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Women's Leather Motorcycle Jacket
wBW
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Motorcycle clothing
manufacturers live in an ultra-competitive world.
They spend huge amounts of time and money trying to
design products that have something just a little bit
different and special to outsmart the competition.
I'm sure there are many different types of statistical
methods, surveys and focus groups that are used to try
and judge customer acceptance. But in the end, it
all comes down to the "Wow" factor.
After all is said and
done, it's the first reaction that appears on a
customer's face when the box is opened that can make or
break the product.
But people also have a funny
habit of consciously or unconsciously seeking acceptance
from their peers. Which means that there's a
secondary "Wow" factor that comes into play -- how will
my friends react when they see the product?
The Wow factor is easiest
to recognize when studied by an observer. I
unwittingly served in that capacity during the arrival
of this "3/4 Length Women's Leather Motorcycle Jacket"
from Fox Creek Leather. From the reactions I
witnessed, this jacket has to be the all-time Wow factor
champ, because that's been the first word out of
everyone's mouth when they see it, whether they are
motorcycle owners or not.
Black leather has to be one of
the hardest subjects for photography, so I'll be the first
to admit that these images don't come close to capturing
how nice this jacket really looks up close and personal
(Hmmm...just what I was looking for; an excuse to buy
another camera!).
We were very favorably
impressed in our previous review of the Fox Creek Leather men's
Vented Racing Jacket, and the 3/4 Length Women's
Leather Motorcycle Jacket is made to the same high
standards of quality and attention to detail. Fox
Creek Leather manufactures all of their clothing in the
U.S.A. and their lifetime guarantee is an indication of
the confidence they have in their products.
My wife Lori happily
volunteered to be the lead
reviewer for this Fox Creek jacket. Lori assists
with many of our product and accessory reviews and helps manage webBikeWorld's
"Women's
Motorcycle Clothing" page. Lori also rides a
1986 BMW R65 and she's been an avid horse
owner and rider for many years, so she is very familiar
with leather goods and outdoor gear, and is eminently
qualified to comment on this jacket, so I'll turn it
over to her:
The first thing I noticed
about Fox Creek Leather 3/4 Length Women's Leather
Motorcycle Jacket is the butter-soft leather.
Everyone who sees the jacket is very impressed, and they
all comment on the quality of the leather and how soft
it feels. It doesn't really show up in the photos,
but the leather has a very tiny pebbled grain, which
also adds to the dressy appearance. Did I mention
how much people like this jacket? My friends
literally go bonkers when they see it, it's that
impressive.
What I like most is that
the sizing is perfect -- it fits me like it was
custom-made. The combination of the soft leather
and the great fit mean that I want to wear it all the
time! The 3/4 length is a very good choice for
women, because it helps smooth out the profile.
The attached belt helps taper the jacket around the
middle, adding to the nice look.
 The
jacket is made using single row stitching, and every
stitch is perfectly lined up with each seam. This
gives the jacket a smooth and dressy appearance.
I
think it's amazing to see that the ends of each leather
section are rolled, both inside and out, so there are no
raw leather edges anywhere on the jacket. Even the
internal sections that you don't see have rolled edges.
Many of the seams are
sewn together using the blind (hidden) stitching method,
one of the many nice touches which add to the quality
feel of the jacket.
I know it's supposed to
be designed for riding motorcycles, and the thick
(1.4mm) leather would probably give decent protection in
an accident, but I think this jacket is perfect for
dress wear.
The collar can be zipped up to keep
the wind off your neck when riding, but it also looks
great when folded down. You can even keep the back
of the collar up and fold down the lapels, so it's
really a three-way collar.
I really like the
built-in belt on this jacket. The belt is
attached, so you don't have to worry about losing it.
It ends at the sides of the jacket under the arms, but
continues around the back with a hidden elastic belt
underneath. The elastic makes a very slight
bunching in the back, which helps to give the jacket its
tapered look. The belt has a nice antiqued brass
buckle, which adds just the right colorful touch to the
front.
As you can see in the
photos, there are vertical leather panels in the front
and the back of the jacket that add to its character and
give a flattering appearance. The rule of thumb is
that vertical lines give a thinner look! I think
the panels also allow the designers to alter the
curvature of the jacket, which are probably responsible
for giving this jacket such a great fit.
There are two hand
pockets on the outside of the jacket. They each
open about 150mm (6") and the pockets are about 150mm
deep, which makes them suitable for carrying a set of
keys or some other small small item. There's
another pocket on the inside left jacket flap, and it
closes with a single snap . This pocket has a
160mm opening and it's nice and deep at 180mm (7").
The jacket uses antiqued
brass zippers made by YKK. Continuing with the
street dress appearance of the jacket, each zipper is
hidden under pairs of nicely rolled edges.
Covering the zippers with the rolled edges has a slight
drawback; it makes it hard to grab the zipper pulls.
But exposed zippers or zippers with big tabs sticking
out wouldn't look good on this type of jacket.
Each sleeve cuff has a
zipper running up the arm along the outside seam.
These sleeve zippers open up to about 160mm (6-3/8"),
exposing a leather expansion panel. They provide
some extra room in the cuff, which allows me to fit my
Held racing gloves underneath.
There are also two
zippers on each side of the jacket at the hip.
These are necessary on this 3/4 length jacket so that
the sides can be opened when sitting, whether on a
motorcycle or in a car.
They open to about 180mm
(7"), which provides enough room so that the jacket
doesn't get bunched up, and the tabs on these are easy
to grab. Side zippers are also commonly used on
3/4 length (or longer) horseback riding jackets, also to
provide some extra room when sitting. .
The jacket has a zip-out
Thinsulate liner in the shape of a vest. I think
this adds to the warmth of the jacket and makes it
usable for all seasons. I've used the jacket in
some chilly, damp and nasty weather this winter, and it
keeps me warm and definitely blocks the wind.
There's a 150mm (about
6") long kidney warmer extension on the vest, and this
bunches up slightly when I put the jacket on, and has to
be smoothed out. It would be nice if this was
attached somehow to the jacket, maybe using a piece of
Velcro. The jacket also has a full-length liner
that's made of a type of nylon or taffeta. The
liner also goes all the way down to the end of the
sleeves, and this helps to make it easy to slide on and
off.
The jacket has expansion
panels in the rear of each shoulder, and this adds to
the comfort factor, because there's plenty of room to
swing my arms and it feels good across my back.
You can see by the photo on the left how much work it
takes just to design these shoulder expansion panels.
When you start to look
closely at all the little details on this jacket, you
realize how much work went into it. For example, a
blind stitch is used to attach the jacket's taffeta
liner to the leather. The bottom hem of the jacket
has a rolled edge, but Fox Creek goes one step farther
and uses a separate piece of leather up underneath on
the inside of the hem.
Also, the expansion panels
under the sleeve cuff zippers are made from leather, and
there was a lot of attention paid to the way these are
sewn into the cuff. It's hard to describe, but if
you study the way this jacket is put together you'll be
amazed. I will guess that many people won't even
realize that some of these details are what makes this
jacket special, but as someone who has gone through lots
of purpose-use clothing, I know that these features
really make a big difference in appearance and quality.
This is a jacket that will last a lifetime, and the
$319.00 price is a real bargain. I also especially
like the fact that it's made in the U.S.A.!
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