Schott NYC for 3sixteen's 20th.
Photographer: Vincent Picone
Model: Trí Lê Trần
Our eighth annual collaboration with revered leather jacket manufacturer Schott NYC coincides with our 20th anniversary, and while we always strive to raise the bar from season to season, this felt like a good opportunity to pull out all the stops. One of our first ideas to celebrate this milestone was to develop a custom horsehide leather with Horween that could be applied to several products and collaborations throughout the year. We’ve already released the 20th anniversary mules, and this jacket is next up.
The leather is a beautiful, supple horsehide chromexcel that is brought to life through a complex multi-step process where the hides are chrome tanned, vegetable tanned and then hot stuffed. What we love most about this leather is the shine and the grain: there is an extraordinary amount of character that Horween excels at showcasing in their approach. Unlike other chromexcel leathers which feature a natural backing, Horween mill dyed the leather during the vegetable tanning process which gives the backing a greyed-out color with slight brown undertones as it oxidizes. We opted for this approach to allow for a more subtle aging of the leather over time. In essence, this leather is still a teacore in that it features a lighter backing, but as it wears in the contrast will be more nuanced. The top layer of the leather is a semi-aniline finish which means that it gets a blend of hand-applied stains and pigments for a color with lots of depth.
Many of you will be excited to see that after a two year hiatus on double rider jackets, we’ve returned to our favorite silhouette that Schott makes - the 519 - as the foundation for this collaboration. The epaulets and belt have been removed, and we have opted for mixed hardware: brass zippers combined with nickel snaps. This is a callback to our 2020 Waxy Steerhide Perfecto, which featured a design choice inspired by vintage Schott Perfecto’s made in the ‘40s when wartime necessitated using whatever hardware was on hand even if it didn’t match. The jacket is finished with a black satin lining, hidden inner chest pocket, and a 20 year anniversary tag.
There are so many reasons that we enjoy working with the team at Schott, not least of all their dedication to craft and their obsessive approach to quality. What often isn’t seen from the outside, though, are the ways that partners step up for each other in difficult times; on more than one occasion, the team at Schott has gone above and beyond for us. The aforementioned Waxy Steerhide Perfecto is one such example - back in 2020, we were faced with numerous business disruptions and supply chain issues that severely limited our ability to produce clothing at our normal cadence. We approached Schott to ask if they would be willing to work on a collaboration piece with us even though they were facing similar challenges. They agreed without hesitation and even gave us the exclusive on a brand new leather that they had yet to release in their own collection. That small run of jackets helped us get through a difficult season and allowed us to cover important expenses.
For this editorial, we asked Schott for permission to shoot the campaign on their factory floor in Union, NJ. This is where all their jackets are hand cut, sewn, finished, packed and shipped from start to finish under one roof. Each time we visit, we have the opportunity to meet more of the talented craftspeople who are responsible for the incredible end product and, like Schott, it makes us proud. The 20th Anniversary Horsehide Perfecto retails for $1300 and releases this Monday, November 20th at noon ET on 3sixteen.com. You can also find it at our NY & LA flagships, and at the following retailers on the same day:
Self Edge (SF/NY/LA/PDX)
Blue Owl Workshop (Seattle)
Cultizm (Online)
Guevel (Kansas City)
Iron Shop Provisions (Lake Charles)
Rivet & Hide (London)
