Johnson Leathers

Wow! Kathleen is the best. She took care of my vintage leather coat. She shortened the sleeves to make a clean comfortable fit. She re stitched it, cleaned it, protected it and even fixed some areas I didn’t ask her to.
The price was not astronomical, and her turn around time was good. I liked her attention to detail, and the quality of her work considering the tough task of making an old neglected leather coat like new. She’s very talented. She’s also personable which makes doing business a pleasure. I will be going back for all my future coat alterations and repairs. She is just a really nice, kind person who is a consumate professional and that’s not easy to find these days.

I’ve been a customer for years and I’ve recommended friends to them who have been just as happy as me so I figure it’s about time to write a review. This is the place to go in San Francisco if you’re a biker. Alan knows his shit and his employees are outstanding in creating the best quality gear.
About 3 years ago I had Johnson Leathers make me a custom fitted vest and they incorporated my prospect rocker into the the design of the vest. Full patch and moving up the ranks later they’ve added all my patches to my beautiful vest for me.
I’ve come to them for custom work. I’ve come to them for repairs. I’ve come to them for advice. I’ve referred friends to them. They are incredible. Sure I can save some money and buy something off the rack that was mass produced at some CycleGear kinda shop, or I can pay a little bit more and have a custom made garment that will last a lifetime and looks amazing. I prefer the latter. Johnson Leathers is the best of the best.

You will not find a better shop of this type in California. Period. In addition to standard, high quality fashion leather goods, both made in house and elsewhere, Johnson Leather makes very high quality motorcycling apparel. I have had two extremely good encounters with them, and cannot recommend them highly enough. The first, about six years ago was to have them add race armor to my old and well-​loved Hein Gericke «Dakar» touring jacket. The jacket had to be widened to accommodate; they found matching patinaed brown leather & got the jacket done in very short order. That jacket has finally gotten too old to use (the interior is wearing out) so, few weeks ago, I purchased a new jacket from them; with a bit of customization I had it a week later, and it is by far the finest piece of gear I’ve ever owned. They are easy to deal with, their prices are spot on, and the back all the work they do. If you’re in need of a moto jacket, this is the place you want.

I researched the hell out of the Bay Area for a shop to add armor to my leather riding jacket (a gorgeous Horween leather café racer-​style model from Triple Aught Design). Brought it here, and within a few days, the people at the sewing machines behind the main desk had added pockets for the shoulder, elbow/​forearm, and back protectors. Turns out, this place actually made the jacket I had, which explained the insane attention to detail on the design. About two years in, the pockets’ stitching for the armor is showing some wear, so will have to get that fixed. Still, really psyched on the results.
For serious riders, the most noteworthy aspect of this place is that they use T-​Pro/​Forcefield body armor when they outfit your gear. It’s the toughest stuff you can buy, and there’s no reason to buy anything else. I haven’t been able to find it since moving back to NYC, so I sent my Kushitani leather jeans all the way to these guys to get hip and knee armor installed. Pumped to get them back and see how they did it.
Great institution, wish I still lived nearby.

I wish there were more stores like Johnson Leathers, because the salesman could not have been more helpful, honest about which jackets worked for me, which didn’t, etc.
I bought a beautiful leather vest (made in San Francisco) here, great sale price, great quality. When almost 6 months later one of the buttons happenend to falll off I returned and without questions they sewed the button back on. I also got a motorcycle jacket (safety type with inside armour). I can’t wait to come back here several times each year to see what’s new and unique on their racks.

