Waxy Steerhide Perfecto.
Photos: Ray Spears
This Friday, December 18th, we launch our fifth leather jacket collaboration with Schott NYC. It’s our last special release for the year and we couldn’t think of a better way to close 2020 out. The reality is that we had plans to develop a new 519 Perfecto with Schott for this year, but COVID really put a stranglehold on new developments so we were prepared to let it go. We spoke to Don and Jason at Schott, and they stepped up for us in a major way by pulling a new collaborative jacket together on an aggressive timeline. We’re thankful for the support they’ve provided to us every year - but especially this year.
This year’s Perfecto features mixed hardware; we opted for matte black snaps, hand and chest pocket zippers, coupled with nickel zippers for the front closure and sleeves. We especially love how this detailing gives some visual contrast and makes the pocket closures fade into the rest of the jacket while allowing the nickel to really pop. When brainstorming the mixed hardware idea originally, we asked Don whether Schott had done anything like this before. He replied that they had and sent over some photos of Perfectos from Schott’s archives that had a similar treatment. There was one asymmetrical D-pocket that jumped out at us specifically and we asked about its history; Don shared that it was from the 1940’s and that during wartime, material shortages sometimes forced Schott to make jackets with whatever hardware was on hand at the time so that the garments could actually be completed. In a year that has presented all of us with unexpected challenges and necessary pivots, this bit of history really spoke to us.
The leather on this year’s Perfecto is a beautiful custom tannage that Schott has been working on for quite some time now. It’s a waxy pebbled black steerhide that is the counterpart to a vintage brown currently featured on their Rancher Jacket. Many of you know that the past three years’ projects have featured Horween leather and we remain committed to them as we believe strongly in the work that they do. This year’s collaboration, though, required nimbleness due to production slowdowns throughout 2020; this new development from Schott was offered to us as an exclusive and we were excited to put it to use. When Jason brought several options over in late summer for us to look at, this waxy steerhide was the one that we instantly fell in love with. It’s soft and supple while still having good weight to it; this leather makes for a tough jacket. We’d say that alongside the first project we made with Schott (v1, the naked cowhide), this leather is probably the most supple one that we’ve used and will be very easy to break in despite its heft. The color is also stunning - like the zippers on the hand and chest pockets, the black is matte and has very little shine to it unless under direct light. The pebbling gives the leather a beautiful texture and depth. While we hope the photos do this jacket justice, we feel strongly that to see this jacket and touch the leather in person will be the best way to see how special these hides are. We’re honored to have the opportunity to debut this particular leather for Schott through our collaboration.
Remaining details on this jacket include the same rayon leopard liner that we employed on our Officers Coat collaboration with Schott that we released earlier this fall. We love how discreet this feature is when worn, but how good it looks when the jacket is hung up. We also included the center back snap that was traditionally found on Perfectos so that a sherpa collar could be offered; we choose to add it to each of our collaborations as a place of customization. In previous years, we’ve sometimes included sterling silver or brass snap caps that were made in collaboration with Good Art HLYWD. This year, the jacket ships with a plain matte black cap, but you are free to put a previous year’s snap on there or buy a new one directly from Good Art. We are also releasing a brand new snap cap featuring our new logo that Good Art developed especially for us; these will be sold separately and available both online and via our flagship stores. You can purchase it for this jacket, or to place onto previous ones that you already own.
The Schott for 3sixteen Waxy Steerhide Perfecto retails for $950 and will launch this Friday, December 18th at noon EST exclusively via 3sixteen.com and our NY & LA flagship stores. Production is limited to 50 units and we will be allocating some stock specifically to our flagship stores to give our local customers access to them. If you live nearby, please feel free to stop by this weekend at your convenience or book a private appointment. All remaining in-store units will post online the following Monday (December 21st).
