Hot damn! Well it took me a damn long time, but as you can see from the new top menu I now have my leather store open! Well, I don’t have much yet, just a few men’s and woman’s leather jackets. But at least it’s a start. I don’t have anything in the saddlebag section, that’s just got a “coming soon” greeting. I just wanted to try to fill up the menu.

Now once I get a lot more in here, those sections you see will change to “men’s leather apparel” and “woman’s leather apparel” along with sections for motorcycle gear bags, accessories and stuff like that. Then inside the men’s and woman’s sections will be more categories like ladies leather motorcycle jackets, fashion jackets, leather vest, halter tops and so on, you get the idea.

I’m telling you, putting in all the items by hand is a real pain in the ass! But I strongly believe I will get much better search engine hits with my own words in wordpress than by using a pre-made shopping cart. It will take me a month or so to slowly add all the items. There will be much more leather jackets than you see in each section right now.

So go take a peek at the leather motorcycle jackets I have now and tell me what you think. I think I have put all the information you want to know about them in the description. Instead of a generic “top grade leather” blurb, which means nothing, I tell you if it’s cowhide or buffalo, top grain, full grain or split grain, and if it’s naked leather or analine. Confused? Then click on the “leather Info” link in the blog categories to your left and find out all about how to pick out quality leather Items!

Hope everyone is have a great weekend. Today I am going up to Stowe here in Vermont and hike up the tallest mountain to take some pictures of the fall leaves. They also have some fall festival going on with locally made beer! So it should be fun, a lot more fun than the past few weeks of work has been, that’s for sure. I have been working hard on getting the leather store done in this site.

Frankly, it’s been a real pain in the ass! I know all about the technical stuff, that’s not the hard part. It’s just that I’m putting the store right into this blog software, called wordpress. Most use a shopping cart program. But I believe the search engine optimization will be much better with all the words written right into the blog software. Each item will have it’s own permalink and so on.

Plus I’m using paypal as my merchant account, so I just don’t need any fancy shopping cart software. But that means I’m doing everything manually, and so it’s taking a long time. However I do have both the men’s and woman’s motorcycle leather jacket pages done, at least enough to give you a sneak peek. I will add lots more jackets, but it’s enough to get started. (more…)

Hi everyone, hope your week is going well. Today I wanted to explain just what the real differences are between a classic style motorcycle jacket and any other type of leather jacket. Motorcycle jackets are not made the way they are just to look cool! Yes some go overboard on the damn zipper pockets, but for the most part there is a practical reason for all the ways a motorcycle jacket is styled.

Lets start with the overall fit, something most don’t think about. A motorcycle leather jacket is made for a person sitting on a motorcycle, duh! Now think about it, have you ever had on a coat or jacket and sat down in your car? I bet anything the front of your coat bunches up like a balloon. That’s because when you sit your lap is pushing the stiff jacket up. A motorcycle leather jacket is cut short in front.

See how short it comes to that guy in the picture? It’s cut so that it ends right at your waist, where you bend. That way it does not ride up and bunch up when sitting on a Harley. Now, the back however is cut a little longer. That’s because most are leaned forward with your hands up on the motorcycle handlebars. So they cut the back longer so it does not ride up and expose your lower back when your riding. (more…)

Hi everybody, hope your weekend is going well. Today I wanted to talk a little about motorcycle leather dusters and capes. They are the same thing, just some people call them different names. In the old wild west cowboys used to wear leather dusters, and they were made for sitting on a horse. They still do use them out west for that.

But today most leather dusters and capes are for sitting on a motorcycle. They are cut the same way so you can ride without it looking funny and fitting wrong. So just what do they do, besides look cool? Well they are made for a very practical reason, not just for a fashion statement! They are made to protect you and your clothes from all the dirt, dust, bugs and elements that mother nature throws at you as you cruise down the road.

Most leather dusters and capes are made pretty much the same way. They are one piece, and made with cowhide, buffalo or goatskin. I myself think goatskin is a bit too weak for a leather duster, but a lot are made from them. The thickness should be 1.3 MM or thicker. You put it on like a leather jacket, only it is very long, going down just past your knees. (more…)

What’s going on everyone? I wanted to let you all know that I added a shipping, payment and returns page. I also added a privacy policy page too. So now I’m about ready to start adding my leather jackets, chaps and all the other leather apparel and items I will have in my leather store. Looks a bit funny to see those pages and no store!

But it all takes time, I’m working on 5 other sites, plus I have my regular writing job! I tried to make the shipping, payment and returns page very easy to understand by posing each answer as a question, like “do you ship outside the USA”? Which by the way, I don’t. I ship inside the USA by UPS. But if you have a P O Box I will ship your order by USPS. Shipping is free.

