Leather jacket in Florence

I am going to Florence in august and I have been told there is a great choice of leather goods to be had. I want to buy a leather jacket at a reasonable price (I dont want to spend big bucks since I dont own one yet and the possibility of making a mistake does exist). In a contemporary style if not super trendy.

Can you recommend a place I should be looking? Maybe not just a store but an area where I will fond a lot of choice.

Your help is appreciated!

I recall that there were many, many 'factory' styled places catering to tourists.

Not so hot.

This thread reminds me of not my last but previous trip to Florence where I had this notion implanted firmly in my mind that Florence was THE place to purchase a leather jacket. So I went on a hunt......

I basically made three attempts & wasn't terribly impressed with what I saw or experienced.

1.) First attempt was the San Lorenzo outdoor merchants that I heard so much about. Well, maybe I wasn't looking carefully enough, or it was an off day but it just seemed like a glorified flea market.

2.) Second attempt, was one of the anonymous stores that are so plentiful selling mens clothing. Sure they had racks & racks of leather coats, but was I able to look at them without being seriously harassed & pestered with strong arm tactics every three seconds?! ABSOLUTELY NOT. In the end I was given a serious guilt trip about WHY don't I buy this leather coat (with the obligatory look on the guys face that he was going to hate me for the rest of his & my life & spit on my ancestors tombstones to boot if I didn't fall for his gig). I thought god give me a break does this guy think I'm going to buy a leather coat just because he's holding me hostage? At that point I just walked out.

3.) Third attempt I walked into an Armani store & saw a pretty sharp looking leather coat but the price would of required a refinance. Sales people in there were halfway decent so I'll give them credit for that.

I did hear that the Santa Croce Leather School produces quality products & reasonable service so I went there. The only stuff I really saw though was leather tags for suitcases & stuff like that.

I'd say most of the market sellers and leather outlet shops don't sell very decent quality stuff. Needless to say, haggle hard if you choose this stuff. Higher-end stuff is available like in every city. There may be some secreted outlets in the surrounding hills which sell mid-range stuff. If you're thinking about Armani, Gucci etc you could try the Outlet mall, a 30minute cheap train and not-so-cheap taxi ride away.

walk away. It's about as tiresome as buying a persian rug in morroco.

!luc

Thanks for the input.

I ended up buying a leather jacket in San Lorenzo market. The fit is great: slim and fitted, unlike most of what I could have gotten at home, for a pretry low price. Time will educate ma about the quality but it is my first leather jacket so I did not want to spend too much anyway.

San Lorenzo is great for ties: if you inspect what you buy you can find excellent ties!

Finally I got myself tons of over-the-calf socks in every color at the calzedonia stores of the city.

Florence was a very nice shopping experience if you protect yourself from the vendors in the market who try every cheap trick to make you buy their products!

Thanks for the interesting post.
If possible, could you post a picture or your new leather jacket?

You won't even have to look for them...you'll stumble upon them in the outdoor markets.

next time.. also check the BUtteri famous jackets... butteri are Italian cow boys still working in maremma... good leather is to find there as well. check grosseto.

Originally Posted by SantaCruzGuy

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I did hear that the Santa Croce Leather School produces quality products & reasonable service so I went there. The only stuff I really saw though was leather tags for suitcases & stuff like that.

Their goods are of a very high quality and the service is excellent (though I may be privileged since I speak Italian fluently). You buy their products directly from the workshop which enables you to watch them being made. Unfortunately they don't make jackets, only wallets, luggage, etc.

Enjoy your jacket. I bought a fall/spring leather jacket there about 4 years ago and its holding up really well.
I also picked up about a dozen ties for an average price of 3.5 Euros.
San Lorenzo is great. I wish I could visit once a season!

Originally Posted by Walter

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I ended up buying a leather jacket in San Lorenzo market. The fit is great: slim and fitted, unlike most of what I could have gotten at home, for a pretry low price. Time will educate ma about the quality but it is my first leather jacket so I did not want to spend too much anyway.

I had a similar experience to yours when I went to Florence in May. I believe I found a very nice lambskin jacket for what I believe was an extremely good price compared to what I would have found here in the US. The jacket I found is slim and fitted as well.