell shaped legs...

As our world grows more homogenous, I wonder if we eventually will be wearing the same garments. Not dissimilar to Star Trek at all. As I travel around the US, I find it harder and harder to find unique "regional" food and culture. Unless you are a religious group, it seems very difficult to maintain your identity against corporate bohemoths. Even the whole denim/ selvage / vintage jacket theme is pretty universal now...at least I feel that way looking at IG. It is hard to stay "different", and even that seems to be fed to us "top-down."

@Monitor, as I understand it, hakama were invented as riding wear, kimono don't really work on a horse. Since only aristocrats (and later they became samurai) could afford to keep horses, they became part of the 'uniform' for many martial arts. Just like UK court wigs, they became a symbol of power after their practical purpose became irrelevant.
I've only seen three pairs of deer skin hakama in 20 years. They were all at least 100 years old I reckon, due to the size. All deer skin, with stitched in seams. They were all beautifully patina'd. I probably should have bought them just as curiosities. I'd like to try and get some made sometime. I found them all over the years at the flea market held in Kyoto's Toji temple (held on the 21st of each month). I think that Kyoto being spared USAF fire bombing is why so much good stuff still turns up there. I bought an excellent woodblock print there from the 1870's that showed contemporary Japanese in the park outside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo wearing awesome combinations of Japanese and western formal wear together; hakama and top hats with western umbrellas!

@Benny, you should go! Japan had a rich roaring twenties culture that still leaves a footprint if you look for it.

@Seb, I was never much interested in my own culture when I was immersed in it. I think that living abroad has made me nostalgic for it, which is why I get interested in things from my childhood (like Cold War flight jackets). There's also a degree of cultural distancing as well; I get news from the internet and TV, but sometimes my high school friends post something on Facebook and I just haven't got a clue what they are talking about. I run back to vintage which is my 'safe space' lolz.
In much the same way, maybe most japanese just kind of take their culture for granted? I don't know. There's a lot of conflicting forces pulling the culture in different directions. US cultural influence is so deeply embedded that many Japanese may now find it indistinguishable. I read a survey about 10 years back that said about 50% of Japanese thought MacDonalds was a Japanese company! KFC *IS* Christmas in Japan with 95% of annual profits coming in on 24th & 25th of December.
There was a great exhibition in Boston a couple of years ago that showed kimono with Imperial era imagery (battleships, bombers, ranks of soldiers advancing out of clouds of gun smoke), and that connection with tradition and Japan's facist history is still a tug of war playing out today, which negatively effects domestic perceptions of traditional clothes. It shouldn't have to be this way, a French man can wear a beret without being accused of being a right-wing nationalist, but Japan as a society hasn't been able to fully liberate the symbols of its culture from backwards looking right-wing groups. This is a contributing factor in the decline of all traditional clothing manufacturers.

@red devil, funny you should say that. I'm on a research trip to a major festival, and two hours after I posted my last comment, I got in the hotel elevator and saw an outlier!
A guy steps in wearing a denim yukata (a simple single layer kimono style worn in bath houses, hotels, and in brighter colors for young ladies at summer festivals). It was pretty awesome, faded out in areas, and had contrasting white stitching. And I was thinking 'this is like what happens when sushi goes abroad and comes home again' (google hamburger sushi). The Japanese had cotton, and dyed it with natural indigo blue dye as an antiseptic for use as workwear (and kendo gear). Along comes Admiral Perry, opens the country, and the USN realizes that their beige denim workwear uniforms that they bleach white to keep clean, could easily by dark indigo blue and hide stains. Is this the origin of traditional all-white and all-blue naval uniforms around the world? I don't know, but it's a tantalizing research proposition.
Anyway, the US invents blue denim, and now it's come back to Japan to be made into traditional clothes. Brilliant concept (although denim must be too hot to wear like that all day).

There's so many beautiful Japanese fabrics designs and colors that could be really refreshing as linings and such.

dudewuttheheck said:

Mostly the sleeves, but there were other dislikes as well. I was even told that I should have just gone with a 40. I'm not trying to just discount them, more pointing out the completely different reactions between different forums.

Personally, I don't even think that the sleeves are that bad. I would be shocked if they don't settle into a nice length within a year.

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If ever you wanted to size down to a 40 let me know I would love the 42 and cannot find one for love nor money. I just got the Mulholland and I love it.

LeFonque said:

If ever you wanted to size down to a 40 let me know I would love the 42 and cannot find one for love nor money. I just got the Mulholland and I love it.

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These guys have size 40
https://www.genco-clothing.com/item/1631013-BR16/?mode=pc

But doesn't hurt to email them and ask when they will have size 42. This is one of the season when they regularly get new stock in

red devil said:

These guys have size 40
https://www.genco-clothing.com/item/1631013-BR16/?mode=pc

But doesn't hurt to email them and ask when they will have size 42. This is one of the season when they regularly get new stock in

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Thank you. I emailed them and they only have the 40. Guess I have to drop more weight. Oh well such is life. But again thanks for the suggestion I appreciate the help.

