Louis Vuitton orange varsity jacket with patches and white sleeves

Designer Jackets from Japan: Blousons, Varsity Jackets and Riders from the Great Houses

Bags are collected; jackets are worn, and then, in Japan, kept. A Louis Vuitton varsity blouson bought in Ginza for one season, a Hermès silk bomber worn twice to dinner, a Raf Simons parachute bomber bought by a student who could not quite afford it and never let it go: these are the pieces that make Japan the best place in the world to buy designer ready-to-wear second-hand, and they are the subject of this guide. It is a hub: each house has its own page, linked below.

The types

  • Varsity and teddy jackets. The American award jacket, wool body and leather or contrast sleeves, remade by Louis Vuitton (Kim Jones, Virgil Abloh and Pharrell Williams all made one), Celine and Saint Laurent. The Japanese word is sutajan, and the form is explained in Sutajan versus Sukajan.
  • Bombers and blousons. The MA-1 lineage in nylon, cotton, silk and leather. Hermès cuts reversible silk bombers from its own carré prints; Berluti makes one in Scritto calfskin; Balenciaga and Celine print and embellish theirs.
  • Trucker and denim jackets. The Levi's Type III translated into Monogram denim, Damier pixel denim and patchwork, which is the Louis Vuitton denim room.
  • Riders and biker jackets. Lambskin and calfskin from Saint Laurent, Celine, Dior Homme, Loewe, Louis Vuitton and the Comme des Garçons collaboration with Lewis Leathers; see The Rider Jacket.
  • Coats and runway outerwear. Raf Simons chesterfields and trench coats, Prada nylon, the pieces that appeared on a runway and then in a Tokyo wardrobe.

The houses

  • Louis Vuitton. Menswear became collectable under Kim Jones (2011–2018), explosive under Virgil Abloh (2018–2021) and playful under Pharrell Williams (from 2023). Varsity blousons, Monogram denim, leather utility jackets and the NIGO capsules. Read Louis Vuitton Ready-to-Wear.
  • Hermès. The quietest and best-made of all: reversible silk blousons, cotton bombers with equestrian prints, leather-fronted jackets. Read Hermès Ready-to-Wear.
  • Celine, Saint Laurent, Loewe, Berluti, Dior Homme and Givenchy. The Paris and Madrid houses with codes a collector can learn; read House Codes.
  • Raf Simons. The archive collector's house, season by season, from Antwerp to Prada; read Raf Simons: Collecting the Archive.
  • Kansai Yamamoto and the Japanese designers. The Louis Vuitton Cruise 2018 kabuki biker, and the designer archives of Comme des Garçons, Yohji and Issey; read Kansai Yamamoto and Japanese Designer Archives.

Sizing: 44, 46, 48, 50

The houses size in numbers, and the numbers mean different things. A Louis Vuitton 48 is a comfortable medium; a Saint Laurent 48 is a slim small; a Raf Simons 48 from 2003 is cut for a nineteen-year-old. Italian and French numbers also diverge by a size at some houses. The only reliable method is the flat measurement: chest pit to pit, shoulder seam to seam, sleeve from shoulder, and length from the collar seam. Every jacket in the archive is measured this way; compare the numbers with a jacket you already own rather than with a size chart. Japanese owners are, on average, slimmer than Western buyers, so the archive runs to 44, 46 and 48; larger sizes are rarer and worth asking for.

Reading the care label

Inside most luxury jackets a white care label carries the style number, the fabric code, the season and the country of manufacture. Louis Vuitton references begin with letters (HQA, HRB, HOL) followed by numbers; Hermès uses a style number and a colour code; Saint Laurent prints a six-digit style number and a fabric code; Celine an alphanumeric reference. The style number is the fastest way to confirm a piece against the house's own records, and we photograph it for every jacket.

Condition and care

  • Silk and satin bruise on the shoulders and split at the pocket openings; look there first.
  • Lambskin scuffs and takes a shine where it rubs; calfskin is tougher. Keep leather away from radiators and let it dry naturally if it is caught in the rain.
  • Rib trim stretches at the cuff and hem; a tired rib on an otherwise unused jacket usually means it was tried on many times in a wardrobe.
  • Embroidery and crystals lose stones and threads; count them in the photographs.
  • Grades. Japanese grading describes all of this, with separate ranks for unused and near-unused pieces; see Japanese condition ranks explained and Caring for Luxury Leather.

Why Japan

Because the boutiques sold these jackets at full price to buyers who kept them. Japan has been one of the largest markets for every house named here since the 1980s, its climate is dry for half the year, its wardrobes are small and tidy, and its owners sell on a piece when they tire of it rather than when it wears out. A collector buying a jacket here buys the piece, the tags, often the garment bag, and an honest description of the one afternoon it was worn.

In the archive now

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After a particular house, season or a size 52 and above? Our Hunting Salon™ searches across Japan's private collector circles on your behalf, and Layaway Privilege™ reserves a piece over several payments.

Index terms: designer jackets from japan · louis vuitton varsity jacket · hermes bomber jacket · celine teddy jacket · designer bomber jacket pre-owned · luxury menswear japan · raf simons bomber · dior homme jacket · designer jacket sizing 46 48 · pre-owned designer outerwear

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