Fit
How a leather jacket should fit
Shoulders, sleeves, chest, hem: the four places a leather jacket fits or fails, what break-in changes, and when to skip standard sizes altogether.
Fit is decided in four places
Leather does not drape like cloth; it holds the shape it was cut in and then relaxes a little. So the fit you see on the first day is close to the fit you will live with, minus half a size of give. Check four things and ignore the rest.
1. Shoulders
The seam should sit on the bone, where your arm meets your shoulder. Too far in and the sleeves pull when you reach; too far out and the jacket looks borrowed. Shoulders do not stretch: if they are wrong, the size is wrong.
2. Sleeves
With the arm slightly bent, the cuff should reach the wrist bone. Zip cuffs can sit a touch longer because they close; knit cuffs on a bomber should sit at the wrist and grip. If the sleeves are right and the body is too long, you have a long back; the builder fixes that with your back length.
3. Chest
Zip the jacket fully over what you will usually wear under it. There should be a hand's width of ease between the zip and your chest and no horizontal pull lines across the front or the back. A biker's lapels should snap flat; a café racer's collar should close without pulling.
4. Hem
Bikers and café racers end at the belt line, bombers at the waistband with the knit gripping, truckers a touch higher. Raise both arms: the hem should lift no more than a few centimetres. If it rides up to your ribs, the body is too short.
What break-in changes
Sheepskin nappa softens in two or three weeks of wearing and relaxes about half a size through the chest and the arms; cowhide takes months and gives less. Stiff on day one is normal. Tight across the back on day one is not, and does not improve.
Between two sizes
Take the smaller one if you wear a T-shirt under it; the larger if you layer a knit. The size guide gives the body measurements behind each size, which is more reliable than the letter on your other jackets.
When to skip sizes
If your chest and waist land in different sizes, if your arms or back are long or short for your chest, or if you simply want it exact: the builder takes nine measurements and we cut the pattern to them for €20 on top of the base price. The size guide shows how to take each one; ask someone to hold the tape for the shoulder, sleeve and back.
Fit by cut
- Biker: fitted; the belt should close without digging in when you sit.
- Café racer: slim; closest to the body of all our cuts.
- Bomber and aviator: relaxed through the body, snug at the knit.
- Trucker: straight and cropped; the waist tabs give a few centimetres.
- Vest: your jacket size; cowhide does not give, so do not size down.
