FS: Walter Dyer or Natal cafe racer leather jacket, Size 44

Alright, and now for something cool...

Either Walter Dyer or Natal leather jacket in a classic cafe racer, size 44 (though closer to 42).

It's their classic flagship CR so nothing out of the ordinary, design wise.

$200 + shipping. Paypal, Friends / Family.

☛INFO
First off, I have NEVER in my life handled a thicker leather than this. I think the top of the sleeves are bona fide 3+ mm thick. Downright insane. Back is thinner though still crazy thick but the rest of the jacket is impossibly thick.

Other than that, this is quite obviously a full grain, naked cowhide. It's not the spongy kind - Rather firm at places, though relatively pliable.

Rest of the jacket is pretty wild too; Heavily lined with super warm quilted lining. All the pocket bags are freaking canvas & seem tougher than most of my leather jackets.
Zippers are all regular YKK's.

All in all, to describe this jacket as a tank would be an understatement. Toughest jacket I have ever seen. That may be my subjective impression of course but I'm pretty sure anyone will be able to point out a jacket of similar heft.

☛CONDITION
Needless to say, leather shell is intact. Just a few faint creases. All zippers work perfectly. Lining mostly great. However, a few noteworthy issues are...

1. Lining at the left sleeve cuff is a bit frayed (watch, I'm guessing)
2. Also, lining is a bit worn out at the bottom/hem of the jacket, though not all the way through
3. Very top of the right sleeve zipper pull broke off (where the square hole is, for the strap or whatever), though the rest of the pull remained and is fully functional

That's it. Stitching intact. The jacket is as clean as it gets. No odor of any sort.

☛SIZE
As stated, tagged size 44 and the exact measurements, taken outside, are...

• P2P/Chest: 60 cm / 23.5" (there's a quick drop, though, so maybe a bit less)
• Waist/Hem: 51 cm / 20"
• Shoulder width *sigh*: 53 cm / 21"
• Sleeve length: 65 cm / 25.5"
• Back length: 60 cm / 23.5" (front is longer)

Mind the leather thickness! It's hard for me to say how much exactly does it eat up from these numbers.

Shipping to EU is $15. More to US as it's a massively heavy jacket.

Questions? PM me. On to the gallery & don't forget to click on any of the pics for a full size preview.

How much does it weigh?

How can you bear to part with it?
My guess is it's Natal, and a 42.

You got to throw a gym membership into the deal. This thing looks seriously heavy.

You should keep this one Ivan. Fit looks superb.

While making a thorough inspection of the pockets just now - something I realized I haven't actually done - I found the Made in USA and more importantly the size tag belonging to this jacket and it indeed would appear that my initial size assessment was way off and that Guppy was on the money.

Turns out this jacket is a size 44. Short 44 but 44 nonetheless.

I still say this is a pure sz. 42 jacket but it's a well known fact that with Walter Dyer (and thus Natal), you'd better had sized up as their size no. designations were running smaller. But the sleeves & shoulders are still somewhat roomy so bear that in mind.

It looks like the size tag was relocated from inside the collar to inside the pocket for some reason I'm unable to fathom.

These jackets do run snug, and in my experience with the 5 or 6 that I've handled personally, they don't get that much bigger as the tagged size goes higher. I had a 40 that was beautiful but too small, my 42 and 44 are nearly identical in measurements to each other, but only slightly bigger than the 40, so that I don't feel like I'm stuffing myself into a sausage casing wearing them. But if I closed my eyes and tried on the 42 and 44 back to back, I couldn't say which was which.

Guppy said:

How much does it weigh?

How can you bear to part with it?
My guess is it's Natal, and a 42.

Click to expand...

With the recent discovery that I had made, turns out you were, as always, right about the size of the jacket. Looking at the numbers now, they do seem consistent with WD/Natal's under-sizing so yeah, 44 suddenly seems right.

Can't say how much it weighs as I don't have a scale but it feels similar to my Walter Dyer cross zip and considering how much more the WD has going on in terms of leather, hardware and other stuff, there's no doubt that this little CR is made from a considerably heavier hide. But in short, it weighs a LOT.

As for parting with the jacket... @ton312 , while I love the look of a cafe racer on just about anyone else, for some reason I feel utterly bored wearing one. Though I don't dislike the way they look on me! I'm just... Bored. I could either keep this jacket as a conversation piece or pass it along to someone who wants to have the toughest leather jacket ever built.

Guppy said:

It looks like the size tag was relocated from inside the collar to inside the pocket for some reason I'm unable to fathom.

Click to expand...

It's not stitched to the pocket; The size/USA flag tag must've fallen off with the WD/Natal label and the previous owner just stuffed it in the pocket. Shame they didn't keep the maker's label. . .

As for the WD/Natal sizing, that's my experience with them too. My size 42 cross zip is definitely smaller than any Schott/Vanson/Branded/etc. 42 that I have handled - Which have all been grossly over-sized in my opinion as I should be able to wear a size 42 with relative success.

The jacket is sold and on the way to Netherlands. Thank you very much, everyone.