Post pictures of your jacket collection

[ABCD]

Now that we're talking East West, let me share this pic of my Barnstormer.

 

[IrishStu]

Now that we're talking East West, let me share this pic of my Barnstormer.

View attachment 761490

That jacket is fantastic and the belt buckle is also spot on.

 

[Leather Walker]

After quite some time without contributing anything to TFL - although I have been present as a reader - I share the latest jackets I have bought during this time.

Schott I-S 674 S-M from the 70s, brown color with Talon zipper, size 38. Perfect for these 6°C here in Barcelona.

Schott Down et Plume jacket, kakhi color, 70s, Talon zipper as well, size XS. In mint condition.

The Lawman officer/service jacket, black nylon, Talon (again), four brass buttons, size 38 -boxy look. Super light weight, but very warm.

 

[LuddGang]

Darn toot’n. I’d be asking too! Lol. The Aero is a solid remake for sure. Leather is sublime. I had one but the sleeves were too trim at the arm for my comfort. Super cool jacket. Had the sleeves been 1” wider I’d still have it.
View attachment 761455
Aside from that it was a good fit and felt appropriate to the tag size. The ibex pattern is more generous in the sleeves but the leather isn’t nearly as nice as the Aero or the EW.

Good heads up on the sizing, thanks. I went for an **L because what little info I could find suggested they run small... I'm generally a 44 like you. I also managed to get hold of the blue and black Levis/Aero in **L after searching for a very long time. That one's a bit of a grail for me so I hope it works. I wish Aero would work with Levis again, pretty much all those jackets looks a cut above IMO.

I've been keeping an eye out for more 70s jackets but don't have enough knowledge to dig out the real gems yet. And it seems like the bigger sizes are even tougher to come by? Though you've amassed a killer collection.

 

[Leather Walker]

I just realized I never properly showed these two jackets I added to my collection.

Schott 118, naked cowhide, early ’90s, size 38, still in perfect shape. My office workmates like how this jacket breaks the boring look of the place, hehe.

Cal-Leather CHP, Talon zips, late 70s, size 38 made of a nice pliable cowhide.

 

[Guppy]

I just finished building out a custom clothing rack for my walk-in closet.

Pictured is about half of my collection, not counting the jackets I'm planning to sell. It's 16 linear feet of hang rail. Built from 3/4" structural pipe.

It's... a lot. I'm looking at paring things down a bit more in the coming year.

 

[Shawnziee]

I just finished building out a custom clothing rack for my walk-in closet.

Pictured is about half of my collection, not counting the jackets I'm planning to sell. It's 16 linear feet of hang rail. Built from 3/4" structural pipe.

It's... a lot. I'm looking at paring things down a bit more in the coming year.

WOW… incredible. I have to show this to my wife—she might finally get off my case. I only have 10 jackets so far, which apparently is “too many.” Meanwhile this collection makes mine look like a starter pack. Also… how amazing does that closet smell?

 

[newtojackets]

I just finished building out a custom clothing rack for my walk-in closet.

Pictured is about half of my collection, not counting the jackets I'm planning to sell. It's 16 linear feet of hang rail. Built from 3/4" structural pipe.

It's... a lot. I'm looking at paring things down a bit more in the coming year.

This is insane… if you ever get the time, would love close ups

 

[Guppy]

WOW… incredible. I have to show this to my wife—she might finally get off my case. I only have 10 jackets so far, which apparently is “too many.” Meanwhile this collection makes mine look like a starter pack. Also… how amazing does that closet smell?

My wife is definitely on my case. But I haven't bought anything since I got married, and she does say I'm very well dressed.

The closet smells amazing, especially when the weather is warm.

 

[photo2u]

WOW… incredible. I have to show this to my wife—she might finally get off my case. I only have 10 jackets so far, which apparently is “too many.” Meanwhile this collection makes mine look like a starter pack. Also… how amazing does that closet smell?

You know she is right... LOL. I have several jackets in two different countries. However, I tend to use the very same one when I go to the store, ride the bike, or hit the town. LOL.

 

[photo2u]

I just finished building out a custom clothing rack for my walk-in closet.

Pictured is about half of my collection, not counting the jackets I'm planning to sell. It's 16 linear feet of hang rail. Built from 3/4" structural pipe.

It's... a lot. I'm looking at paring things down a bit more in the coming year.

Those are very nice rail and fittings on your rack. I was wondering if you could please share the name brand?

Perhaps we can create a thread for racket racks so others can get ideas and perhaps improve the wheel?

 

[photo2u]

A strange vintage jacket collection getting some fresh air... Hum...

My favorite type of piles.

 

[steve u]

@Leather Walker​

"Schott Down et Plume jacket, kakhi color, 70s, Talon zipper as well, size XS. In mint condition."
I had a darker one in the '70's I wore out...I loved that jacket.

