Why the Best Leather Jacket Is Schott's Café Racer 

Lucky guy, i got several leather jackets but i cannot say they will outlive me, probably just a couple two, a very thick vintage cowhide jacket (A leather similar to the 530) which was originally made by Dockers as a spread collar delivery jacket but got modded into a Cafe Racer, it is also pebbled black leather. I ordered to some tailor friends here in the city to put zippers on the sleeves, a mandarin / band collar and shorten the overall zipper length so i can ride comfortably with the thing zipped up. I also took out the original lining, since the armpits were kinda smelly and i had to correct that. It was better since the original lining was extremely hot and they put a thinner, simpler lining. The other one is a thin, lightweight calfskin leather but that leather is extremely rugged and came rigid out of the tannery, so it is pretty much similar in texture and resistance to horsehide. Both costed around 100 dollars each with repairs and modding included. I just can hope the jackets will last at least most of my life or the entirety of it. If not, i will need another one made out of even thicker and younger leather, since the Dockers one i am guessing is already some 30 years old or stuff.

So pumped this was helpful, Erick! Helping a man get a good leather jacket is a great honor

A feat for the jacket and the wearer!

Only if you don't get fat!

Ionut Burlacu That would be key.Drink water!

@@lapatrie6568 😆✌️

Lol

Glad to be on your team, Matt!

Awesome, glad you like it dude.

that's my favorite nickname

Thanks man! Worked my butt off for this one.

@@pepm3746 missed that. Would have grabbed another at that price for sure. Maybe they’ll do it again in 2021.

Hey I'm really glad it was useful, Matthew!

Cool! Enjoy it, wear it hard.

Thanks so much! I want to do a lot more leather jacket content next year, I'm trying to figure out what to get after Taylor Stitch that people will be interested in AND is high quality. Any suggestions? I'm thinking Aero...

Just keep a fucking eye open for bargains. I bought my Schott 618 on an Auction site for 250 bucks or even less. Poor lad just had bad luck & tought people would storm his auction. It was brand new.

hahahahaha I totally missed that

Great comment. I would up vote it but you are at 69 now and I don't want to disturb that. ;) Peace.

😂😂💀💀

Excellent! I'm considering their pea coat...

@@Stridewise never had their pea coat but own many T-shirts and sweater-sweatshirts from the as well. Always excellent quality. I’ve also found there customer service for sizing questions and just general questions to be over and above the norm.

did it patina?

@@marissa2.O sorry just saw this comment now. Yes it did. It’s much more of a lighter brown, almost rust/dark caramel color in the high wear areas. It looks fantastic.

Is the 141 baggier in chest?

Hey thanks a ton dude!

That's because lambskin is incredibly soft......but because it's soft it doesn't take much to damage irreparably

If you think Schott is "good quality" then you're going to lose your mind at Goodwear, Eastman's and Aero.......

@@richardcostello360Eastman B3 are incredible, but living on the gulf coast, I would never consider getting one.

This comment made me very happy, AJ

Yep it's the jacket that makes literally anyone cooler, Michael! Whereas the Perfecto is way too easy to appear like you're trying too hard.

William Farley those are also my two favourite companies.

Glad to have you, Mike! Glad you like the video, I worked extra hard on this one. Much easier to pull off than the Perfecto :)

i'm so happy with how well this video did given i have very few leather jacket videos. i just did my research, bought this one and was like 'that's it! i found the right jacket!' did a look at rainbow country here though: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-x-6K3MboLhM.html

@@Stridewise oh right on thanks

That's commitment, Ben! So happy you've fallen for this jacket, you won't regret it. It's time for me to condition mine.

Thanks Dale!

