Make us an offer on ready to wear jackets

Bespoke Menlo - The Excelsior - Review from Stefan

December 06, 2023

More about the Excelsior jacket here.

Somehow, I have always liked leather jackets. Even back as a young guy in Eastern Germany, maybe 13 years old, I had a rather cheep black leather jacket I wore with blue jeans. Years later I was told that this combination was an indicator for the Stasi to detect participants to the Monday demonstrations leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I didn’t know. I simply liked the style. And I still do.

So, years later I decided I need a new leather jacket. A real one. None of these trendy jackets made by those fashion brands. No. But a really cool one. Timeless and cool. I started searching in the internet and ended up studying threads in the Fedora Lounge. And step by step a picture developed in my mind of what I want. What I need. A Himel Bros. jacket was what I actually wished for. But I could not convince myself spending the money. Instead, I started with another well-known brand. Jacket no. 1. And one year later with another one. Jacket no. 2. But somehow, I was not 100 percent satisfied. That was not it. I still felt like being on search, not yet converged. Neither the leather nor the shape/patter completely convinced me. The jackets looked good, yes. But something was missing. They were not as cool as I wanted them. I later sold both of them.

And then Covid started. And with Covid, the HBTV channel on YouTube. David Himel explaining his jackets. And that was it. I needed one of his jackets. Clearly. “One good thing”. That’s my motto. No compromises. Something special. Extraordinary. Non-standard. I like when people are crazy and totally addicted to their field/work. They completely entered and live in this world. That appeals to me. And that’s how I am too.

One day on his Instragram I saw Himel’s Excelsior-based version of the Menlo-jacket. In dark brown shinki oil finish. And I was flashed. Since I didn’t find it on the Himel Bros. homepage, I asked there how I could order such a jacket? The answer was: “just send us an email”. And that’s what I did. The day later (recall the time difference between Germany and Canada) I had Sophia answering my questions and we started specifying my jacket. I sent photos of me in my Nipissing Riders jacket plus all required body measurements. When I was not sure if my ideas on material, colors etc. would work together I asked her and got an honest answer. That helped a lot and convinced me that my specification will work. I confirmed the final specification end of July and received the jacket 7-8 weeks later including one week delivery from Canada to Germany.

To make it short. The fit of the jacket is perfect. The leather is absolutely stunning. It looks just great. It looks cool and precious how I like it. And how I wanted it. However, there was one detail missing which was the stitching along the front buttons making a Menlo from an Excelsior jacket. I was thinking about complaining but I liked the Excelsior style. Compared to the Menlo it had a more historic look to me. But then, after a few days, I was contacted by Reilly from Himel Bros. asking if I am happy with the final product. I was happy, absolutely, but then I thought I should mention the Menlo-stitching. Also, to see what will happen. Reilly was very very kind and handled the situation in a very professional and customer-oriented way. In the end, I decided to send the jacket back to Canada to complete my specification. All shipping was paid by Himel Bros. I received the jacket back in less than three weeks after I handed it over to DHL. The jacket was at Himel Bros. just a few days, less than a week. So, most of the time was shipping between Germany and Canada. On the way back the packet even got stuck at customs in Germany. After there was no progress for a few days, I contacted Reilly and the jacket passed customs within a few hours.

The Himel Bros. jacket I received is the most stunning jacket I have aver owned. Thank you very much for this!!!

And to be honest, I am already thinking about a next one. One more good thing. Let’s see…