Leather is one of the worst categories on the internet for the gap between what a listing shows and what arrives. The photography is good, the price looks like a bargain, and the jacket is thin, chemical-smelling and pieced together from offcuts.
The encouraging part is that the tells are consistent, and you can check all five of these in about four minutes.
1. Reverse image search the photos
Save the main product image and drop it into Google Images or TinEye.
If the same photograph appears on twenty other stores at twenty different prices, you are not looking at a brand. You are looking at a shopfront reselling a generic product, and the photo shows a garment that may or may not resemble what ships to you.
What good looks like: photographs that appear nowhere else, more than one angle, and at least one shot of the jacket being worn by a person rather than floating on white.
2. Look for garment measurements, not just S/M/L
There is no standard for menswear sizing. A medium is whatever the seller decided it was.
So a size chart that offers only “Medium — fits 40in chest” is telling you almost nothing. What you want is garment measurements in centimetres: chest, waist, shoulder, sleeve and length, per size, measured flat.
Why this one matters most: sizing causes over half of all clothing returns. A seller who publishes real measurements is a seller who expects the jacket to fit — and who is confident enough to be held to a number.
3. Check the leather is actually specified
Look for a hide type and a thickness in millimetres. Lambskin 0.8mm. Cowhide 1.2mm. Goatskin 0.9mm.
If the only description is “genuine leather” or “real leather”, be careful. Those sound like reassurances and they are actually a grade — one of the lowest, made from the layers beneath the outer grain. Nobody selling full grain describes it that way.
Also worth checking: the number of panels across the chest. A body pieced from many small sections has been cut to use up cheap offcuts. Fewer, larger panels cost more and look better.
4. Read the returns policy against the law
This one is quick and it is revealing, because a lot of returns policies sold to UK customers are not enforceable.
Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, buying online in the UK you get:
- 14 days from receipt to cancel, for any reason at all — you do not need a fault
- A further 14 days to return the goods
- A full refund including the standard outbound delivery cost
Which means these terms, all of which appear routinely, are not enforceable:
- “Returns accepted for defective items only”
- “A restocking fee applies”
- “Sale items are non-refundable”
- “No returns on orders of more than two items”
A term that removes a statutory right does not bind you regardless of what you agreed at checkout. But its presence tells you something about the seller before you have spent a penny.
One genuine exception: made-to-measure and personalised goods are legitimately excluded from the cancellation right, because they cannot be resold. That exclusion is lawful and reasonable, and an honest seller will say so plainly rather than bury it.
5. Check there is a real company behind it
Scroll to the footer. A UK business selling to consumers must display its registered company name, company number and registered office address.
Then look it up. Companies House is free, takes thirty seconds, and shows you whether the company exists, when it was incorporated and whether it is still active.
What you are looking for: a live company, a real address, and a name that matches the shop. It is not unusual for a brand to trade under a name different to its registered one — that is normal and legal, provided the disclosure is there.
What should give you pause: no company details anywhere, a dissolved company, or an address that turns out to be a mailbox service. Combine that with a long lead time and you have no realistic recourse if something goes wrong.
The four-minute version
- Reverse image search the main photo
- Find garment measurements in centimetres
- Find the hide type and thickness in mm
- Check the returns policy gives 14 days for any reason
- Look up the company number
Four minutes. It will not guarantee you love the jacket — nothing does that except wearing it. But it will filter out most of what goes wrong.
We publish garment measurements for every size, state the hide and thickness on every product, and our returns policy gives you the full statutory 14 days.