I spelled everything out in there for shipping. For the payment information I explained how I accept all credit cards, bank debit cards and paypal. Now, paypal is what I use for a merchant account. They are the ones that process the cards. But you do NOT have to have a paypal account. You just fill in your card information and they process it, simple as that.

For returns I explained all the details and what you have to do. No you don’t need to fax in your drivers license and fill out a 24 page form! All of it is pretty simple and fair. For my privacy policy, that was real easy! Since Paypal processes your card, I never have any of your account information. All I have is your name and address and email.

I’m not going to sell them or share them. Anything I have is going to stay right with me. So you can stop worrying about getting email spam from me or someone I shared with, cause I’m not! So, take a look at them and tell me if anything is wrong or if you have any questions. I put a contact form in each page for you. Now I’ll start adding my leather jackets and other leather items, look for them soon!

Hi everyone. Today I added a leather sizes chart in my pages. You can see it right over there on your left. Go ahead and browse through it if you want. I made it pretty detailed so you know just what to do. The leather items I will be selling all come from the same central wholesaler, even if the names on the leather items are different. What that means is that all the sizes are the same for all the leather items.

Different brands and manufactures often have slightly different ways of measuring, so a size medium in one brand may fit different than the next brand. All the leather apparel I will carry is from the same place, so all the sizes are consistent. Most of them are in number sizes. That is, instead of a small or medium they go by size 38 or 44 and so on. That is more accurate, as it goes by your real measurements.

Now there is one very important thing you need to know when picking a size for your leather jacket or vest. You measure the largest part of your chest area. Then you ADD 2 INCHES TO IT! What that means is, say your chest is 44 inches around. When you pick a size for your leather jacket, you should get a 46 inch one. That’s because you need to allow for clothes and bending. It’s always better to get one a bit too big than one too small. Some even get one 3 or 4 inches bigger than the chest measurement.

As for leather pants, those you measure around your waist, then get them the same size, or maybe one inch larger. But for leather chaps, you get them 2 inches larger. Most leather pants and chaps come long so you can cut them to the length you want. Cut them as your sitting down so you get them long enough, as they ride up when sitting.

There are more measurements for leather halters, shorts and so on, I put them all in the leather size chart. So skim through it and find out how to measure yourself to find the right leather jacket size, or for any other leather item. Let me know if you have any questions, and remember that if you have any doubts, always get a size bigger than a size smaller!

Hello everyone. I’m enjoying my stay up in Vermont. It’s cooler than in Florida, that’s for sure! As you all know if you’ve been reading my post, I’m going to open a store in here. Actually I will be doing that very soon, maybe a week or two. I’m always honest about everything I do, I think you know that. So I think it’s only fair to tell you the leather brands I’ll be stocking.

Now most buy their leather from big wholesalers, then slap their own names on it. I’m not going to do that. I will just use the brand name it comes with, and let the quality do the talking. Now one thing I’m going to do is stock one brand that is very, very high quality. They cost top dollar, but they can’t be beat, no how, no way. I also will stock 2 or 3 brands that are good quality, yet not cost more than most can afford.

All will be quality leather jackets, vest, motorcycle leather and all that stuff. None will be cheap stuff, I hate cheap leather! But I wanted to have a choice of good quality leather that most want to buy, and then the super top of the line leather that people with lots of money want, or those who don’t mind paying a lot for the super quality leather. So what brands am I talking about? (more…)

Leather pants, some still hear that and think of a middle age guy going through a mid-life crisis, or a gay guy! But the fact is leather pants are very much fashionable now, and damn comfortable too. Now in this post I’m talking about leather pants, not leather chaps. I have another post on leather chaps if you want to know about those, use the search box.

Leather pants are shaped and look pretty much like any other pair of pants. There are many more styles of woman’s leather pants than men’s. They can have belt loops, 4 or 5 pockets, front zipper or tie front, leather lace, side lace and they can come with or without a liner. So first the basics, what kind of leather do they use for leather pants?

Well leather pants are not made to protect you as much as chaps are. They are made for comfort, good looks and fashion. So most of them are made from the softer split leather, the side without the top grain. So most of them are very smooth with no real leather grain pattern, but some put a grain pattern on them. (more…)

Hi everyone! Well I made it up to Vermont. Beautiful weather up here right now. I’m still waiting for a box of stuff I shipped up, but for the most part I’m settled in. It’s been a long day today, so I thought I’d show you a quick youtube video on leather braiding. Now this type is called a 12 strand round plait.

They use it for whips, handles and lots of other decorative purposes. I myself could never learn how the hell they do this. It looks like it takes a long time to learn how to do it. But it sure is fun to watch someone else who does know how. So take a peek at this leather braiding youtube video and see a master at work!