I’ve bought two leather jackets from Johnson Leathers, one about a dozen years ago and one just under two years ago that I still own. Both had the same problem: The lining around the inside pocket (where I keep my wallet) came apart prematurely, creating a nuisance at first and eventually rendering the thing unwearable without repairing the lining. The first time it happened I just wrote it off to bad luck, in part because I happened to find a great deal on a replacement jacket while on a trip, so I simply replaced it and didn’t think much more about it.
But when the same problem happened to me recently with the newer jacket, I decided to go in and see if they would repair it under warranty. The jacket has not had rough use, the exterior looks fine, and I’ve had the interior lining of way, way cheaper jackets (I’m talking #39.95 JC Penney made-​in-​Bangladesh type) last far longer.
To my surprise, the proprietor at first would not take responsibility. He swore he’d never had any problems like this, insisted «this is a good lining» (even though it was also beginning to wear out in two or three other places), and said the warranty did not apply because the warranty is for defects in workmanship and a) the lining wasn’t his workmanship, they buy it from a supplier, and b) the problem didn’t seem to be workmanship but with the material wearing out.
As politely as I could manage, I called bullshit on this and spent about 10 minutes arguing with the guy. Finally, he agreed to replace just the panel of lining that includes the area around the pocket at no charge. This was the minimum proper resolution (although leaving unfixed the other sections of lining that are starting to wear prematurely), but I had to argue like hell to get it.
Several days later, he called me to say that the repair guy had noticed that a line of stitching was missing from when the jacket was made — stitching that apparently helps hold everything in place and thus reduces strain and wear on area around the inside pocket. So it was indeed entirely their problem. Oddly, he passed this along just as an interesting discovery and never apologized for trying to get out of fixing the problem.
I now have my jacket back, with the disintegrated part of the lining replaced, but other parts of the interior probably only having 6 – 8 months to live. So… he did the right thing to solve the most pressing problem, but it took way too much effort and the whole experience did not leave me with a feeling of wanting to patronize this establishment again.

I was there after read some very good reviews here in order to buy my first true leather jacket. And I need to say that I found the perfect one! Black, suit perfectly and has life time warranty!

Had my pretty complicated Roland Sands Jacket custom tailored here. The Jacket was ready on the promised date and I can’t even tell where anything was changed. Looks like new and all the features of complicated inner liner and pockets work as before!
That’s how it should be :)

Fabulous shop stocked with all manner of leather goods. My girlfriend and I trekked up many of the steep San Francisco hills to find this shop (the cable cars were temporarily out of service) but it was definitely worth the journey. My girlfriend purchased me a leather wallet and she bought a lovely leather backpack. When the owner found out that we visited from Ireland he deducted some of the tax from both items. Two well made leather items for $ 250 was a steal compared to paying for leather goods here in Ireland.

Skills: 1 star. Not only that my $ 1000 leather jacket wasn’t cleaned at all, they actually damaged it (white patches on a tan jacket).
Service: 1 star. Promised 10 days, and delivered their poor result after almost 3 weeks.
Management: –3 stars. The owner (Johnson) tried to shake responsibility for the error by blaming his «contractor» and saying that he will ask him to refund the money that was charged for the cleaning (upfront) instead of taking responsibility for his own poor service. I’m a business owner too and I would never even think of saying something like that to a unhappy customer.

The work was impeccable!
I needed to shorten the sleeves in a new motorcycle leather jacket. My husband recommended Johnson Leathers. I can’t be happier. They said it’ll be done in 2 weeks and sure it was. I came in, tried my new jacket on and was very-​very happy!

I ordered a custom leather jacket and it fits amazingly well. There was one slight error in stitching — they paid for shipping back to San Francisco and fixed it the same day and shipped it out back to me.
Great quality and stunning service. Not the cheapest products but definitely feel it is worth the price.

Brought in a vintage 1960s USF varsity jacket to these guys last week. Leather sleeves with tons of stains from who knows how long and a wool body that had seen better days. For $ 65.00 they cleaned the body to perfection and removed 90% of the leather stains that I thought would be on there forever. Very satisfied with the service and the results especially considering this jacket is almost 50 years old.
5 STARS. FAST. Will def bring more vintage varsity jackets here to be cleaned.

One of my favorite motorcycle gear shops. Excellent leather repair work. They do custom work at surprisingly reasonable prices. This is one of the few places that stocks Forcefield Armor.

