Schott N.Y.C. P633SH Perfecto

The Perfecto is the jacket. Schott made the first one in 1928, named it after the cigar its founder was smoking, and sold it to Harley riders for $5.50. Everything else with an asymmetric zip and a belted waist is downstream of it. The P633SH is the horsehide one and it costs $1,800.

Horween horsehide is the reason for the number. Cowhide is what almost every leather jacket is made of, including most Perfectos, and it is soft, forgiving and comfortable in about a week. Horsehide is denser, stiffer and considerably less interested in your feelings. It takes a season to break in properly and then holds a shape that cowhide never quite does. Horween has been tanning it in Chicago since 1905 and the supply is genuinely limited, because the leather is a by-product of an industry that is not growing.

What you are buying, then, is a jacket that is worse than the cheaper one for the first three months and better than it for the next thirty years. This is a real trade and it is not for everybody. If you want a leather jacket that feels good in the shop, buy the cowhide and save $700.

If you want the one that ends up in a photograph of you in 2050, it is this.