mrman

Ok, an update. Things started to move forward once I reported an issue with the transaction with PayPal this morning. Inoue did refund very fast, but my losses are still considerable: I paid 205€/230$ for the jacket including shipping, 79€/89$ customs fees, 25€/28$ for shipping the jacket back and 13€/15$ PayPal fees for receiving the refund from Inoue. All in all the net amount I received after deducting the different fees from the jacket price Inoue refunded was 88€/99$ (205-(79+25+13)). So I received only 42% of the jacket price back, the rest I paid from my own pocket with nothing to show for myself. And all this because Inoue's sizing info did not correspond with the actual product, so the base problem was not on my part.

I had first thought about a custom order but asked Inoue to provide the normal lineup measurements for sizes 44 and 46. After receiving them I got the impression that a custom order was not necessary, that size 44 would be the ticket. I never got to know if the measurements themselves were incorrect or if the jacket that I received was made too small. But the measurements I have provided in this thread should be taken with a grain of salt.

Another strange thing is that we had initially agreed that he would replace the jacket with a correct sized one. After a while he sent me pictures, a video in fact, where he showed that the finished product had correct measurements by measuring it with a measuring tape. After that started the stalling, he would send it next week, he was out of town and send it the following week and then finally radio silence. Today when he refunded he stated that the jacket did not have correct measurements and that's why he could not send it. What happened to the jacket in the video where I could see with my own eyes that the measurements were correct? Did he send it by accident or on purpose to another customer? Well, that I will never know, but really strange nonetheless. It seems that he is overwhelmed with the current amount of work, he is expanding his business too hard and should get help to handle the correspondence and shipping. Otherwise there will be more and more unhappy customers like myself.

All in all, this was a very costly lesson for me and something I will most likely not repeat. His products maybe beautiful but working with him is too much hit-and-miss to go there again. As I said there are happy (old?) customers, but still I can only give this advice: think twice, no three times, before ordering from him.

As I already stated above I know most of you have had great experiences with him and I did not claim otherwise. But based on my own experience he's far from customercentric and does not seem to be very reliable. A thing no one can deny even if their own communications have been succesful. They can only speak for themselves.

Case of point, I find it strange that time and again he has time to post on ig or make blog posts but does not have time to answer e-mails from a customer. If I was in his shoes, I would do just the opposite, first make sure that the current customers were happy.

I thought that you were permitted to share your experiences, both good and bad. And to make it clear, I'm not out to get Inoue, I will report back if he does put things straight.

An update to my 50s jacket odysseia. As I previously reported I got incorrect sizing info from Inoue before ordering. Had to pay customs charges but the jacket was too small and I sent it back, obviously paid for that too. After that no replacement, no refund, only vague answers (next week this, next week that...) to my e-mails and then radio silence. Probably have to contact PayPal as it's obvious Inoue is not going to do the right thing.

Shame as Tcb stuff is beautiful and really would have liked to have that jacket. I know most of you are happy with your contacts with Inoue but just from my own experience he seems to be full of it. He doesn't seem to be that keen to correct matters when things ultimately do go wrong. Too bad.

^Been eyeing both in xl, could you give some measurements? Thanks!

Surprised there isn't a dedicated leather jacket thread around here, so I figured I would ask here.

I'm looking for a good leather jacket and I don't think I'll be able to go to a Japanese brand like Flat Head because they don't make anything in my size, so I'm looking into some of the custom makers.

Which way did you go? I'm very interested in those Himel jackets myself...

My Viberg waxed flesh service boots. Sorry for the shitty picture quality.

Hi, these are the once washed measurements I got from Inoue a couple of weeks ago:

42

44

Well, now you got me worried. That doesn't sound very promising.

Sorry, I don't doubt that, I'm sure he will exchange it for another one. But, I have to pay for sending the jacket back without any hope for being compensated probably. Plus, I was hit by customs and have to go through the hassle again when sending it back and hoping that when I get the replacement, I will not be hit again. All this because I was relying on that the reported measurements were correct.

Well, I'm not sure how he does the measuring but I do it the SelfEdge way. Haven't seen any other way of measuring p2p, in fact.

Sorry, talking about the 50's jacket

Of course, just pissed off that the reported measurements do not correspond to actual ones. Especially that actual p2p in raw is an inch less than reported for once washed.

Ordered size 44 raw from Inoue and got it today. Inoue said that the measurements for 44 once washed are following:

I did! It shrank but not loads. If you search on the unknown japanese brands thread you'll find my measurement for a size 42 pre and post wash.

Thanks Volvo! A bit confused though as the measurements for sizes 40-46 are far from linear, eg p2p: 51,5cm (size 40, once washed, from the site); 53,5cm (your size 42, raw, post soak), 58cm (size 44, once washed, measurement provided by Inoue), 61cm (size 46, once washed, measurement provided by Inoue). At the same time length stays the same 67 cm for all sizes, except your size 42 that clocks at 71,5cm after soak...

Anyone bought the 50s jacket in raw? How did the measurements compare to the ones on the site?

Thanks, any idea what soak/wash temperature should be used to get to the measurements on the site if one picks the raw garment?

If I've understood correctly the sizing on TCB site is once washed, right? But are the garments themselves raw, unwashed and supposed to shrink to the sizes on the site? And is the denim itself unsanforized? I'm trying to get Inoue-san to make me a custom sized 50s jacket and would like the communication with him go without a hitch...

Sorry for the newbie question but does OR always stand tor once washed in Warehouse terminology? And how much does the once washed denim still shrink if any? Thanks in advance!