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Talon zippers on a Chinese-made jacket? Can you help me ID this?

Jumper

A-List Customer
Messages
450
Location
Kentucky!
Hoping someone can enlighten me on this.

The backstory: Came across a jacket for crazy cheap online back in the summer. Looked like the couple of Brooks jackets I have, and others I've seen. Missing its zip-in liner, no label, no size tag. No measurements, but listed as a medium/large, which, given that the seller didn't answer my request for measurements, was near enough at the price. Tried it on when it arrived. Too big on me (definitely no medium, at 23.75" pit to pit), but probably about right for my brother, so thought I'd clean it up later and gift it. Hung it up and mostly forgot about it. Got it out the other day to do proper measurements and look at what needs to be done to it. Then I noticed the "Made in China" tag.

Pardon my ignorance—I'm a newbie, so what would I know?, but I wouldn't have guessed I'd find Talon hardware on a Chinese-made jacket. Was this outsourced by an American company? Any help identifying the brand, and any info on the brand/maker, would be much appreciated.

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Wasn't Talon made in China, too? The US Talon has a large USA engraved lettering on the machine while the outsourced one doesn't. That's what I read, at least. Could be wrong.
 

Jumper

A-List Customer
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450
Location
Kentucky!
Wasn't Talon made in China, too? The US Talon has a large USA engraved lettering on the machine while the outsourced one doesn't. That's what I read, at least. Could be wrong.
The mystery deepens. These Talons are, to my eye, identical to those on my two Brooks jackets (one '70s Gold label, one '80s red/black label), and I have a Campus half-belt from the '50s and a '70s (I think) Cooper, all with Talons, and none of them with USA anywhere on them. Unless I just don't know where to look, which is possible...
 

Will Zach

I'll Lock Up
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4,415
Location
SoFlo
There were a couple of threads on leather jackets made in China; some of them actually of more-than-decent quality leather. Invariably the hardware quality was inferior to original Talon zippers or quality Talon reproductions used in Japanese jackets. So it is likely that the zippers on your jacket are also made in China. Not sure if under license or a knockoff tbh.
 

Blackadder

My Mail is Forwarded Here
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3,816
Location
China
Back before the 90s, company may ship materials like long strain engineered cotton cloth or modern blend yarn into China for them to make the final products because there weren't many choices of materials available in China. Having said that I don't think brass zipper is that hard to find. It could be that company wants to use better materials while still enjoy the cost saving of having the sewing work done in China.
 

Mich486

One Too Many
Messages
1,668
Sorry off-topic as much as one can go but I have question:

Why all of a sudden I keep reading “y’all” everywhere online?

Is it an American English thing? Never seem to have noticed it before the summer. Also I’m not a native English speaker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Honeyman1935

One of the Regulars
Messages
123
Doesn’t Talon get most of their zippers mass-produced in China?? From what Iv heard they do and the quality is leaps and bounds behind the quality of Japanese reproduction talons.
 

Jumper

A-List Customer
Messages
450
Location
Kentucky!
Sorry off-topic as much as one can go but I have question:

Why all of a sudden I keep reading “y’all” everywhere online?

Is it an American English thing? Never seem to have noticed it before the summer. Also I’m not a native English speaker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It is indeed an American English thing, used in some parts of the U.S., especially in the South. I haven't noticed it proliferating online lately, but then again, if I saw it I probably wouldn't think twice about it.

Also, it's always used to address multiple people. Despite cliched and stereotypical treatments of Southern dialects found in writing and movies, you don't say it to just a single person. At least, not where I'm from.
 

Skyhawk

Vendor
Messages
358
Location
Portland, OR
Sure Talon may make their cheaper modern zips in China, but I believe that the vintage stuff is made in the USA. Some Japanese zipper companies actually use vintage reproduction Talon Pullers from the USA. The China made Talon vintage zippers are counterfeit and the tapes are usually synthetic. The quality is inferior to the USA made or Japan made stuff.

-Jay
 
Messages
16,404
Sorry off-topic as much as one can go but I have question:

Why all of a sudden I keep reading “y’all” everywhere online?

Is it an American English thing? Never seem to have noticed it before the summer. Also I’m not a native English speaker.

You are correct. Recently, "Y'all" has been rising in popularity as an internet speak kinda thing which is primarily why you have been noticing. Same as finna, rn, etc. It's just slang. Cringey af, I know, but fun to use in an ironic sorta way. I guess.
 

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