Interludes are short segments between regular episodes with no editing but WITH leather creaking. It's a chance to hear a little more about what's going on in my life. This time we think about some options for leather uniform shirts, with a special focus on Mr. Riegillio.
Interludes are short segments between regular episodes with no editing but WITH leather creaking. It's a chance to hear a little more about what's going on in my life. This time we think about some options for leather uniform shirts, with a special focus on Mr. Riegillio.
Welcome to Full Cow, a podcast about leather kink and BDSM. My name is Edge, my pronouns are he, him, and I am your host. And this is another interlude in the episode Between Episodes, offered raw and unedited, but with Langlitz creaking. And this time I wanted to talk about buying leather uniform shirts, and I'm motivated by two things. First, I recently bought a shirt from Mr Regilio and I will give my review of that. But second, and more generally, I often have people approaching me online asking me where do I buy gear? And so I'm going to go over some of my favorite spots and make some recommendations, and I'm going to focus in on leather uniform shirts.
Speaker 1:
You know, the truth is I am hungry for some shirt that is not a leather uniform shirt. If you open the leather closet, I have a leather tank top, and then I have a stupid amount of leather uniform shirts in various colors or with various piping. That's great, that's fine. Love that. I'm hungry for something else. That's privilege, of course, because I already have so many uniform shirts. I will acknowledge that. But I am hungry for something else. I would love to find a leather polo. That's a little tricky given my body shape and size, but I'm just putting that out there.
Speaker 1:
Nevertheless, leather uniform shirts are a very popular staple item for a lot of leather folks' collections, and so it's a great item to begin with. And if you were to ask me my number one recommendation right now, and if you go through my closet right, some of that is used and you're not going to be able to get that. I have several items that are custom. You're not going to be able to get that instantly. I have a couple of shirts that are gifted. You're not going to be able to get that. So I'm really focusing in on off the rack availability so that you can listen to this and go buy some shirts.
Speaker 1:
So my number one favorite off the rack leather uniform shirt right now is by Rough Trade Gear. They are located in Los Angeles, in Palm Springs, and they have a really good online web presence. It is well designed, well styled, it comes in a variety of colors, it is well constructed, it is true to fit and true to size, and I am especially fond of the one with the quilted accents. In fact, the blue one has become a sort of signature item for me, and people are quite fond of the oxblood as well. Now, these are not cheap shirts. They range from about $475 to about $600. But if you were to ask me like what is the best off the rack leather uniform shirt, I can get where I will look amazing and it will look great. And I have different options Rough Trade Gear without a doubt there are more affordable options.
Speaker 1:
I often recommend a brand called Kuki K-O-O-K-Y and they're mainly a wholesaler. So you might find, if you do thorough internet searching, you might find some online retailers where you can buy them online. But one of the reasons I recommend it because I live here in Fort Lauderdale and our local leather store stocks Kuki shirts. These shirts are perfectly fine, perfectly serviceable. They have the correct design. They are fairly well proportioned. I do think the chest pockets are just a little large. They have good color options. They come in a range of colors. They are true to size, they fit very well and they're relatively affordable. I want to say they're about $250. You're looking at half the price of something from Rough Trade Gear. I do think you're getting half the quality. I don't think that the leather is of higher quality and I don't think that construction is as high a quality, but it's a great shirt. It's a great shirt and if I had that kind of money to just burn, I would pick up a couple of them because I do like some of the color options they have. So if you have a local leather store and if they happen to stock Kuki, it is a more affordable off the rack, usually readily available option. That again offers a variety of sizing and a variety of colors. Now, mr Regilio, let me just cut to the chase. For the price, you cannot find a better leather uniform shirt than the one offered by Mr Regilio there. Now you can skip the rest of the podcast episode, but I'll say more.
Speaker 1:
I first heard about Mr Regilio through friends. People started talking about this out of nowhere, it seemed. For a while I had it confused with the litany of Pakistani makers that people would talk about. I didn't quite realize what the hell it was or who the hell they were. I finally checked out the website and I'm like oh okay, this is interesting. They are based in the Netherlands, I wanted to say, and have a really nice web presence. I think they have a couple of in-store presences now, in fact, I think in the United States your only option is Mr Fess in San Francisco. So it's really better to be buying this stuff online. Mr Regilio, you know a lot of it, I think. Skews fashion, which means there's something for everyone, and so that's good. What is also good is that several of their leather uniform shirts are classically designed, as in good old-school leather the way I like to do it and they are super affordable. I would recommend shopping particularly in the sale section, where the prices get crazy, crazy, crazy affordable.
Speaker 1:
I had looked at Mr Regilio for a while. I wasn't quite sure about them, and part of what made me not sure is they are a European company. European manufacturers make clothes for European bodies. American bodies are different. American bodies tend to be either bigger up top because we have a stronger muscle culture in the United States, or bigger on bottom because we have a lot of struggle with obesity in the United States. So I'm not and obviously I am making crazy generalizations Crazy generalizations. I'm aware of that, but I'm trying to say based on my experience, I find that European leather manufacturers tend to imagine a more uniformly shaped body. That's what I will say A more uniformly shaped body. So I'm pretty martini shaped and I can often have a lot of problems fitting into European manufacturers, even though the sizing is so sweet, right.
Speaker 1:
So I finally kind of bit the bullet and went to the Mr Regilio website, checked the sale section and saw a really nice looking gray leather uniform shirt with black pockets and epaulets with red stitching or red piping accents and I'm like, oh, that's actually really well designed. And not all of their leather uniform shirts are really well designed. There's one where there's a different color pocket but also a different color leather along the snaps. I'm not a fan of that one, but this one I'm like that looks great. That is really well designed. I checked out the measurements as much as I could and I just wasn't sure. I just wasn't sure it was going to fit and the advice on the website when it comes to measurements is by your usual size. So it was so affordably priced $122 US dollars and I'm like, okay, let me just take the plunge. So I bought the shirt with shipping, which was sort of global FedEx or something. It came so quickly, it came within a week.
