Can you help me find a classic, badass, [fake] leather jacket?

December 17, 2013 9:49 PM

For the past year or so I've been daydreaming about buying a classic leather motorcycle jacket, like this or this. Tragically, though, I cannot afford to spend $700. My budget is more like $200. Can you help me fake it?

I see a lot of faux-leather jackets in that range, and I'd in theory be willing to go with fake leather - especially if I think of it as a test drive to find out if I'd actually wear a leather jacket often enough to spend the big bucks someday. But all the faux-leather jackets I can find where I usually shop look really trendy and have lots of dumb little fashion-y details. I don't like quilting on the sleeves, or any non-leather trim. (My dream jacket wouldn't even have the belt that the Schott's jacket does). I really like the side zip, and the classic collar.

I buy a fair number of my clothes used, and this desire was actually triggered by finding my dream jacket at a vintage store only to have it stolen RIGHT OUT FROM UNDER ME in a tragic incident that still upsets me to think about, so that's something I would consider if you pointed me in the right direction online.

(Of course, I am also posting this question in the secret hope that there's cheap quality jacket store out there I'm not aware of...and if you can find my dream jacket for me in leather, I could probably stretch the budget to $300.)

I wear a women's medium.

Thanks!

posted by pretentious illiterate to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (9 answers total)

If you don't mind secondhand, there's heaps on eBay. If you'd prefer new but are ok to not have the designer label, you can get them custom made to your measurements on etsy. I wish I'd saved the link, but just do a search.
posted by Jubey at 10:15 PM on December 17, 2013

Where are you? The cheapest biker jackets I've ever seen were in Camden Town in London, near Camden Lock. There is a horde of shops along Camden Road that all sell leather jackets, and they can be bargained with. I got one for 30 pounds once, and actual leather not plastic.
posted by w0mbat at 10:16 PM on December 17, 2013

Best answer: LeatherUp.com has inexpensive womens' leather motorcycle jackets, including some that are similar in appearance to the one you like.

They are real riding gear though, not just motorcycle-styled fashion jackets. So they may have heavier leather than you expect, reinforcements in the elbows, longer sleeves (so they cover your wrists when you are seated with arms extended), cut longer in back (to not expose asscrack when you're riding), etc. Many also come with liners that you probably don't care about. If you never intend to actually ride a motorcycle, you may want to get it altered slightly. But there's probably substantial room in your $300 budget for that.

The reputation of LeatherUp is that their sizes run fairly large, at least compared to Euro brands. But they also have the reputation of being basically the cheapest place around for non-used leather gear.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:00 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: ASOS has lots of leather jackets (not all of these are real leather, but lots are) in that price range, if you include the men's options (which I would, unless you are very busty or very tiny and short in the arms - in which case, there is a petite jacket just for you).
posted by cilantro at 12:09 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: And try Wilson's Leather
posted by cartoonella at 4:25 AM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

I just bought my leather jacket at a secondhand shop for $48. If you are patient and willing to look around (depending on where you live, I got mine in Memphis) you can definitely find something secondhand.
posted by anansi at 6:04 AM on December 18, 2013

Express has a line called (Minus the) Leather. Many of their jackets have quilting and other detailing, but this is pretty classic and might be a contender for you. I should warn you that having seen some of these jackets in person, I find the pleather tends to feel rubbery or plasticky. I don't know if that's avoidable in a faux leather jacket. It's returnable, so you could take a chance on it, but if you think you eventually want real leather I wouldn't spend much more than this on a starter pleather jacket because that's money taken out of your leather jacket budget.
posted by payoto at 7:30 AM on December 18, 2013

Trash & Vaudeville has cheap but good quality jackets.
posted by monospace at 11:06 AM on December 18, 2013

Response by poster: Hey everyone! Thanks for your help. I ended up slightly bumping up the ceiling of my budget (isn't that always how it happens, but thank heavens for holiday sales) and ordering this. I'm really excited about it! I marked two suggestions best answers because I did find real contenders on those sites - in at least one case, one that I would have bought if it hadn't been sold out in my size.
posted by pretentious illiterate at 2:57 PM on December 19, 2013