What gets me is a large part of the bike itself is made in Asia!

 

Add Kerr leather to that list of American Leather manufacturers, priced comparitivly to HD leathers and MUCH higher quality. Personally, I don't think anyone looking at HD leathers is going to consider a Vanson. But incase anyone wants to know what the golden standard of leather is: www.vansonleathers.com. They are the very best available.

RE

 

I prefer Vanson. Much better than harley stuff and I don't need all those stinkin patches. Harley leather isn't that great IMO.

 

You can also add Antelope Creek Leather in the panhandle of Texas. Their stuff is high quality and reasonably priced. They only charge a premium when they ship to Okies.

 

I think the point here is that -yes this is a global economy - BUT HD markets itself as an "American Legend". We have all fallen for a big marketing machine . . shame on us. And no, I don't and won't buy a Harley leather jacket - better stuff at better prices is available.

 

Bibs commented earlier in the thread about American leather shipped to China. American leather is low quality compared to European (which most leather manufacturers use) for 2 reasons: Horns and Barbwire.

 

Hi everybody,

I'm from Europe (BCN, Spain), and unfortunately I can't talk about american leather, mainly because I didn't have the chance to buy any jacket/vest/whatever from USA yet. What I can say is that, once I decided to buy my HD bike (back in May) I started looking prices and quality of different jackets and made some observations.

First I checked the H-D "official" stuff, which I found out to have a thinner leather than I'm used to see in jackets. And the price was terribly high. They were asking around 600€ (so more than 700$) for a jacket with only middle arm protection (no back or shoulders protections, funny for a product labelled to be "perfect for long trips") and I saw the made in China thing (I've nothing against tech things being made in china, but clothing...). So I decided to keep looking around. Most of people I know with motorbikes (Japanese ones) are using stuff from Dainese and Aire, real crap, similar in prices and quality to what I saw at HD shop. And finally, my brother (who I should've asked in first place, as he has been an HD rider since ages) told me that 5 km (more or less 3 miles) from home there was a factory of leather equipment for bikers that made you the jacket, trousers and all the equipment (appart from boots and gloves) with your size.

I went there and it came out that they were crafting stuff for high-end competitions taking place that weekend in Montmeló (the racing circuit near Barcelona). They took my sizes and made me a jacket of high quality leather for less than 400€ (actually, 375€), in a week. With all protections (arms, shoulders and back). Badside: it weights A LOT.

Conclussion: I'm sure that almost everywhere there is a craftsman or a factory of high quality equipment that surely outfits any mass-produced product that aims to get more profit than deliver quality.

Sorry for my bad english, I hope it gets better with the practice

see you!

 

Welcome warper

Your english is better than most Americans.

 

Dejavu......I dont know if the U.S. ships leather to the chinese or not,but I do know I'm sick to death seeing how every f**king thing you buy today is from somewhere else.
KOLNI dont even begin to tell me that it's the american consumers fault that the big corporations are heading everywhere but here to have their wares made....it's about Bottom line.Period.
It bothers me more than you'll know that that Road King I have is 70% foreign made....I wanted one....I have to deal with the fact that it is.I really hope that Harley Davidson falls on it's *** or comes to it's senses in so far as it's price gouging goes.....but then again...why should they? They are typical of most other large corporations......

 

You guys who want to debate the "world economy" issue are missing the point entirely. It doesn't matter WHERE Harley Davidson leather goods are made, the fact is that HD sells low-quality leather for top-quality prices. If a man can get a better jacket, for less money, and support an American company at the same time, why the hell would you buy anything off the rack at the Harley shop?