Check the quality, check the width.
Shopping on-line can be a frightful thing. Especially when it comes to
buying a
leather biker jacket. We've all seen the products that look identical from one vendor to the next.
Be careful, because so many leather jackets, vests, coats, chaps, and other
leather apparel are constructed the same, with the exception of the
material quality. As I've said many times, the best you can buy in biker wear is
'naked' cowhide.
Top grain cowhide runs in second place, the material with the least quality is
split leather.
Many vendors will show you pictures of a great looking jacket, but until you get it home, you won't know the quality of the leather. Sure, you just bought a coat for thirty, forty, even hundred dollars less from one vendor, when you saw what you thought was the same jacket at a higher price at another. Most vendors offer a size chart, which should take that fear out of the leathers buying equation, but some won't list what
grade of leather it is. Heck, some won't even tell you if it's cowhide or buffalo (mostly Asian water buffalo these days).
I suggest you either call or e-mail the vendor and ask what grade the jacket is and how thick (in millimeters) the material is. When you call, you can also get a sense of what kind of people work at the retailers and you'll find that some are just friendly as heck. Don't let shopping for quality leather apparel on line scare you away. Just use the same tactics that you do in the shop.
Just some notes on leather quality by
bikerleather123, who of course sell top quality stuff - and are friendly as heck:)