 

[Guppy]

Those are very nice rail and fittings on your rack. I was wondering if you could please share the name brand?

Perhaps we can create a thread for racket racks so others can get ideas and perhaps improve the wheel?

It's a good idea. For anyone who has need to store a large collection of clothing, especially heavy jackets, it can be a challenge.

It doesn't really feel like it is quite on topic for Outerwear, but I don't know where else it would rightly belong.

To answer your question briefly, I built the racks with 3/4" schedule 30 galvanized iron structural pipe. Specifically I used Steeltek brand pipe and connectors. They are plenty strong, and steeltek provides engineering specs so you can know how much load they are capable of bearing, which is really important.

 

[photo2u]

It's a good idea. For anyone who has need to store a large collection of clothing, especially heavy jackets, it can be a challenge.

It doesn't really feel like it is quite on topic for Outerwear, but I don't know where else it would rightly belong.

To answer your question briefly, I built the racks with 3/4" schedule 30 galvanized iron structural pipe. Specifically I used Steeltek brand pipe and connectors. They are plenty strong, and steeltek provides engineering specs so you can know how much load they are capable of bearing, which is really important.

The steeltek did look familiar. I used similar fitting but I wen a full 1" galvanized industrial pipe from my local metal suplier from whom I have a commercial account.
Here is a link to my rack thread. https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/heavy-duty-closet-rack.119819/

 

[Guppy]

The steeltek did look familiar. I used similar fitting but I wen a full 1" galvanized industrial pipe from my local metal suplier from whom I have a commercial account.
Here is a link to my rack thread. https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/heavy-duty-closet-rack.119819/

I like your solution. Building into the framing in your walls is strong, and solves all the problems that I ran into with building freestanding racks.

The Steeltek pipe is very strong along it's length, and the tubular construction resists lateral forces pretty well too. Even under load I don't have any sag or bend over a 4 foot length of hang rail.

But the downside of this material is that the pipes use set screws to fasten together, and while this has some advantages (they're fast, un-do-able, and reusable) there are also some disadvantages (there's a lot of play in the joint until you get everything tightened down extremely tight, and set screws do not resist the pipe twisting in the joint socket at all, turning every joint into a potential unwanted swivel that must be counteracted with bracing from a perpendicular angle.

So for freestanding racks I ended up using a lot more material than I initially expected to need, just to ensure that the racks are stable and rigid enough under load to resist the lateral forces imparted to the rack by sliding a bunch of clothes on hangers over to make room for something else. This probably doubled my costs for the project.

I originally started this journey with a commercial clothes rack that I bought from Uline. Their H-3788 has two 60" hang rails, adjustable height, and rated for 330 lbs of load, all for $125. I bought one, put it on casters, and ran the rails up to the ceiling, then slung two 72" closet bars under, giving me effectively 4 rails, and a total of 22 linear feet of hang rail, which is very dense and efficient.

With the casters locked and the rack stationary, it was fine fully loaded with jackets and shirts. But I wanted to be able to roll it around so I could easily get around it in the tight confines of my closet. And that's how I discovered that under load, the rack couldn't be rolled safely. The frame members are bolted together with a couple of screws, and with hundreds of pounds of clothing and a slight sideways push those screws bent very easily, resulting in the collapse of the rack, twisted frame members, and I had to start over.

I discovered that there's other merchants selling what looks like the identical rack, but with a diagonal Z-brace that would provide much better rigidity. I bought a new H-3788 from Uline, and the Z-bar from another company, and they also had a matching lower rail designed to work with the H-3788, and would provide further lateral support. I wasn't sure if it would be enough strength to hold up, so as I put jackets on it, I weighed them as I went, and I was well over the 330 lb rated limit with the rack half full. I needed something that could hold 600 lbs. And stationary vs dynamic loads were much different, you need a much stronger structure to handle forces for a rolling rack as you do a standing rack.

Uline also has these pipe racks, which they say are rated for 450 lbs. But they are not two sided and they don't have upper and lower levels. So I looked at them for a while and decided that I should build custom.

At first I thought to just build a more robust version of the quad rail rolling rack that I wanted originally. But in the end I rethought the layout of the closet, and figured out that I could maximize the space more efficiently by having stationary, single sided, two level racks along the walks of the closet, and a projection coming from the middle of the back wall, basically like the letter E.

In all, I think I spent about $1100 for the materials for the Steeltek parts, but I'm sure it would be possible to find cheaper suppliers than Lowe's and Zoro, which I used for the convenience and availability. And if I'd have been willing to open up walls and mount hang rails directly on the wall studs, I might have needed a lot less materials, and probably saved 2/3 or more of the cost. But I didn't have the luxury of time to plan and evaluate options that much, and just threw money at the problem until it was solved to my satisfaction.