For years I wore a 2-​piece Dainese racing suit. Although I was more or less happy with the jacket, the pants were clearly cut for someone with a different physique. I have a slim/​athletic build, with a longer torso and shorter inseam. Finding motorcycle gear that fits properly has always been a challenge. When my Dainese suit started to come apart at the seams, I decided to give Johnson Leathers a try.
Alan took the initial measurements and a few weeks later I went back for a second fitting. When I saw the final product, my initial reaction was: «There’s no way that’s going to fit me.» The new 2-​piece looked tiny, but fit it did — like a glove. After a few rides I brought it back to Alan for some fine tuning. Nothing major, just a few adjustments here & there.
I’ve since put a few thousand miles on the suit and it just keeps getting better with each ride. There’s top-​of-​the-​line Forcefield armor in all the right places and I still marvel at the quality throughout. My riding buddies have given me their thumbs up as well. I realize now that my correctly-​sized Dainese, even the jacket, was ill fitting from the get go.
Although my suit is track ready and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it at Sears Point, it’s better utilized for the twisty motorcycle roads around northern California. (I have a 1-​piece Vanson that I’ve used at the track.) Johnson Leathers listened closely to me and added features that I wanted. It wasn’t cheap but I didn’t want to skimp on quality or safety.
We’re fortunate in the Bay Area to have places like Helimot and Zooni Leathers that make custom motorcycle suits. But if getting to the South Bay is too far or inconvenient, Johnson Leathers is an excellent alternative. If you’ve had sizing problems with off-​the-​rack gear, or if you want top-​of-​the-​line quality that’s made here in San Francisco, check out Johnson Leathers.

These guys and gals are the real deal. They repaired the torn pocket on my Tumi leather jacket in a week and you’d have to be Hercule Poirot to detect the fix.
They make their own gear right there in the shop and supply just about every local police force in the area. Prices are fair for the quality of work they do. Outstanding.

I very happy and please with my repair… it’s cost alot money but it worth the wait. I now can wear my one pieces Dainese suit again. Thank you again

Best Jacket Ive ever owned.
I always bought used. but always wanted a new one. for years ive
promised myself id get a new one made by Johnson. I have a used Johnson Jacket
that i still wear.
My Jackets the Hottest thing since Sunburn… at least I think so.

I brought in a leather Balenciaga handbag I purchased from Jeremy’s. The bag had clearly been abused, with a huge rip in the handle, and a couple of little rips in the corner, but I took a chance since it was marked down to $ 200 from $ 1500.
I brought it to Johnson Leathers and they instantly brainstormed ways of how we could make it work. Because the rip actually left some missing leather, I told them it’d be fine if they wanted to take apart the mirror that the bag came with (the mirror is encased in the same color leather as the bag). They made sure to set my expectations straight and told me there were no guarantees, but that the bag would at least look somewhat better than it currently did. And oh, it would cost about $ 100 in repairs. Sounded a little steep, but I agreed.
Long story short, I left the bag there for about a month, came back, and I was surprised at how great it looked! Yes I coud see the seam on the handle where the huge rip had been patched up, but when I showed the purse to my husband and asked him to find where the patch had been, it took him about five minutes to figure it out. As for the little rips on the bottom, I couldn’t even find where they were anymore. AMAZING.
I will come back here in a heartbeat. They’re not cheap, but they are quality. Really friendly through the whole process, too. They are minor miracle workers!

I’ve had Johnson work on several pieces of my apparel over the years. They just put a new zipper in my Dainese jacket (frankly the original one wasn’t great quality) and they had done the same for my old Alpinestars jacket which I still have.
Their work is good quality though not cheap ($ 75 for the zipper) and they are consistently friendly and professional. The reason for four stars vs. five is that it took a bit over a week to do the job as they were a little back-​logged.
If you need work done on your leathers this is the place to go in SF.