That’s it, it’s happened!
Since the beginnings of the brand, we have heard:
When do you make BonneGueule leather?
After several years of telling you that you would have to wait a while - taking into account the price of the piece, but also the difficulty in finding the right know-how - we are proud to present to you the very first leather jackets Good mouth.
Our two bomber jackets in lamb suede, camel and forest green!
First in a bright camel, not the best color for suede jackets...
...And then a deep forest green. A rarer, more original color, but easy to wear nonetheless!
Why a suede bomber?
An all-terrain jacket
The "bomber" shape is contemporary and ultra versatile.
Over jeans, enhanced with suit pants to look "street-chic", with sneakers, more elegant boots... No problem! It's really the kind of piece that you can put on in the morning without worrying about the consistency of the outfit .
The fact that it is suede also makes the leather less flashy: where smooth leather "shines" in a way, and tends to be the star of an outfit by catching the eye, suede, for its part, integrates more easily by “cohabiting” with the textures of the fabrics.
Suede leather provides a more relaxed feel than its smooth counterpart.
In short, for our first leather, we absolutely had to go that way. Without being one of the first basics to buy, it remains an essential piece!
What is “suede leather”?
Starting with a little semantics can't hurt! “Suede” is the generic term for all leathers that have this “hairy” look and feel. In French, we still sometimes say "daim", even if the name is quite outdated.
In this family, the two main leathers are "velvet", on which the flesh side is sanded
Suede leathers have a softer, more “velvety” feel than nubucks.
In general, the term "suede" is still used when talking about velvet , because nubuck leathers are less common
You can make suede from lamb, cow, veal, pork, and a whole bunch of other skins!
And now it's time to answer the question you're probably asking yourself...
How to recognize a good suede?
The quick and simple answer: good suede is very soft to the touch, supple, with deep colors . It really shimmers under the light.
As for its "velvet" appearance, you should almost be able to "draw" with your hand on it, by touching it with your fingertips.
It must not stink the animal . Contrary to the urban myth which suggests that "if it smells strong, it's real!" , this mainly means that the tanning was carried out hastily, and that you are dealing with poor quality leather... Obviously, a strong smell of detergent or chemicals is generally not a very good sign. more.
A beautiful suede is soft, supple, takes the light well... You should almost be able to "draw" on it with your fingertip!
Good leather is expensive to make since the industrial equipment is expensive.
Besides, well-tanned leather spends several months in vats filled with ingredients such as high-quality fats and organic dyeing agents. Each high-end tannery has its own secret recipes.
“But the rain, then?”
There have always been a lot of fears and debates around the supposed "fragility" of suede in the face of bad weather. If it is not completely unfounded, it is often greatly exaggerated.
The only real “problem”? Indeed, once it has taken on water, a suede will never again be exactly in its original state.
Should we panic though? Absolutely not.
After soaking in water and then drying, you might be frightened when you see your leather: all the little "hairs" that make up the suede are clumped together, so much so that it appears rough and even appears "stained."
However, good maintenance will restore flexibility, softness and, above all, the velvety appearance that gives it its charm!
Karim understands this very well: water is no problem for quality suede leather, and a few splashes won't ruin it! (Note, however, that he is not about to dive with it either...)
The various brushes and products do a very nice job of straightening and separating them from each other, but there are so many and thin that it's virtually impossible to catch them all. Hence the velvety touch less "perfect" than at the start.
But your leather will remain very beautiful, and its properties are absolutely not altered by water.
I speak with knowledge of the facts since I took a heavy downpour for a good 20 minutes with the first prototype of the green model! And as you can see in this episode of Sape M'en Cinq, he's perfect after a suitable interview!
On the other hand, lower quality suedes never regain their good appearance once wet or dirty.
The hairs, which are coarser, struggle to separate again or become too friable. They wear out when you brush, sometimes even forming quite stubborn “leather pills”. The color, for its part, does not regain any homogeneity and can even bleed.
The choice of velvet lamb
Lamb generally gives the most velvety and fluid result, because its skin is simply thinner.
Thicker skin
Whereas on our lamb, we obtain a finer grain, with a marked velvet touch, of greater quality.
Of course, we should not discredit thicker leathers: they are suitable for shoes for example, which need a more robust material, or the famous "roughout suede" which we find on combat boots and more workwear jackets.
But start from the principle that for equal quality, when it comes to a jacket with a supple hand and refined grain, lamb suede is the best!
Lamb suede allows you to obtain a very fine grain, shimmering light and beautiful suppleness.
Obviously, all this must be put into perspective with the origin of the skin and the way in which it is worked. Moreover, it is as important for quality as the ethical aspect!
So I leave it to Benoît to explain to you how we managed to offer you such a pretty material, while remaining within very controlled prices for a lambskin jacket...
A word from Benoît on sourcing
A skin from Italy
The creation of this jacket began with disillusionment...