 

[photo2u]

I like your solution. Building into the framing in your walls is strong, and solves all the problems that I ran into with building freestanding racks.

The Steeltek pipe is very strong along it's length, and the tubular construction resists lateral forces pretty well too. Even under load I don't have any sag or bend over a 4 foot length of hang rail.

But the downside of this material is that the pipes use set screws to fasten together, and while this has some advantages (they're fast, un-do-able, and reusable) there are also some disadvantages (there's a lot of play in the joint until you get everything tightened down extremely tight, and set screws do not resist the pipe twisting in the joint socket at all, turning every joint into a potential unwanted swivel that must be counteracted with bracing from a perpendicular angle.

So for freestanding racks I ended up using a lot more material than I initially expected to need, just to ensure that the racks are stable and rigid enough under load to resist the lateral forces imparted to the rack by sliding a bunch of clothes on hangers over to make room for something else. This probably doubled my costs for the project.

I originally started this journey with a commercial clothes rack that I bought from Uline. Their H-3788 has two 60" hang rails, adjustable height, and rated for 330 lbs of load, all for $125. I bought one, put it on casters, and ran the rails up to the ceiling, then slung two 72" closet bars under, giving me effectively 4 rails, and a total of 22 linear feet of hang rail, which is very dense and efficient.

With the casters locked and the rack stationary, it was fine fully loaded with jackets and shirts. But I wanted to be able to roll it around so I could easily get around it in the tight confines of my closet. And that's how I discovered that under load, the rack couldn't be rolled safely. The frame members are bolted together with a couple of screws, and with hundreds of pounds of clothing and a slight sideways push those screws bent very easily, resulting in the collapse of the rack, twisted frame members, and I had to start over.

I discovered that there's other merchants selling what looks like the identical rack, but with a diagonal Z-brace that would provide much better rigidity. I bought a new H-3788 from Uline, and the Z-bar from another company, and they also had a matching lower rail designed to work with the H-3788, and would provide further lateral support. I wasn't sure if it would be enough strength to hold up, so as I put jackets on it, I weighed them as I went, and I was well over the 330 lb rated limit with the rack half full. I needed something that could hold 600 lbs. And stationary vs dynamic loads were much different, you need a much stronger structure to handle forces for a rolling rack as you do a standing rack.

Uline also has these pipe racks, which they say are rated for 450 lbs. But they are not two sided and they don't have upper and lower levels. So I looked at them for a while and decided that I should build custom.

At first I thought to just build a more robust version of the quad rail rolling rack that I wanted originally. But in the end I rethought the layout of the closet, and figured out that I could maximize the space more efficiently by having stationary, single sided, two level racks along the walks of the closet, and a projection coming from the middle of the back wall, basically like the letter E.

In all, I think I spent about $1100 for the materials for the Steeltek parts, but I'm sure it would be possible to find cheaper suppliers than Lowe's and Zoro, which I used for the convenience and availability. And if I'd have been willing to open up walls and mount hang rails directly on the wall studs, I might have needed a lot less materials, and probably saved 2/3 or more of the cost. But I didn't have the luxury of time to plan and evaluate options that much, and just threw money at the problem until it was solved to my satisfaction.

Thanks for the detailed information. The Unilines are also a nice solution. In a way, it reminds me of this Chrome Wire Shelves 48" x 18" x 86" Heavy Duty Adjustable Metal Shelf NSF Model #: 1008-86GGE3C9. NSF-type racks with wheels are also excellent solutions. I remember reading Canuck Panda using it. I like that the shelf can be used for other items, such as belts or boots. I hope people read your experiences in building your storage solution.

About 30 years ago, I fabricated an old-school stainless steel rack. The finished result was to my satisfaction, but it was expensive. I still have it, but I will repurpose it with a marble top instead of the wood I previously used. This time, I wanted to simplify and keep my costs down, and since I had a pipe threader, I decided to go old school and thread the pipe to screw into regular plumbing fittings. However, it became a little expensive. Then I thought of building into the closet, which was more work but a much cheaper solution. I went with the Steeltek because the fittings were on sale for only 1.99 each, and I only used three. Two-way fittings and a bottom flange type. When you use a bigger pipe than the designed size. The size works much better. My fittings were 3/4". I went with 1" pipe from my metal supplier, which was way cheaper than Steeltek and cheaper than square box retailers. Lastly, I utilized some lumber I already had, along with construction-grade screws, to reinforce my walls. The bottom line is my rack looks just like a normal clothes closet, but with super strong support to handle some 500lbs.

 

[Kulak545]

Mostly Thedi’s, himel’s a Johnson, flathead, LLBean and MOTO Japan sprinkled in there