{"id":11926,"date":"2016-10-03T06:05:11","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T10:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=11926"},"modified":"2016-10-03T09:22:45","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T13:22:45","slug":"leather-restraint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=11926","title":{"rendered":"Leather Restraint"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Relaxed\"I figured this title would get your attention (giggle.) Naaahhh… get your mind out of the gutter. This post is about what causes men who do not ride a motorcycle but who are sorta curious about leather<\/a> choose not to wear it. What restrains them from buying a pair of leather jeans or a vest, and pair these leather items with a good pair of boots and …
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\n…wear the gear in public whilst going about one’s daily business?<\/p>\n

I had a conversation with a friend who is straight, has a family, and lives in a rural area of the Northeastern United States. He has expressed some interest in leather, but has not purchased himself a pair of leather jeans. He mentioned to me the other day that he would not wear leather. I asked why.<\/p>\n

He stated (and gave permission to quote),\"blufformal09\"<\/p>\n

I’ve never been interested in leather in the same way that I have been interested in boots. I don’t have an intrinsic strong desire to wear leather like I do with wearing boots. I do have the obligatory leather jacket, which I do enjoy wearing, but that’s it. But (maybe through our friendship) I have become more curious about wearing leather, like a vest, or pants. No crazy harness stuff or leather underwear. That’s not me. It’s just a curiosity… like how does it feel? How would I feel wearing leather? That kind of thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What I learned from this confirms the general thoughts that others have shared with me — that choosing to wear leather begins with personal interest. If a guy isn’t interested, then why do it?<\/p>\n

\"dressjeans\"For example, I have absolutely no interest in wearing suits. I do not like how I look in them and feel confined by them. I personally think a suit is a costume of a clone. But that’s me. There are many men who actually enjoy wearing suits and are quite into the fashion. In a way, they are as “interested” in suits — design, color, style — as I am interested in leather. And likely the suit guys would say that they feel that a leather outfit (shirt, pants, boots) is a costume of another sort — and the sort of man they do not want to be associated with (as much as I do not want to be associated with a yuppie.) Me? I like to combine the two — dress leather jeans, dress shirt, leather tie. That works.<\/p>\n

My friend went on to say,<\/p>\n

Part of what holds me back from it is the expense of good (not made in Pakistan) leather stuff.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that I completely understand. Good gear made well, tailored or customized to fit, and sourced from reliable places is expensive. No doubt about that. I look at it this way, though: well-made leather gear will last a lifetime if you care for it well. You can wear it until you outgrow it, and if you keep in shape, that may never happen. <\/p>\n

\"Jeans\"If it costs $500 for a pair of custom leather jeans, but they last (a minimum of) ten years, that’s only $50 per year. Much less than most people spend per month on their sillyphone plans. And what’s better is that you do not have to take leather garments to a drycleaners like yuppies take suits for cleaning. The cost of a bottle of leather conditioner at $10 for a multi-year supply to maintain quality leather garments is much less expensive than a drycleaning bill.<\/p>\n

Finally, my friend stated his personal thoughts about wearing leather:<\/p>\n

Part of what holds me back is the fact that no one wears leather around here. At all. Unless they are bikers, and it is very rare to see a biker with more than a leather jacket on. But very very few guys wear cowboy boots here. And I do every day. So it might be a fear thing: of being self-conscious more than anything else. I doubt anyone would say anything more than “nice vest” or “nice pants.” Some of the menfolk might look at me funny, but oh well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the primary issue that I had always thought held men back from wearing leather garments, especially in public: “what will others say or think about me?”<\/p>\n

\"Harleyharnesslug06\"Most men are very self-conscious about the opinion of others, especially of their peers. Those feelings are common and quite human. I have blogged about that matter a lot over the years<\/a>. I can honestly say that in my younger years, I felt the same way. I was always using my motorcycle as my “excuse” to wear leather. But the more I wore the gear and the more frequently people saw me in it, fewer and fewer people said anything to the point where in the last two decades (20 years!), I wear leather jeans and perhaps a shirt & vest when I go out in public, escort my lovely old ladies grocery shopping, visit family or friends (not on the Harley), and so on — and no one says a thing.<\/p>\n

Sure, I may get the occasional glance or odd look, but I have matured and built my self-confidence to the point where I don’t care about what other people may say or think. I continue to say, “that’s their problem, not mine.”<\/p>\n

One more thing: there is no rule that if a guy chooses to wear leather, that he must wear “full leather” from boots to jeans to shirt to Muir Cap. A simple pair of leather jeans with a flannel shirt works. Full BLUF gear<\/a> is more for the guys who are really into that stuff (especially a niche of the gay community), and is not something that everyone who is interested in leather “MUST” do. <\/p>\n

Yes, it does take some courage to wear leather garments in public, especially if the gear is not part of your ordinary routine and you do not have a convenient “excuse” such as owning a motorcycle. But it can be done. Live it, love it, enjoy. See the links page on my website<\/a> for a list of places where I have purchased quality leather garments successfully (and also what I do not recommend.)<\/p>\n

Life is short: self-confidence is an ongoing thing. Wear leather, stand tall, and smile.\"mrsplainjeans\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I figured this title would get your attention (giggle.) Naaahhh… get your mind out of the gutter. This post is about what causes men who do not ride a motorcycle but who are sorta curious about leather choose not to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leather-lifestyle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}