Who the heck is Platon? Any good pics of his jackets?

[Technonut2112]

When I was waiting on my jacket, Platon had an order for nice quality repro Talon zips and repro United Carr snaps held-up from Japan, and was going to actually substitute NOS hardware he sourced for no additional charge. Unfortunately, the Japanese repros arrived to him in time (The repro Talon looks exactly like ones that GW uses at times). It would have been a REALLY great deal if the NOS Talon and UC snaps were substituted.. If I get around to ordering another Dubow from him in russet as I would like to eventually, I'm going to ask about having the NOS hardware substituted if the up-charge is reasonable...

 

[DiamondDave]

Yes the original parts are all made of brass and “blackened” is a relative term. If they are actually black they are modern. All of the UC stuff I have, and paid a ton for are indeed brass as you say.
DD

 

[Smithy]

For the money currently you really are hard pressed to go past Platon's Dubow, easily in the running for best bang for your buck.

Sadly if you're tall they won't work. I was keen on one, despite my recent no more jackets resolution but to get the length I'd want in the body and sleeves the torso would have resembled a bin liner. TBH I don't know why he won't do an ELC and offer long and extra long sizings like they do it (an extra inch or inch and a half for long and extra long respectively in the body and sleeves) but maybe he's like the jacket equivalent of the Soup Nazi, "No length for you!"

 

[foster]

I have not kept up with who is Platon or BK or Andy etc. I ordered an A-2 from Bill Kelso in 2014. Here is the review:

https://www.vintageleatherjackets.org/threads/bk-star-sportswear-42-18245-p-oct-2014-production.17598/

This is a 5-year old product so it is probably not representative of their current jackets.

The photos are not linked anymore because photobucket went all weird. Here are a few.

 

[foster]

The last photos are after I soaked the jacket when trying to get the cuffs to reduce in size a bit.

 

[Pilot]

Are the last 3 photos (after soaking) reflecting to real hide color? or is it just the photo?

 

[Skyhawk]

For the money currently you really are hard pressed to go past Platon's Dubow, easily in the running for best bang for your buck.

Sadly if you're tall they won't work. I was keen on one, despite my recent no more jackets resolution but to get the length I'd want in the body and sleeves the torso would have resembled a bin liner. TBH I don't know why he won't do an ELC and offer long and extra long sizings like they do it (an extra inch or inch and a half for long and extra long respectively in the body and sleeves) but maybe he's like the jacket equivalent of the Soup Nazi, "No length for you!"

It could be that the crew he has making the jackets won't do custom sizing on a jacket by jacket basis. He provided a size chart and they stick to that. Another consideration is that if you offer returns on custom sizes, you could get stuck holding a jacket that won't sell for a long time.

 

[foster]

Are the last 3 photos (after soaking) reflecting to real hide color? or is it just the photo?

I don't know how much the outdoor lighting impacted the appearance of the hide. It never looked quite that red to my eyes. When it first arrived, the leather was very soft and felt fantastic. It was also what I would call a darker russet. I really liked the feel of the hide when I received the jacket. Once I got it wet (and wore until as dry as possible) it did look a little more reddish, but not to the extent in those images now. When those photos were taken (just before sending it to be painted) the jacket was quite stiff. It's softened up since then.

 

[Technonut2112]

Platon has stated that only one person is involved in stitching the jackets. I'm not sure if Platon is the cutter, or if that's also done by the one person.. That surely has a lot to do with the wait-time depending upon amount of orders received..

 

[Skyhawk]

Platon has stated that only one person is involved in stitching the jackets. I'm not sure if Platon is the cutter, or if that's also done by the one person.. That surely has a lot to do with the wait-time depending upon amount of orders received..

Or he is having them made elsewhere, outside of Greece, and they have to be shipped to him before he can ship them off to the customers. That would take time.

To sell the jackets for $500, he would have to make them for at or under $300 or it just wouldn't be profitable. I am not sure that is possible in Greece at the volume he is doing. Consider importing parts, hides, materials, and paying employees Greece wages.

 

[Technonut2112]

Makes perfect sense to me if he is only paying the one person and himself...

 

[Brettafett]

My recent BK Dubow is almost identical to the one I received from Platon. The main difference is that the Kelso has an inch or so added to sleeves. The other and only slight difference is the leather. The Liberty seal feels ever so slightly lighter... its a fantastic mid-brown chocolate hue, again, a touch lighter than Platon's... a lot like many originals I've seen. Feels to be the same weight as an original also.
(Funnily enough, my Dubow from Platon's leather appears very similar to an original seal Aero I owned a while back, in colour and feel.)
I guess this is the thing, for me at least...
Platon's jackets are fantastic value for money if you are after authenticity and details, but to keep costs down, they come standard. So this only works for standard sizes.
With BK, you get options. Choices of contract. Choices of leather, knit, thread and lining etc. You are able to have length added at no extra cost (within reason I guess). Yes, this costs more. But for me, the option to add length is important.
And even then, a BK is a considerable sum less than the other top-tier makers.
But lets see what Headwind and Diamond Dave come up with...!

