The finished suit

As mentioned previously

You may be asking, “Why Vanson? Why not just try some other company’s stock suits and see if they fit?” Quite simply, we both agree that Vanson is the be all and the end all of motorcycle leathers. When we first started riding several years ago, we didn’t know anything about leathers at all, other than that the MSF recommended at the very least wearing a helmet, gloves, a jacket of some sort, jeans, and boots that covered the ankle and that The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Motorcycles, which is actually a really good read, said that “competition-weight leather (leather that is at least 1.3 millimeters thick) provides the best crash protection of any material, period.” Being the safety conscience types, we went out and got our first full-face helmets, leather jackets, and leather gloves. We figured jeans would suffice for the lower portion. Although we thought our first jackets and helmets were really good stuff, especially since our friends, who started out riding bikes at the same time we did, made the mistake of buying cheap leather jackets, they weren’t Vanson, but of course at that point we didn’t know diddley about Vanson. The first time I even heard the name Vanson was on our first trip up the Blue Ridge Parkway when we saw a guy wearing a Vanson jacket, which John pointed out, saying that Vanson was supposed to be the best leathers made. He also hinted that he’d like to have a Vanson jacket someday. Being the good wife, I decided to buy him one for Christmas. Right away John was impressed with the quality of Vanson vs. our other jackets. In fact, he got out his other jacket and went through everything: padding, quality of leather, armor, etc. That was the beginning of our love affair with Vanson.

Pretty soon, we both had Vanson summer leather jackets and pants. My leathers got tested rather dramatically when I slid 125’ on asphalt after being hit by a deer. My jacket and pants held up really well. The only road rash I had was where my non-Vanson leather gloves wore through and where my knee got hung on the brake lever. Please note that I didn’t have armor in the knees of my pants; if I had, the damage to my knee would have been minimal if at all. The emergency room staff was amazed at the small amount of damage the damned deer did, and they all wanted to know what kind of gear I had on that kept me from having major road rash. Apparently, they see lots of victims of deer strikes in Sparta, NC, and most of them aren’t wearing the most protective of clothing. After this incident we were true believers in Vanson leathers (not to mention in knee armor).

Gradually we’ve added Vanson winter leather jackets and pants, and John has gotten his one-piece suit for track days. Now it’s my turn for a one-piece suit. Vanson has been great, sending two stock suits for me to try, but my body just wasn’t made for stock suits. Once we got to the Vanson showroom, we found out why.

Before we made the pilgrimage to the holy cathedral of motorcycle leathers, we looked at Vanson’s on-line custom designs, trying to find one that would be flattering to my shape. As I’ve told John, if we’re going all the way to Vanson itself to get me fitted, I want a suit that makes me have a waist and boobs. That’s probably not important to most men, but it’s certainly important to me. I don’t need any help looking fatter or flatter than I already am! Also, we stayed in contact with Kim Vanson, who has been our regional salesperson until just recently, to make sure that it was okay if we came up for a fitting.

Vanson is located in an old cotton mill, which in itself is very cool. Walking in the door, we were overwhelmed by the plethora of leather jackets, pants, and suits in a variety of colors and styles. Neither of us had ever seen so many leathers in our lives; John was positively drooling. Hanging from the ceiling are racers’ leathers, and spread on the ceiling like a bear rug are leathers that had to be cut off of racers, but that are still fully intact, showing the resilience of Vanson leathers.

After meeting Kim Vanson(who is the wife of Vanson Leathers owner Mike van der Sleesen), she hooked me up with Nadya, a wonderfully kind person who measured me without making any editorial comments, and at that point we found out why my body wasn’t fitting into the stock suits. My torso is almost four inches longer than that of the suits I’d tried on, which was causing the crotch to ride up and the shoulders to push down and the back of the suit to have a lot of air between my waist and the leather. I’m hoping that when the new suit comes in a couple of months that I’ll be able to wear it without feeling as though I’m going to split in two.

After being measured, Kim took us on a tour of the whole factory. First we saw the custom designers working from sketches and putting them on the computer. At the end of that room was a wall filled from top to bottom with little cubby-holes stuffed full of scraps of leather. I thought this was a little odd, but pretty soon we found out that Vanson uses every little scrap of leather that they can. Some of the smallest pieces are used for key fobs or lettering; almost every part of every cow hide is used. Next, Kim took us into the leather room, where tanned cowhides in every hue are stored. John and Kim had an in-depth discussion about white dyed cowhides vs. other color cowhides while I walked around looking at all the pretty colors. The gist of that conversation is that yes, white dye is more caustic to the hide, but not enough to warrant a problem. Also, we learned that cowhides from cattle slaughtered in winter are more brittle than those from cattle that are slaughtered in summer. MOO!

Going up to the fifth floor, we found the most interesting machine. It uses water pressure to cut out patterns in the leather. Although the stream of water coming from the jet is tiny, it has enough force to slice through a finger, if anyone were silly enough to try it. Another way they cut patterns is with giant cookie cutters that they put in this machine that presses down on the cookie cutter and the leather; the pattern is punched right out. As we walked along, we saw men using sewing machines to sew the pieces together. This is a very physical sort of job, as it takes quite a bit of strength to force the pieces through.

One of the most interesting things we saw was the girl doing a re-dye job on a set of leathers. First, she washes the leathers in a washing machine. Then she hand paints on the dye with a very small paintbrush.

Eventually, we came back downstairs to wander through the seemingly endless aisles of leathers. Vanson truly is an amazing place to visit. Kim pointed out one section of suits that had been rented out but are now for sale at amazingly low prices. If you are in the market for a great track suit but don’t feel you have the money to spend for a quality suit, you really should take a look at these. They are a real bargain if you can find one in your size.

Our thanks to all the Vanson people we met, especially Kim and Nadya (who have been sworn to secrecy about my hip measurement!). We originally became Vanson customers because of the quality of their products; we’ll stay with them because of their great customer service!