The Blade Moleskin - Coyote

So to summarize this jacket is really great - the material looks really unique compared to most of my other jackets and the color gives it a vintage look. For me, the sizing is an issue. This jacket fits like a size smaller than other blade jackets. If you have a Blade denim jacket and prefer some room to move around, try a size up from your normal size, in my opinion. I actually bought this moleskin jacket once years ago in my normal kato size (Large for ripper/blade/anvil jackets) and it fit almost like a medium, but I kept it thinking it might stretch out over time. The moleskin doesn’t stretch with wear that much though, so it mostly sat in my closet. For various reasons I decided to try order the XL, and the XL of this moleskin jacket basically fits exactly like the L denim Indigo Raw Blade on me, just the moleskin is a bit roomier in the midsection than the indigo raw one size smaller. Personally I think the sizing should be more universal across the jackets, but it’s also my fault for not exchanging in the beginning or emailing kato to ask about the stretch. I hope this helps someone in the future to avoid my (expensive) mistake. Great piece otherwise.

The overall design, quality, and construction of the jacket is great, the color is excellent. I saw the photos and fell in love with it after a long search for a similar jacket.

My read on the issue is that unfortunately, the shoulders are designed in such a way that they seem unusually wide for the size relative to comparable jackets, like Flint and Tinder, Rogue Territory, Freenote Cloth, or Levi's. The result is unless you are particularly broad-shouldered relative to other aspects of your body, the shoulder will overhang your natural shoulder meaning the jacket sleeve will bind at the shoulder joint when you try to raise your arms to the side or forward; if you've ever tried on a slim dress shirt where the shoulder was too wide, you might be familiar with this. Crossing your arms or giving a hug was impossible. However, upon using one hand to artificially pull the jacket shoulder in slightly, the issue was resolved. I had tried a Small and Medium, and neither really solved the issue since even the Small has a wider shoulder than a Medium in other brands.

Arms down, at my side, the jacket was great, but that's just not good enough for a jacket that I want to wear everywhere and actually do things in. Unfortunately, had to return and am back on the hunt for a better fit.

More fashion over function because you can’t raise your arms very high due to no stretch, but it has the most incredible fit, color and texture of any jacket I own, and I own a lot.

I’ve always wanted a denim jacket, but have never found one that felt right. The material on this jacket and the unique stitching make this one of a kind. Can’t wait to see how it wears for years and years.

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