Collection Inspiration: The Classic Collection
J.L. Rocha Collections
The Classic Collection
style inspiration:
We believe in examining ourselves and our history, going back to our roots, and seeing how we’ve improved; our classic collection is emblematic of these practices. We crafted this collection to highlight the beauty of our ethically sourced materials while basing our inspiration on foundational concepts from our history. It’s our pleasure to share with you: the Classic Collection.
The Classic Jackets
About our new styles:
Classic Jackets
Inspired by Revolution
We started this collection with two unique designs, meant to showcase the best of what we do. Our new classic jackets feature designs inspired by Mexican revolutionaries, and focus on materials that hearken to our beginnings as a brand. These are our classic jackets:
The Gaspar Leather Lumber Jacket
This jacket truly exemplifies our roots from the materials we used to the handcrafted details showcased. Our Gaspar Leather Lumber Jacket is dedicated to Gaspar Yanga, also commonly referred to as “Yanga”. The design is derived from vintage lumber worker outwear. We’ll go over the details below.
The Gaspar Jacket Mood Board.
Inspired by Gaspar Yanga, Veracruz, and Traditional Lumber Jackets.
Construction Details:
We wanted this jacket to be reminiscent of a history of strength, we based our selves around traditional lumber jackets because of their practical purposes for keeping warm workers through flexible body construction and breathable materials. This beautiful obsidian Taurine Hide was vegetable tans and pebble Grained vintage wooden barrels in order to make the leather more malleable without sacrificing the thickness and luster.
Elevating this design meant stripping down the elements to key components, we focused on the quality of the craftsmanship for the leather, by removing the traditional front chest pockets of lumber Jackets while maintaining the signed slip pockets for a sleek and easy access. The thickness of the leather assist in maintaining the shape of the jacket which is pattern cut for additional stretch in the body and arms - adding to an oversized look. Our collar is a natural cut without any wiring or false stabilizers - the thickness of the taurine leather in addition to a simple additional leather patch for the back of the neck - allows the collar to be raised and maintain elevation for those looking for a more unique and rebellious style.
We designed this jacket to contrast the quality of leather craftsmanship with the quality of design and cutting craftsmanship featured in our Hidalgo Harrington Jacket.
The Hidalgo Harrington Jacket
There is no jacket in our contemporary collections that better exemplifies our capacity to create Handmade works of art than the Hidalgo Harrington Jacket: we tasked our craftsman with the finest of details and looked towards our history to inspire through example and nobility - aptly dedicating this jacket to Miguel Hidalgo: priest, hero, and the Mexican patriarch of the revolution. We made some elevating changes to the original Harrington style that we will review below:
The Hidalgo Harrington Jacket Mood Board
Featuring Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico D.F. and Sammy Davis Jr in the Original Baracuta G9
Construction Details:
We developed this jacket based on the classic Baracuta G9 Golf Jacket, which later became known as the Harrington Jacket. Originally designed as a go-between for aficionados of formalwear that was practical - the jacket has been seen in notable variations across men of the silver screen such as Steve McQueen, James Dean, Sammy Davis Jr, Elvis, and Daniel Craig. We took inspiration from Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, born in Corralejo, near Guanajuato, Mexico. He was Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary leader who is noted as “the father of Mexican independence.”
We felt inspired by the polarity of these two icons, and the capacity to be complex. A priest and revolutionary that birthed a nation, and an iconic jacket designed as the original luxury leisurewear - the beauty is in the details. We focused on the details when elevating this design by tasking our craftsmen with handcrafted stitch reinforcements to take the place of traditional ribbing while adding depth to the design. The additional detailing of a third stitch to reinforce the hems and cuffs, serves as testament to the details we care about.
Beyond the beauty of the details in our handmade leather jackets, we also took a step back to our roots when developing our new travel bags.
The classic travel bags
Featuring our Celaya Everywhere Bag, the Licenciado Portafolio, and the Guanajuato Weekender.
Classic Travel Bags
Inspired by roots and memories.
Inspiration:
Home is the first thing we think about when we look at one of our leather travel bags. The Celaya Everywhere Bag and the Guanajuato Weekender are dedicated to the roots of J.L. Rocha - towns especially close to the Rocha Family heart. We come from these two historic towns, and looked towards crafting the highest quality travel bags with the least amount of treatment as a testament to our roots and materials.
Construction Details:
Each classic travel bag is designed with a micro pebble tobacco finish that shines with each detail. We accomplished this gorgeous fine grain by vegetable tanning these hides in vintage wooden drums for less time than a traditional pebble grain. Our tobacco dye is our lightest weight dye, and showcases any potential prove scars that designate the ethics of life infused into every one of our bags. We used a platinum finish zipper ti add to the natural bright highlights of the bag, and included our custom crested lining on the interior.
The Licenciado Portfolio is one of our latest additions that showcases our family crest and boasts the same gorgeous tobacco micro grain leather. We used the same concepts of minimal treatment throughout our entire Classic collection, including all our new Classic Shoes.
The Classic Shoes
A testaments to artisans.
Classic Shoes
Inspired by the bold
About our new shoes:
We chose three words that encapsulate our newest models of shoes: Comandante, Aspecto, and Caballero. These unique words take on the unique breath of life that we looked to infuse in these latest models.
Our Comandante Boot: takes on the challenge of a layered leather design that showcases the handmade pattern cutting ability of our best artisans. Inspired by vintage army commander style boots, that required versatility in terms of representation and functionality. We looked at crafting a boot that provided versatility in style, able to be worn as a formal addition to a well tailored suit or a casual upgrade for denim and cotton outfits.
The Aspecto Cap-Toe: Our aspecto cap-toe has been a long requested Classic from many of our clients. Aspecto, in Spanish is commonly used in reference to appearance and the care of perspective and presentation. We believe in crafting beautifully made luxury dress shoes that honor our traditions handmade artisans. This cap-toe is a dedication to our history as craftsman, and our clients who believe in conservative style.
The Caballero Brogue Lace Up: an example of nobility in sincerity, this lace up is a reminiscent shoe from our first collection but now utilizing our new standards of quality and ethics. This shoe was a reminder to us to maintain our eye on improving the beautiful things from our history and always looking to introduce good to others lives.
Our focus:
Our focus in this collection was the beauty of craftsmanship and ethically sourced materials. We strive to honor our craftsmen and our history. We believe in the value of hard work, and we seek always to hone our skills for the betterment of our mission. This collection showcases the expectation on improvement that we’ve placed on our talleres, and our goals to increase our commitment to ethical production and luxury products. We crafted the Classic Collection as a response to feedback we received in 2019 and 2020 - delivering classic styles at high quality through ethical production. This is how we began, and how we will continue - this is the Classic collection.
Thank You/Gracias.