New Year, New Leather Jacket!
We only went and bloody did it! We have officially launched our fourth SoulRevolver.com website. To celebrate, we are offering a 15% discount on all mens and womens styles, including the new SALE section! Simply enter code SRV4 during checkout.
Come with us as we remember our previous website incarnations along with an important message about our pricing..
It all began back in 2005 on eBay, with just three styles. After a short time and good sales, we soon moved over to a template ecommerce website store:
She wasnt much to look at but she had it where it counts. At the time we had around ten jackets up for sale, all true vintage style leather jackets made of cowhide. Very durable and If you bought one back then, I'm sure it is still holding up well.
From the very beginning, we were always about excellent quality cowhide sourced from Pakistan which is the home of excellent quality cowhide - soft, durable and even back then we were customising the thickness to get that sweet spot of around 0.7 - 0.8mm, not too thick, nor too thin. Just right for a mens leather jacket. It was also very important that the cut was correct - slim fit, like a true vintage jacket and tailored in the right areas for a precise fit. We really pushed our Pakistan factory to make the right leather jacket before we would even put it out for sale which is a key to our longevity. It was not about making a quick buck but to deliver a high quality, stylish, tailored product. Btw, if you look closely, you can see the collar of the FIght Club jacket! We were one of the first to make this true to the original replica.
From the very beginning, we were always about excellent quality cowhide sourced from Pakistan which is the home of excellent quality cowhide - soft, durable and even back then we were customising the thickness to get that sweet spot of around 0.7 - 0.8mm, not too thick, nor too thin. Just right for a mens leather jacket. It was also very important that the cut was correct - slim fit, like a true vintage jacket and tailored in the right areas for a precise fit. We really pushed our Pakistan factory to make the right leather jacket before we would even put it out for sale which is a key to our longevity. It was not about making a quick buck but to deliver a high quality, stylish, tailored product. Btw, if you look closely, you can see the collar of the FIght Club jacket! We were one of the first to make this true to the original replica.
Our second incarnation below, was our first custom website, made in 2009, with a heavily aged, vintage metal & leather look:
This design was meant to portray a raw, factory feel. By this time, we were making more styles so we split the products into separate sections - Mens & Womens Leather Jackets, Movie & TV, Motorcycle and Cotton style jackets.
Then in November 2011 came the third website, seen below) was not only a new website design but also a big change with a move of production to Italy. We were very happy with our Pakistan manufactured jackets but the roadmap for Soul Revolver was always to reach for the refined craftsmanship and exerience of Italian production. We met with a small, specialist leather crafting shop based in Northern Italy and fell in love with their leather quality and overall attitude to making leather jackets. We also started adding a new antique effect to the leather in their labratory. The finished product was outstanding, you can read what customers think of our Italian leather jackets here.
The design of this version of the website was based on vintage American cars, in particular the 1970 Dodge Challenger. We took a lot of the front and rear shape along with the grill for inspiration with added leather trim and radio buttons. Back then we had a Virtual Fitting Room to help you figure out the best size. We felt this was ok but we use a much better system these days: SeAnn, who will contact you after you order to help make sure you are getting the right size just for you.
A Frank & Honest View On Pricing
At the time of the new website and the move to Italy, the prices of the leather jackets increased from on average £210 (inc VAT) for a high quality Pakistan leather jacket to an average of £330 (inc VAT) for an Italian crafted jacket. This may seem like quite a jump and to be fair it is but the change in the product itself was a much greater jump. Before, we were selling a jacket which would envy any high street jacket of similar price to a designer level product which, going by store prices, would cost in the region of £1000. If you shop around popular designer websites and stores, you will see a latest season leather jacket is around this price. Also bear in mind a lot of these designers do not actually manufacture their jackets in Italy but still charge you a premium price! How on Earth is this being fair and honest to the customer? In fact, our factory thought we were crazy to sell such a high end product for much less than the competition. The way we see it is a leather jacket is never worth £1000, no matter who makes it. Now, our prices may increase a little in the future, which will mainly be due to costs, but they will never be anywhere near the ridiculous prices other labels charge.
To be clear, we don't sell a regular high street jacket at a high price, we are selling premium, designer level leather jackets at less than half.
To be clear, we don't sell a regular high street jacket at a high price, we are selling premium, designer level leather jackets at less than half.
Times Change
Here we are in 2017 and a new year brings a brand new website design. We kept hold of the above website for a long time, probably longer than we should have, but we really liked it..but the change was needed. We had to do away with our previous two website styles and create a dynamic website to work on any screen size and device. Instead of making one for desktop and another for mobile devices, we went ahead with one so the design had to be simple, clean but retain a feel of what we are about - cool, vintage style with high end refinded product.
The new homepage is inspired by magazine covers. Over the years our typography logo have gone through subtle changes but it still retains the look and vintage feel we had way back in 2005. The new logo really stands out on the homepage and becomes a little more subtle in the header on the rest of the website..
The new homepage is inspired by magazine covers. Over the years our typography logo have gone through subtle changes but it still retains the look and vintage feel we had way back in 2005. The new logo really stands out on the homepage and becomes a little more subtle in the header on the rest of the website..
The products on the new site are easy to find, simply choose shop mens, or mens at the top of the page for example and you will see all leather jackets we have for sale on that one page with a simple filter if you wish to narrow down the jackets to our familiar categories along with colour choice. The search option is also there if you wish to find a particular jacket. Products have a clean, white backdrop along with model images to see the jackets being worn. Future features will include more images of the jackets being worn along with individual review area for each product and previously viewed/recommended styles.
There is also an easy to navigate customer service section, where you will find all important information from size guide, ordering to getting in touch. So there you have it! We hope you like our new website whether you are seeing it from your desktop, tablet or phone.
Maybe our next website will be a Virtual Reality store..