I would be somewhat more reserved on that jacket, honestly. 850$ cowhide when you can get a FQ horsehide, a Vicenza horsehide or a beautiful battered steerhide from Aero Leather for nearly the same price? "Best of the best", sorry but not at all to my humble opinion. Schott NYC has decent but not overwhelming leather, has no option for MTO, even their horsehide is of inferior quality compared to Aero, Alexander leathers, Simmons Bilt, and other; not to speak of companies such as Himel Bros, The Real McCoy and more (which are obviously more expensive). I have had exactly that Schott Cafe Racer in hands and I own a CXL HH Aero jacket that is fairly comparable in terms of cut. With all due respect, Schott stays at the level of an off-the-rack jacket whereas the Aero jacket feels like a unique piece of clothing. Hence, the predicate of Best leather jacket, even if this is all subjective, can hardly go to Schott. Dale, you got that beautiful CXL HH from Aero, you get my point. (BTW: Show the aging progress PLEEEEAASSSE) I am negative, I know, sorry... ;-)

@@olgi2068 You might be negative, but you’re right!

@@olgi2068 disagree. You can have your opinion though

This one, Nergal! amzn.to/3gEn19S Glad you like the video and the jacket!

Thanks Matt! You too dude. Hope you get a jacket you love.

Thursday said they're not sure if they'll keep making jackets so I'm not sure if I should put the effort in actually, haha. I might down the road though!

Glad you liked it, Hans!

Haha sorry to hear it! You could start deadlifting? Or get a more "classic" (read: boxy/straight-up-and-down) fit

@@Stridewise I'm 5'4 and I have disproportional body type . Shoulders are made for L , torso equals - M and sleeves are for XS 😅 Yeah, I'm that cartoon type guy haha

yeah i have friends who HATE that but i don't mind it at all!

That's high praise! Thanks a ton dude

Thanks Tariq!

hell yeah Maulin, great decision!

@@Stridewise I also have the Schott Perfecto 613… I’m thinking I might get it in brown for Christmas

These jackets are durable enough there's no shame getting them second hand on eBay, but maybe not right for a gift!

@@ronin_naga kaam nahin hai koi? :-)

Yeah I own two! They're great. The lining tore on my flight jacket though, I had to replace it. But given their low cost, it wound up still a good value jacket

I was just looking at buying the p571. Going to store to see how it fits. And yes without the bi-swing it will have a tighter fit around the back/shoulders. I also out grew my size small 530 from the gym. Is what it is. That's the price you pay with bodybuilding.

Normally I'm recognized on BarBend from Stridewise, not the other way around haha. All my denim I review is for people who squat and deadlift a lot, they all have big thighs. Except the Iron Hearts, that model wasn't great.

It really is!

Have you ended up getting one? If so, which one and are you satisfied with it.

that's an interesting leather! similar to the perfecto but not as busy looking. I like it!

Got damn, this jacket for 125? Congratulations, I'd be so happy with that

Cool, good luck! Yeah Perfectos get a lot of hype but I really think that most people cannot pull them off, myself included. They're too much!

OK so your Schotts must be Perfecto and... what's the other one

Excellent, delighted you got a leather jacket you love. That's a special moment in a man's life haha

Ha! I know exactly what you mean. It'll keep you in shape! I have an opposite problem, my goal is to deadlift 500 pounds in a couple of years and that means purposely gaining a good 10-20 pounds, then all my nice clothes won't fit anymore!

@@Stridewise Nice one Nick, the best i could deadlift before covid was 390pounds, getting to 500 is pretty solid, you'll have to adjust the thighs on your pants too haha Love your channel mate, have watched most of your vids. Im in Melbourne but my brother lives in NY, great to catch up if we are ever in the same city!

@@starskymedia Dude hit me up if you come to town

@@Stridewise Will do mate!

I'd avoid a jacket with a middle seam..... unfortunately Schott are getting pretty sloppy in their hide sourcing

I’ve had mine about 4 years now. Seam has never been an issue, it’s been worn every winter, in all kinds of weather, on planes, while driving. About the only thing I do is hang it on a proper hanger, the one that came from schott.

@@watchreport Wow! 4 years and still your jacket is holding up well! Thanks for your tip! Now I feel confident that my jacket will last long as long as I take good care of it.

