IHAS-01 Deerskin Western Shirt
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Well, Haraki can't get enough of this shirt. It is the first sample that Will from Aero made for me to take to Japan a couple of weeks ago. The sample in the pic below is a super soft naturally tanned black deer skin. The colour is scraped into the face, thus leaving the reverse a natural colour. We made a few tweaks to the design yesterday and Will is making a second sample out of super soft vegetable tanned light weight horse hide.
We are still discussing what colours to do these in, but as they will effectively be custom made, that should not be an issue.
Pricing is still to be determined, but expect the horse to be significantly less than the deer. It took four skins to make that shirt :o
They will, of course be sporting these snaps:
Here is his latest blog:
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Does anybody have any experience cleaning and caring for a leather shirt? I would assume it's a bit more difficult than a leather jacket since it's worn closer to the body and is made of a softer leather.
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Hi Giles, when you say they'll effectively be 'custom made' does that mean we'd be able to order bespoke sizes?
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Yes, absolutely.
I will aim to stock a few in "standard" sizes. Let's say 38, 40, 42 and 44 regular. But, I will be happy to take orders in practically any size (size of Deer being the limiting factor
). I will also take orders for different colours than the "standard" ones Haraki and decide upon (which, Haraki being Haraki, will definitely include black in both skins).What I won't do, is change the design. Or at least, I will, but then it will not come woth Iron Heart tags or hardware.
Clear?
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Yes, absolutely.
I will aim to stock a few in "standard" sizes. Let's say 38, 40, 42 and 44 regular. But, I will be happy to take orders in practically any size (size of Deer being the limiting factor
). I will also take orders for different colours than the "standard" ones Haraki and decide upon (which, Haraki being Haraki, will definitely include black in both skins).What I won't do, is change the design. Or at least, I will, but then it will not come woth Iron Heart tags or hardware.
Clear?
That's just made my day! I was getting excited about the idea of an IH horsehide shirt, but as the normal xxxl shirts are a bit small for me, I figured I'd miss out. This is smashing news, thanks Giles! Now all I have to decide is whether my Christmas treat is a new pair of jeans, or a horsehide shirt…
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OK, as soon as it is ready, I'll travel to Gosport to see those with mine eyes and pick the one(s) I prefer!
Sir Giles of Gosport: are we talking before yearend or 2011?
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Early 2011 is my guess. We have the snaps, we almost have the design finalised, so not much standing in the way of the green light. But even if we give the go ahead now, this is Wills busiest time of year (this time last year he started snatching a few hours kip each night on the cutting table), so he has other priorities to cope with.
The problem I have with the jackets at the moment, is that we are still waiting on the Iron Heart logo'd 2 way zippers….
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Fuck, you've saddled me with the million dollar question (Geo, I can do
too). Honestly, I just don't know, I suspect a lot, possibly similar in price to a FQHH jacket for the deerskin version.Here
http://shin3155.blog54.fc2.com/blog-entry-620.html
a price of 130.000 Y (about 1500 USD? correct me if I'm wrong) is mentioned, which would put it on a par with Flat Head models…
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Well actually in Japan you can only get only get one Aero Jacket for that price. The raw materials for the deerskin cost more than the raw materials for the FQHH jackets, so although the construction is simpler, it's swings and roundabouts. I told Haraki that I guessed the shirt would be about the same price as the jacckets, hence his guess.
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Does anybody have any experience cleaning and caring for a leather shirt? I would assume it's a bit more difficult than a leather jacket since it's worn closer to the body and is made of a softer leather.
Better not to wash if possible, and just spot clean; but you can hand wash deerskin leather:
a) Fill a sink with cool water.
b) Add the mildest soap you can find to the water. Swish the contents with your hand to mix thoroughly.
c) Submerge the deerskin leather in the cool water. Gently agitate–-mimicking the movements of a washer---the leather and water together.
d) Drain the water from the sink. Squeeze---do not twist---the water from the deerskin leather.
e) Allow the deerskin leather to air dryDeerskin is a lot more porous than cow and horse, and will stretch so be careful about wringing and drying. Grease stains are very difficult to get out but will 'fade' into the garment.
I have a very fine Armani skin (from the man himself) which has never been cleaned in over 10 years and has molded itself to me - there are stains and discolourations but they all look like they are part of the jacket and it's aging process.
I'll post some pics when I get the chance