Speaker 1:
I paid a total of about $140 for this leather uniform shirt. When I tried it on, it mostly fit. It was way too tight in my biceps. I know Luxury problem, total luxury whining. Oh, my arms are so big I can't fit into my leather shirt. And this sounds kind of ridiculous, but I kind of got stuck in it because the cuff of the leather on the sleeve really just kind of got stuck on my bicep. So I went to a local seamstress and I said, can you alter this? And they looked and they're like, yeah, we can add a quarter inch on the sleeve. I said, great, do it. And that was another $40. Now I got the shirt back. It's still tight in the biceps but I can get it on and off, which is really all that matters because it will stretch over time. So I paid a total of $180 for a really well designed leather uniform shirt. There is no place I'm aware of off the rack where you can buy a leather uniform shirt and have it altered and still be paying under $200.
Speaker 1:
Now how are they able to get away with this? Part of it is this is sheep leather, sheepskin leather, right, not cowhide. And they they play that up on the website. It's like, oh, it's so soft, oh it'll, it'll conform to your body over time. And yes, it is very soft and, yeah, it is very comfortable, but it I don't know that it has the same Durability as cowhide leather because of its softness. I think it can stretch too much compared to Kyle cowhide leather.
Speaker 1:
The Seams are sewn but not glued and sewn. If you remember back on the leather episode when we were talking to the guys at Ben Orson that he really suggested that was one of the marks of quality of leather is that is both glued and sewn. These seams are not, and I know because the seamstress just had to rip out the seam and Take some extra allowance and sew it back up. And then the big giveaway for me in terms of how they're getting away with this price is if you look at the front of their leather Uniform shirts, you will see a seam down the middle of either side of the chest, right In a classic leather uniform shirt. That is not a seam, it is a dart. And the difference is if you look at a shirt from, say, rough trade gear, that front of that shirt is being made out of more whole pieces of leather, larger pieces of leather. That then adds to the cost because you have to get larger pieces of hide to cut out these single Panels and then sew in a dart versus little scraps of hide here and there that you can assemble together with a seam.
Speaker 1:
Does this impact the aesthetic of the mr Regilio shirt? No, does this allow them to offer a well-designed shirt at an extremely affordable price point? Yes, at the end of the day, if you know a lot about leather and I you know I'm not an expert, but I have been collecting it for over 30 years you can look at the shirt and you can see oh, here's where they're, here's where they're making decisions that allow them to bring the cost down. Here's how they're able to offer a leather uniform shirt for $120 before shipping. But in terms of the look, in terms of the aesthetic that's projected, that is not Significant.
Speaker 1:
Do I think my mr Regilio shirt last as long as one of my rough trade shirts? No, I don't. I really don't. But at $180 I also don't care. I really don't care. That is such a great price now. Now the problem is, I keep looking at their website and I want to buy more and more and more and more because I know. I know what my size is, I know the adjustments that need to be made and I will say, I keep an eye on their sales section. They're regular prices, are not out of line. I think the regular price for a leather uniform shirt is closer to maybe $250. I might be making that up, check their website to confirm but at that price I'm probably more likely to go for cookie, which I know has a more American body in mind and therefore doesn't need the alterations.
Speaker 1:
I'm also really curious about the mr Regilio long sleeve leather uniform shirt. I have one in black from mrS which fits me like a glove and it is butter soft leather and it is beautiful. And I'm Wondering how the mr Regilio long sleeve leather uniform shirt might fit me, because part of the issue with the short sleeve shirt was the double like the cuff right. There's an extra thick piece of leather at the end of the sleeve that was getting stuck on my biceps and I'm thinking a longer sleeve might not have that same issue. I have been consistently talking myself out of buying more, mr Regilio, because Honestly it is.
Speaker 1:
I'm living on the surface of the sun here in Florida. I'm not wearing any leather. I barely go outside. If I can avoid it, I stay in air conditioning and, yeah, while it's great to have leather, it's even great to have it where you're wearing it in a public context and you can enjoy it with other people. So will I buy from Mr Riggili again? Probably because their prices are so damn seductive. I've also checked out some of their pants.
Speaker 1:
Let me be clear if you're looking for breeches, they do not sell breeches and ironically, as my experience with my bestie, mentor Dads or, would attest, getting a good pair of breeches right now off the rack nearly impossible. So perhaps in the next interview I'll share a little bit about breeches. But for this one, if you're looking, particularly if you're looking to start your leather collection, mr Riggili is an excellent choice. An excellent choice decent, good construction, not forever lasting, but good construction that will serve you well, at a price point that is really sometimes very hard to believe but which nevertheless is true. I think they're a great starter piece, but eventually I would hope you think about custom options. You can get exactly what you want. That you might think about something like rough trade, because I'm a big fan of their designs, you know.
Speaker 1:
But when you're getting started, sometimes you just need a piece to get started. And if you just need a piece to get started, mr Riggili is now my default recommendation. So that's it for this interlude. Wherever you are in your leather journey, no matter how much leather you have, no matter what you're planning to buy, from whatever source you're able to get it. I hope that your next item of leather really gives you that sort of joyful moment where you're excited and it fits and you just feel the sexiness of your own being. I hope that and I wish that moment for you. And until then, please, please, be very, very, very, very. I'm sorry I got a little stuck on my varies. Please be very well.