****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
A friend of mine has a scrap leather trench coat like this he absolutely loves and I thought it was rather neat. Called it frankencoat... He has had it for over 5 years and wears it almost all the time, especially in the rain. I already have an old scrap leather bomber jacket that has held up amazingly well for over 10 years now, so I thought I'd get this trench coat since I love it, and other people complement me all the time on my patchwork bomber jacket.I love leather items, I love not spending a lot of money, and I love anything that is unique and stands out. This coat fits all three.First: It is made out of REAL LEATHER so guess what? IT will SMELL like real leather. Big surprise there huh? I love all the reviews here complaining about a leather trench coat smelling like leather. If you don't like the leather smell don't buy leather products.Second: You are getting a real leather coat for cheaper than the price of a sub-par vinyl or polyester coat. So a new, real leather, trench coat in the $40-$65 range is absolutely an amazing deal! But again, remember the price range, you are not buying Armani here.Third: this is a very UNIQUE trench coat. I'm a tall guy 6"4" and it fits beautifully in XL on me. It is made of scrap leather patches sewn together to form the whole coat, lambskin in this case. It is very soft and supple, and actually a lighter weight than my $250+ regular lambskin leather coat/duster. I also love the more modern cut of this coat as it doesn't have flaps, splits, or "capes" like many others do. Because it is made of scrap leather pieces it means there will never be two of the same coat.My only real gripe about it is that I had to tighten up the buttons so they weren't so floppy, took all of 5 minutes with very basic sewing knowledge. They looked fine the way there were, but I'm a stickler for fit and finish. I also ditched the belt and cut off the belt loops because who uses the belt on these anymore?The coat came in a plastic mailing bag and was inside a sealed plastic bag itself with large lengths of tissue paper separating it wherever it was folded. I inspected every inch of it and found no tears or rips, so I popped off the tags and wore it out right then. Went out to get food at a local mom and pop burger restaurant and had 2 different people compliment me on the coat and how "cool" it looked. I'd say that all makes it a 5 star coat.The coat was WAY TOO WIDE.. They list this to fit me but it looks like I have gained 100LBS. Fits for length but not width for sure. Very sad about this. I would have loved it if I was a wider guy but I am a slim guy ( 150lbs, 6' tall) the smell was fine opposed to other reviews complaining. Smelled like leather, the coat is a patchwork as noted though that wasn't a issue for me. I was sad that the buttons on the sleeves were just sewn to the fabric making it not possible to make them smaller without alteration. Came in good condition and quicker than expected.Overall if your a heavier set person I think you would enjoy this, or as others have said for "costume purposes" but I can't get over looking like I have a huge coat that is 3 times wider than me and the correct length. Tried to use the leather tie to make it better, can't do this when it's buttoned or it wrinkles at the button spot. Also it is a bit "noisy" when moving around. Not a deal breaker but sounds like you have foam pushing against itself. Overall I would give a 4 if it fit properly for the price, though since it didn't without serious alterations, I give it a 2 1/3-3.The only reason why I didn't give this jacket 5 stars is because this jacket was delivered with very loose buttons. I read through the comments before I purchased this jacket, so I had read a few comments about the buttons before I bought this jacket, it seemed to me that it was possible that when I got the jacket I would need to find a tailor to secure the buttons, so I found one close by then ordered the jacket. Sure enough when I opened my packaged and unpacked the jacket two of the buttons were hanging by a thread and the other two were pretty loose too. So for an extra $12 ($3 a button) and 20 minutes of my time, I now have a wonderful leather trench as my daily coat. The lether on this jacket is soft, the liner is warm, and weeks after I have started wearing this coat my car and closet smell like new leather.After reading some of the reviews here, I was nervous about what I would get in the mail when I ordered this. However, when it came there was nothing wrong with it, except that it was way too big for me, but that could have been easy fixed if I had ordered a smaller size.The coat is patchwork leather as some other people said, but its black and shiny and you cannot even tell from a distance, and you should bear in mind this coat was 27$ when I bought it. There were no moths or holes, although the buttons are a bit loose.There is a strong smell of leather about it, which is rather natural from a huge leather coat, but the smell was completely gone after hanging about 3-4 days in a closet.The pockets are deep enough for objects inside to not fall out, unless of course you plan on hanging upside down in this coat. And there are nice inside pockets.For it's price this as an awesome coat in every way, but be wary of the sizes. I normally order XL on all my clothes (i am 6'2") and the XL on here is way too big for me, I think I should have ordered Large or even Medium and it would have been perfect.I bought this for a Halloween costume, the price and quality are spot on. This is perfect for that scary murdering hitchhiker look. The leather patterns are a bit weird, but the coat is so dark no one should really notice. If the smell is too much, put fabreze or colon on it. They work fine. Buttons are a bit weak. The quality of leather is beyond the price. I dragged the coat in dirt and mug to give it that old dirty worn look. I even ran over it with my car a few times and it's held up nicely. Also typical leather aging techniques will not damage the coat. Just be gentle and patient. If you are looking for a Martix style coat. this is not for you. If you are in the hunt for one, then you have to buy the real thing and give up an arm and a leg. Fakes are easy to spot, and frowned upon.