Slim fit. I’m 6.0, 220 and have an XL. It fits me perfectly and I can zip it up no issue, even with a hoodie.

Thanks Benjamin! That sucks about being 6'3" haha I'm 6 feet tall and this jacket hits just above my butt, but I have an unusually long torso so it's quite possible we fit the same. You should reach out to Schott and ask them for specific measurements! (I *just* left this jacket at my parents' place in Australia by accident so I can't measure for you I'm afraid)

No tall sizes according to their website. maybe if you pay even more and go custom

Best bet is to call them. I hear they have great customer service.

I'm afraid I'm not super well versed on those!

Surprising it fit, right? Downside is I can't zip it up when I have a hoodie underneath, it's too tight

Yeah you simply have to bite the bullet with leather jackets haha

It must cost you 50 bucks to condition your jacket with Saphir, Alex!

@@Stridewise that doesn't sound good. Any recommendations? Luxor?

Oh what are the main differences - it seems to be looser fitting?

the 654vn has no front zip pocket, vintaged leather, slimmer, and shorter than 530. I had a 530 in brown which I loved as well.

Yeah I ran through it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XUoA-azUMWY.html

You’re absolutely correct with everything you said. And by the way, Schott doesn’t make the best leather jackets, that’s just absurd. They are really good, and they are very famous. Fair enough, but claiming they make the best leather jackets (and their Cafe Racee was be the best jacket ever) is just nonsense. I don’t like it when Fashion RU-vidrs make that kind of statements, it’s not like Nick didn’t know it better. Oh, and his jacket *is* too short ..

@@justinafuchs2619 Hey Justina I just turned 70 yrs old in Jul23, been riding motorcycles since 1975 and have put down hundred of thousands of miles. I started searching for a good leather jacket when I got my first bike and that search was a long one lol. Most new jackets cost around $50-75 bucks back then. Every jacket I bought would have a problem, sleeves too short/too long, jacket too short or long, leather was too thin/dry out and crack, zippers breaking etc, etc. I spent years riding with poorly fitting jackets just like the other guys I rode with and just figured that was the way it was. I have had jackets from a lot of the major manufactuers and they were OK. About 1990 found out about Langlitz Leathers in Portland, OR and had a jacket custom made cost me $1200. It was pretty nice but about a year later I went down in a rain storm and it got torn to pieces but it provided a lot of protection for me. Eventually met a guy at a bike show in Las Vegas and he raved about his Schott Perfecto and let me try it on. I now have three Schott's 618, 141 and 689H, Schott is all I have worn since 1992 and IMO they are the best made leather jackets I have found, but that's just this old bikers opinion which doesn't really mean much I guess. I also have to say that in the biker world, Schott is hugely popular, I would guess over 50% of the guys at biker events are wearing Schott and that has to mean something, it is easy to spot them. Stay safe out there!

@@RICKYY1100 Hey, thanks for your input! It was great to hear from your experience, and of course I value it. Please don’t get me wrong, Schott makes great leather jackets, as I said before. And if I still rode a motorcycle, I guess I would wear a Schott jacket. Now if we’re talking about leather jackets in general, there are better jackets than Schott. There is Himel Bros from the US, they make fantastic leather jackets. I don’t know if I would wear one riding, but you definitely could wear it. Then there are the best Japanese leather makers like Rainbow Country, Flathead or The Real McCoy. Or Aero leathers from Scotland. Those companies make the best leather jackets in the world, and to be fair, they are much more expensive than Schott leather jackets. And I wouldn’t wear most of them riding, I don’t think a flight jacket from The Real McCoy is meant for it. They are just beautiful leather jackets, crafted by Artisans using the best leather in the world. Again, that doesn’t mean Schott jackets aren’t good, they are great! The Perfecto would be my favourite choice if I didn’t stop riding a long time ago. All the best and always drive carefully 🙏