Tailored Leathers - Thailand/Bangkok

[KnightRider]

Bit of a random question, but I will be heading out to Thailand on holiday in May and I was wondering whether anyone here knows of a place to get cheap tailored motorcycle leathers. The business suits are well cheap so it got me thinking that there may also be substantial savings in bike leathers.

Obviously before purchasing I would need to check that they use proper double stitching and that the Leather is of a good quality but I would expect to do that in the UK anyhow.

So has anyone here bought leathers abroad in a similar fashion to this, or even better, can you recommend a shop in Bangkok/Thailand that could make me some Leathers whilst I was there?

Cheers,

Jon

There's not a great deal of what we call "proper" bikes in Thailand mate-they all run around on scooters-biggest bike i saw out there must have been a 125 (with about five or six people on it)-they wear normal clothes when riding-never saw anyone with protective gear more than a helmet.

even if the leather they use is ok i doubt the stitching will be half as tough as it need's to be and should you need them they might just unravel like toilet paper.

[KnightRider]

Obviously I realise that most people ride crappy scooter type bikes in Bangkok but from even basic internet research I have found well developed Thai big bike forums, shops and racetracks. In fact they sell all the usual superbikes etc that we have.

With such a big clothes market I would be suprised if they dont have any kind of motorcycle clothing. In fact I would not be suprised at all if most motorcycle leathers were made in Asia anyhow.

With regard to quality, of course that is something I will need to check properly. This is also one of the reasons that I am looking for a recommendation. Overall I just want a couple of places that I visit so that I can make my own mind up about whether the quality vs price thing makes it worth purchasing the kit.

Jon

ask a local biker when you get there.

I wouldn't bother, for a couple of reasons.

Firstly - the quality won't be any better than what you can get off the shelf over here. Secondly - if you do have a problem with them, which isn't beyond the bounds of possibility, you can't exactly ride down to the shop you got them from and sort it out.

[KnightRider]

I should probably note that I want custom made tailored leathers. I am vertically challenged and have slightly odd measurements which mean that motorcycle leathers rarely fit me well (the body is to short or legs are too long and the knees and elbows are in the wrong place). This is why I am interested in tailored made to measure leathers.

If I was buying off the shelf then I probably wouldnt bother.

[KnightRider]

Out of curiosity and just to challenge the status quo, when everyone is talking about quality being an issue are you talking from personal experience and knowledge of Thai leather clothing?

I understand that there may be a perception that British goods will be of better quality but most of the motorcycle leather in our shops is made in China so you'll probably find that the Asians are actually more talented than anyone else in the clothing industry.

I am also left wondering whether there really is any magic in the way that motorcycle leathers are made? As far as I can tell it needs to be:
- Good quality leather with a decent thickness/strength
- triple stiched to avoid rips
- Well fitting (which is what you will get if you get a tailor made suit)
- anything else??

Is this something that is particularly difficult for a specialist motorcycle leather tailor to do? Why would a British leather tailor be better at doing this than a Thai tailor?

I am not saying that anyone who thinks that Thai motorcycle leathers will be of poorer quality than their Chineses/British counterparts are wrong - I just want to check that opinion is being given as a result of personnal experience rather than perception and conjecture.

My HG leathers are made in China..
Cant be that bad..

here

and

here might be a good place to ask questions??