The first suppliers we came across, in the affordable price ranges, were unsatisfactory. Indeed, inexpensive, or even mid-range, suede leathers are most of the time made in India from Indian goats.
Except that the tanning conditions are far from exemplary. Environmental pollution, danger to human health, animal abuse... It is a country that is regularly highlighted, particularly in numerous documentaries.
To overcome this, we even tried to explore the possibility of Indian leather with ethical and environmental certifications! But we have been warned by many professionals of their lack of reliability: it is difficult to be certain of the level of guarantee offered by these labels...
We therefore preferred to postpone production to look for European leather , even if it took time! Finally, after several unsuccessful attempts, we ended up finding what we needed. We abandoned the goat to switch to lamb... A very beautiful lamb that comes from Italy, from Tuscany to be precise.
Working with a noble material
I can tell you that in our eyes, it is a great victory to succeed in obtaining not only an Italian provenance – much more controlled – but also to work with a more noble raw material!
At the very high end, the majority of suede leathers are made of lambskin. I encourage you to check for yourself: if you take a Tom Ford or James Grose suede leather, it is always lamb, never goat.
Moreover, our Tuscan leather is originally used to make shearling
And the brands that can afford lambskin rather than sheep, Italian to boot, are ultra-luxury brands, quite simply...
This is also what directly gave us confidence, because it is really a good sign regarding the quality of the skins.
The lambskin that we have chosen is also used in the creation of shearlings by ultra-luxury brands.
Concerning our tanning, it is carried out in Romania in a family tannery which works with artisanal or luxury brands, and which is REACH certified, like all European tanneries.
For the manufacturing, this tannery then joins forces with its neighboring workshop, specialized in the assembly of leather parts, with which it works in close collaboration.
The question of price for quality leather
Although I rarely address the issue of price in our articles, I must do so here
To put it simply: you can't cheat with quality leather .
Even brands used to distributing directly, with margins below the classic ready-to-wear circuit, are struggling to sell an Indian goatskin jacket, made in India, for less than €300...
Obviously, don't expect any information on the origin of the leather, the tanning or assembly conditions at this price. I therefore prefer to warn you straight away: our price will have nothing to do with it, because the product has nothing to do with it.
We'll be just under €600, for a Tuscan lamb velvet jacket, with rich grain and texture, and entirely European manufacturing from start to finish. Much more to do with goat sourcing and 100% Indian manufacturing.
To give you an idea, in the classic circuit, it would be sold for at least €800 from a little-known brand. For a more hyped brand, you can easily exceed €1,000. I therefore remain very satisfied with the quality/price ratio that we offer.
The details that make the difference
Ribbed edges designed to last
Too often neglected by brands, they have ended up attracting the wrath of lovers of beautiful clothing, who tend to be wary of them on jackets. They are sometimes too tight, and in a somewhat cheap material that ages poorly.
For our part, we chose beautiful ribbed edges, in a solid blend of wool (46%), acrylic (46%) and elastane (8%), which should hold up well over time and have a slight mottled texture that we really appreciate it!
Good wool blend ribbing, solid and with a slightly mottled look. The little border adds a more refined detail!
Wool gives a certain nobility to the material, both visually and to the touch. Acrylic makes it possible to imitate wool while providing the additional strength of synthetic materials. Finally, elastane provides the hold and stretch necessary for good comfort.
We also did a little aesthetic work on the choice of colors .
For the camel jacket, we wanted them tone on tone, to avoid too strong a contrast with a light color (which would have given the piece too “sporty” appearance). For the green, which is darker, we took the liberty of contrasting it with a dark gray color, also slightly mottled.
Finally, note this little raised border in the middle of the ribbed edges, which highlights the lines of the jacket!
Tone-on-tone ribbed edges for the camel model, and anthracite gray on the forest green.
A YKK zip, Excella range
Excella, the top of the range from the Japanese supplier and world leader YKK .
Reliability, solidity, and a great sliding sensation on the zip! It's the kind of little functional detail that you only notice unconsciously, which naturally makes you want to wear the piece.
An “Excella” Zip from YKK, solid, and which slides on its own! Note that we were careful to choose the color of the zip tone on tone with the leather, to keep a very clean look.
A beautiful lining that breathes
We wanted the lining to be pretty, comfortable and more casual than the viscose ones usually found in our coats and jackets.
On a beautiful suede like this, it's still nicer to have a chambray lining, reminiscent of your favorite casual shirts!
We therefore chose this cotton-modal chambray (76% / 24%) which breathes very well , and whose fluidity allows you to put on the jacket without snags!
How to get the new products for the month of February?
The forest green leather jacket , the camel jacket , the bleach ozone jeans , the officer collar shirt and the khaki honeycomb shirt are available on our e-shop!
You can also find them in our stores.
