My new site for selling vintage Jackets and New ones

[himelator]

I have been off the boards for a long while because I am diving into marketing my stuff outside of the vintage world...however I really need to get back to it because I have launched the vintage jacket side of my himel brothers site. For anybody who dosnt know I make vintage inspired jackets and sell vintage jackets through my ebay site wicked*cool and http://www.himelbros.com I am developing the site to sell other brands as well and to sell vintage pieces through the dry goods section http://www.himelbros.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=2&pg=1 and http://www.himelbros.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=6&pg=1 and a new blog about how I make the jackets at http://www.himelbrothersleather.com/...
anyway check em out feel free to give me any feedback try not to be too harsh this is my passion and I am going broke doing it...and keep in mind I am upgrading my ebay so I havent had a chance to enter in sizes and other details yet because I am doing SEO stuff and trying not to get booted off ebay land. Thanks for past support and future support!
Himel

 

[asiamiles]

That 3-tone Brimaco is a stunner...too big for me though.

 

[himelator]

what size are you...what do we do about this magazine...I bid on your ebay I am HAPPY to buy it off of ebay to avoid the fees...

dh

I have 200 more jackets for sale...the sizes are added yet I am still working on the site and am trying to figure out how to correlate the ebay sales with the site sales

 

[asiamiles]

what size are you...

38/40

 

[blethook]

Nice jackets you have on the website...I particularly like the Heron 1929 Zipper...really tempting

Are these jackets custom-made, or something available off the shelf? If so, how long does it take to make one? What material do you use on the Heron jackets? Do you offer different lining materials? Any discount for VLJ-ers?

By the way, some of the features on the website don't seem to work right, still. For example, if I click on one of the smaller pictures on the right hand side while looking at the Heron 1929 zipper, it doesn't actually lead me to the larger pic of the thumbnail I click.

Blethook

 

[himelator]

All the jackets currently are discounted...I am trying to figure out a retail model that will allow me to stay in business. Unfortunately because I use only the best of the best leather and materials available and pay my team very well my costs are through the roof. So sadly I only foresee the price going up. Each jacket is made one piece at a time start to finish by me and my two person sewing team. We hand cut and select the leather. I do all the zippers, snaps, hardware and any customization and some of the cutting. Because we are using pre 1950 techniques it is quite arduous to produce these jackets (cotton stitching, horse, old machines etc...) I for example have to take each piece with button holes to another location and do the holes on a finished jacket (risky). The leather is Japanese and Italian horsehide. It takes 3 months to make...using a cordovan tannage. So the leather is very very very expensive. Typically 8-10 dollars per square foot direct from the tannery. This price has also increased 30 percent in one year due to the inflation occurring because of gas prices. We absolutely can do custom work but only within limitations and reason. i dont change my designs for other people because I respect my work. I can within reason change some liners...I have all my liners and zippers displayed in the gallery section of my blog. I can customize some things that I have not announced yet *paint*embroidery and soon maybe even custom *silk liners. I am very tiny and am focusing on getting things working properly. My current webhost (dreamhost) gets a big fat fail...so this month I am migrating the site to a new host. This accounts for the many failed loads. Hopefully my new host will be better. I have had problems with custom orders of late...many people have no clue what their actual size and measurements are...so I stick to only people who are 100% sure of their size on the custom end...if the measures are wrong I cant take a return. I have 6 new designs coming in a few weeks and then I am done designing for a few months until I can work out my website kinks...ok I am not completely done...I am working on a bag and t shirts (maybe some golves and a hat too?) Oh and I am doing some collaboration projects with other vintage inspired companies and I will write about those as I progress on my blog, including a very exciting boot project. I have been asked to design a jacket for 2 other companies but again this is secret until they are done and the checks are written. So yes to most of what you asked. I hope to sell more of my jackets they are very very very different then what you would expect....and my Sensei John Chapman has been guiding me well too! I always appreciate the support from sites like VLJ. Even some of the criticism when it comes. I also am amazed at all the good research your members do into old flight jacket makers (I keep it all in a file) because all those nice young Jewish immigrants went on to make civilian jackets. My grandfather and Great Uncles were the same guys and that past is lost to me. I only learn about it through day to day life experience and reading and speaking with other guys and their family members.
Thanks again
www.himelbros.com
David.

 

[himelator]

Oh quick note....I have some off the shelf some custom....length of time depends on when my team is available...we are always lined up with work...and everything falls in order. Right now it takes from one week to one month. I am also waiting for more leather...that is dependent on the tanneries they always keep me waiting and I dont always have everything in stock on my website. I also do custom leather runs...(working on a buffalo jacket) and they are limited editions...more soon. Most of my sizing is 36-42 due to limitations on my business model...if I get more flow I will expand the sizing on some of the models.

dh

www.himelbrothersleather.com

 

[himelator]

http://www.himelbrothersleather.com/score-tapper-updated-photos/This is my newest set of designs

 

[fishmeok]

Very Cool Dave- Glad you found a buttonholer. Your Reese looks older than John's Dukopp-Adler but I bet the mechanicals are nearly identical. Did you check out the video on my blog of the D-A in action? We will have to exchange buttonhole samples and compare...

Cheers
Mark

 

[himelator]

According to the mechanic...The D.A. is the later machine after Reece went out of business in N.A. and was being made in Czech and China. He said the 101 is the best for leather that the D.A. will give trouble...on heavy materials and that the metal is softer so any mechanical issues will break the machine (broken needle etc) The 101 has easy adjustment for stitch count, width, tail, keyhole, closed, open etc and size, length. Can change any of these on the fly. So good if you are doing different holes on different jackets...I made a hole through 1.6 mm leather yesterday so that is as thick as it gets...biggest issues are tension and surface grip. The machine is very fussy and needs tuning if you change threads even it will respond differently. Sometimes it will skip if the thread has any stretch at all. I am really thankfull for all the help. My entire network came through to help me find this machine and after a few hundred dollars of tuning it is doing a killer job. It is amazing that we go to such lengths just to do something that my relations could do en masse as short as 25 years ago.

dh

 

[himelator]

Mark,
I cant thank you enough for helping me out and spending the phone time. I really would not be able to get anywhere on this project without the good will of vintage jacket nuts everywhere.

Himel

 

[PADDY_M]

It's inspiring and heart warming to witness how fellow enthusiasts help each other out, particularly those going out on a limb in business! Well Done guys