James Dant x Shangri-La - Custom "Yin Café Racer" Leather Jacket - Black Tea-Core

James Dant x Shangri-La - Custom "Yin Café Racer" Leather Jacket - Black Tea Core

We worked long and hard to get this collaboration to its launch. It's been nearly a year since we started discussing plans for a custom jacket with Shangri-La. To be honest, it all started with the liner. We saw this houndstooth pattern and thought..."my goodness that would look amazing in red." So we had Marko and the gang scrounge up some samples for us. We settled on this brilliant, vibrant red that we knew would give you that happy feeling every time you pull it out of the closet.

The next step was deciding on a silhouette. We waffled back and forth so many times between the "Café" and "Chiodo" for weeks. All we could imagine was how much of a rockstar you would look in the "Chiodo" with a "red liner." And that is what ultimately made our decision to go with the "Café." Not all of us are rock stars. Not all of us feel like putting on a costume every time we walk out the door. I'd venture to say...most of us want something hard-wearing that goes with everything...something with enough solid details to give you that tingly feeling when you pick it up but not enough to stick out like a sore thumb. It was always going to be the "Café" as it was our first love. 

We had a good idea of which leather we wanted to do, but the question was...do we just do one or do we crank it up a notch. Having decided to do the veg tan up front, this was the natural forward progression. It's essentially the veg tan treated to be black on the surface. What you don't see with this piece, as it's got a liner, is that the back side of the lather is veggie. So, as this piece ages it almost works in reverse of the veg. It is the Yin to its Yang. Pieces of the black will wear and chip away revealing levels of brown and tan underneath. This, is true nature of a tea core. It gives it an incredible aged look that is hard to accomplish any other way...and to be honest, nothing else will look as good as it ages. 

We're so excited to be sharing this project with you. The good people at Shangri-la made our vision come to life. They did all of the hard work and absolutely crushed this design. It's a joy to work with our good friends in Italy and see our brainchild come to life. 

Please note, there will be variations in the leather. This could mean that one jacket is has more veg tan showing through than the other. This creates a "1 of 1" piece exclusive to you. 

Every Jacket comes in a high-quality 100% organic natural cotton Bag, laced with Havana rope and with a screen printed logo.