LeFonque said:

If ever you wanted to size down to a 40 let me know I would love the 42 and cannot find one for love nor money. I just got the Mulholland and I love it.

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I definitely will not be sizing down. Any smaller and I won't fit, especially after hitting the gym and bumping my chest up by 1.5 inches. I would ask the normal retailers when the restock is coming. They are usually very helpful about that.

Some jacket designs are very unforgiving with athletic physiques. Specially those for japanese bodies in mind.

dudewuttheheck said:

I definitely will not be sizing down. Any smaller and I won't fit, especially after hitting the gym and bumping my chest up by 1.5 inches. I would ask the normal retailers when the restock is coming. They are usually very helpful about that.

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It sure is a great jacket and in my humble opinion is a good fit on you.

LeFonque said:

Thank you. I emailed them and they only have the 40. Guess I have to drop more weight. Oh well such is life. But again thanks for the suggestion I appreciate the help.

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Just keep in mind that japanese size 40 sometimes goes closer to usual/regular size 38, i.e. japanese jackets are often on a small side (a half-size or even a size down than tagged).
P.S. Caboose looks fantastic, I also like their Mulholland pattern.

Lebowski said:

Just keep in mind that japanese size 40 sometimes goes closer to usual/regular size 38, i.e. japanese jackets are often on a small side (a half-size or even a size down than tagged).
P.S. Caboose looks fantastic, I also like their Mulholland pattern.

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Definitely agree. Depending on the maker but just looking at their measurements you can already tell that.

Meanwhile other brands are actually the opposite in my experience. They are sized bigger! In the end one has to rely on the measurements.

willyto said:

In the end one has to rely on the measurements.

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Of course, that's the only correct way to take any decision with any jacket.

willyto said:

Definitely agree. Depending on the maker but just looking at their measurements you can already tell that.

Meanwhile other brands are actually the opposite in my experience. They are sized bigger! In the end one has to rely on the measurements.

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Even the same manufacturer can have jackets that fit quite differently. I never buy any item of clothing without specific measurements.

I’ll add especially when buying internationally given that returning is a pain if even accepted.


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dudewuttheheck said:

I definitely will not be sizing down. Any smaller and I won't fit, especially after hitting the gym and bumping my chest up by 1.5 inches. I would ask the normal retailers when the restock is coming. They are usually very helpful about that.

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if you hit the gym your neck would be even wider, and would make matter worse on the fit around the shoulder and neck opening, as now it seems the base of the collar is already a bit too small for your neck, just lose some weight I imagine it would fit better. just my opinion sorry

navetsea said:

if you hit the gym your neck would be even wider, and would make matter worse on the fit around the shoulder and neck opening, as now it seems the base of the collar is already a bit too small for your neck, just lose some weight I imagine it would fit better. just my opinion sorry

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Nah I'd rather drop weight while gaining muscle, which is what I have been doing lately. Obviously I need to drop some fat, but I don't care how the neck fits.

navetsea said:

if you hit the gym your neck would be even wider

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Thick necks are usually a telltale sign of steroid use. There are a lot of androgen receptors in the traps and upper chest and they respond well even without a lot of direct work in guys on roids.

Most natural lifters wont gain significant width in their neck so no need to fear.

ProteinNerd said:

Thick necks are usually a telltale sign of steroid use. There are a lot of androgen receptors in the traps and upper chest and they respond well even without a lot of direct work in guys on roids.

Most natural lifters wont gain significant width in their neck so no need to fear.

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My neck is already ridiculously thick. I don't think it could get any larger

That is an amazing jacket. Some body frames just pull off certain styles better for sure. Having lived in all points in Japan (Sasebo,Yokosuka and Misawa), many American '50's style hangs on. You used to see so much of it in Harajiku, before X-Japan craze took over. This was all in the mid '90's. Yokohama and around Yokosuka used to have many shops that carried Aloha shirts and flight jackets. There were a few pockets of hard core HD riders who looked the part for sure. I could never buy anything since 189cm and 100kilos is not conducive to Japanese sizing. The deerskin chaps can be seen in some of the remaining castles along with some amazing indigo dyed clothes. I think there is a place in Kamakura that still dyes clothes the traditional way in giant wooden vats. I do miss Japan and its culture. 17 years saw so many changes in cultural norms. My son moved back to Yokosuka area and is loving life again.

R/ David

So, does this jacket fit properly now?
You've been changing your body shape.
Any fit pics?

I only ask because I believe that these jackets are patterned for the average Japanese body shape, and I'm interested to know how this worked out. Research and all that.