 

[Skyhawk]

I have kept this to myself as I really didn't see a reason to put this information out before now.

Platon approached me to make jackets for him when this Dubow Mfg Co was being set up. I was flattered but declined as I have my own thing going on and I didn't see the point in getting involved in another venture.

My guess is that he found someone else to make them.

If you like the jackets and the quality is good, then what's the difference anyway?

I just wanted to point out that there is a strong possibility that these jackets are not made like you may think they are.

 

[Brettafett]

Interesting.

 

[Technonut2112]

And it's also possible that he contracted a single person in Greece to make them.. The Greek economy isn't exactly robust at this time, and many would probably welcome the chance at steady work. Again, makes sense given the price if only two people are involved in the endeavor..

 

[DiamondDave]

Gents,

My only question is, how is this possible? The hides from Victoria (what Aero coined as “Vicenza”) are roughly $10.00/sq ft. Now translate that to jacket making terms ~30 Sq ft, so call it $300 per jacket just in leather. Selling at $600 is tough when you consider paying even a single operator, plus the costs of NOS snaps and zippers. Just saying, I know you guys think we are all getting rich off of you, but trust me when I tell you that just isn’t the case.
DD

 

[Technonut2112]

Since it is being done, I would guess that Platon is putting his previous experience and connections from BK to work. Perhaps he found a less expensive Italian tannery to work with. The fact remains it is being done, and nicely detailed jackets are being offered at a great price regardless of where or how. For that matter, jackets not as accurate in historical terms, but decent nonetheless are being manufactured in USA factories paying USA wages for relatively inexpensive prices in comparison to upper-tier jackets. It wouldn't be much of a stretch for those companies to add more detailing if they really wanted to without driving costs up much more I'd imagine.

Platon's Talon zippers and UC snaps are Japanese repros BTW, not NOS. He sourced some NOS hardware to use when he had an order held-up for the Japanese repros at one point, but did not include them when the order came in from Japan on-time.

 

[Skyhawk]

There are a great number of things that happen behind the scenes in this industry. Things are not always how they seem on the surface.

To answer the original question, I believe that Platon and Andy are two different people that were partners at BK. Andy had attempted to rip me a new one on Facebook about my Capeskin. Shortly after, Platon approached me to make jackets. I don't think he would have if he was Andy. It was not the most amicable exchange we had on FB.

Months after, Andy joined the forum as "Julius" and.... guess what? Attempted to rip me a new one about my Capeskin.... again.

The jacket looks good. The politics and attitude does not IMO.

 

[B-Man2]

Ok .....points well made on all postings, but here’s what often puzzles me. We try desperately to find a repro jacket that looks, feels, drapes, grains, etc etc etc like an original A2. We spend lots of money, thousands in fact , on not just one repro or two repros but as Techno said on or 5 or 10 or more repros , once again trying to find the jacket that makes us happy and looks EXACTLY like an original. Here’s my point . I think Pilot has it right. Why not just search around until you find an original that works for you, buy it and be happy wearing it occasionally along with one nice GW, BK, or ELC repro to switch out with. I think it would save loads of money in the long run. By the way I, I’m caught in the same hole as many of you, with several repros that I thought were the best of the best until I found the next latest and greatest repro.
Cheers

 

[Technonut2112]

Personally, my attitude is one as a consumer. As a consumer, I'm naturally going to gravitate to the best quality product of my interest at the best possible price-point. The inner workings of the businesses / manufacturers to provide those products at a level of detail and quality acceptable to me simply should not be of my concern. Simple business / consumer economics dictate this principal. Competition can be cruel in the business world, and when such competition presents it's self, it's up to the business owner to make whatever adjustments necessary to their product or service to remain competitive if possible.

Who knows, in the future Platon may introduce a few other original-maker repro contracts of the same quality and detail as his Dubow.. Now, that would really upset the apple-cart of the detailed repro jacket market if set at a similar price-point as his Dubow wouldn't it? He certainly has the knowledge of many different original maker patterns and details to please most folks, especially if sizing adjustments are offered for a small price-increase. Of course wait times would be much longer, but there still seems to be plenty of folks willing to tolerate it going by GW's continuous 2 year + completion time. Great for the consumer, not so good for the other businesses trying to compete and remain viable..