For me they're meant to be thrown around, worn everywhere.
It's something that you should be wearing.
You should live in it.
And it should tell that story of your life.
It's like this personal journal of experience.
I'm Savannah Yarborough and we are
at the Atelier Savas studio.
One of the first pieces that I designed
when I was working for a bigger company
was a leather jacket.
It was really like flat and wasn't interesting at all.
I took the sample home.
I put it in my bathtub and I wore it while it dried.
It molded to me.
It was different from putting on anything else
that I'd ever had.
I met people in the factories that were actually making
these jackets and I learned a lot from those people.
So whether it's a $200 leather jacket
or a $10,000 leather jacket, it's gonna last forever.
It's gonna change every time they wear it.
It it rains, you're gonna be okay
and your leather jacket's gonna look
five times better when it dries.
The first phase of making one of our leather jackets is
meeting with the client, select the leather that they want,
any embroidery or specific details that they might also
wanna add, and we actually draw out the jacket for them.
After that, we take 32 points of measurement.
With the word bespoke, the person who's
taking your measurements is also the person
that's with your piece the whole way through.
I'm making the jacket that you will be wearing.
Physically, myself, I can only make four jackets a month.
The second phase, is to create the paper pattern
based on the measurements.
These two dimensional pieces that will
then be put together to create the actual 3D jacket.
The armhole and the shoulder, that's the most complicated
place to fit and I've developed a really great pattern
to be able to adapt it for each person.
It's a really really beautiful armhole.
As a designer, that's the first thing you
look at when you look at a jacket or a coat.
Like how beautiful does that sleeve hang.
We make a fabric version which is basically a mock up
of what their leather jacket will be.
There's always some sort of tweaks that have
to be done before we actually cut.
Once the needle goes through the leather,
you can't take back that hole.
There's always gonna be a hole where the needle was.
When I sell a leather, when they pick their skin,
that leather is no longer gonna be available
to any other client.
Oh, I saw my friend Joe and he was in this really cool
red leather jacket, I want that jacket.
I want that leather.
I won't sell it to you.
We will find you another red leather
and you will have your own one-of-a-kind piece.
The jacket that I'm wearing is this really
buttery soft calfskin.
There's silk lining in it.
A western yoke detail here.
Silver zippers.
When people feel it, they're like,
"Oh my gosh, what is that?"
The third step involves cutting.
We lay out all of the skins.
We examine each skin for any nicks or holes,
any scratches that we may not want on the jacket.
Some leathers are more distressed already
and they show natural grain from the animal
and so you want that in the jacket.
How are all 50 of these pattern pieces gonna actually
fit into these hides that are all different sizes.
Each one was a different animal.
The embroidery, it's a lot of fun and it's something
that we offer most specifically on the linings
of everyone's jackets and give people an opportunity
to have this like very personal interior detail
and it can be anything; their nickname or an illustration.
It's this private detail that no one knows about
because it's on the inside of their jacket.
The fourth step in the process of making a jacket,
you have to do things like stabilize certain areas
like the waistbands, the cuffs, and the collars,
scything the leather if it's too thick;
basically cuts the thickness of the leather in half.
It gets rid of the bulk so that when you have seams
to fold over, it doesn't add really any extra
to that which allows the seams to actually lay flatter.
It's really just a matter of like getting all
of the pieces ready to be sewn.
The fifth phase is where we actually sit down
and sew the pieces together.
It's not necessarily, okay we're gonna sit down
at the sewing machine and it's all gonna be done.
You sew one seam and then you have to iron it flat
and roll it out and glue the seam so
that everything stays really flush and flat.
We just moved into our studio downtown Nashville.
It's in a neighborhood called Pie Town
which is in a very up and coming area.
I've been here for three and a half years.
I've lived in London for five years
which is where I studied.
I've lived in San Francisco.
I grew up in Alabama.
There's a spirit about Nashville
that it's just really great.
Within the few years that I was here,
I felt this growth happen and it's still happening.
There's no second thought in my head
of anything else I would rather be doing.
There is a leather jacket for everyone.
That's why I'm here; is to basically help create these
pieces that even if it's someone who has never
been able to envision themselves in a leather jacket,
like we can make that jacket.
The most important part of identifying one
of my jackets is the visible logo
which is stamped in 22 carat gold on each jacket.
The second is the fit, especially when viewed from the side.
I create this very specific curve on every jacket that I do.
Slightly higher in the back
and it drops really beautifully down to the front.
And then, we deliver the jacket.
Leather jackets always look their best 10 years
after you've had them.
The most beautiful thing to me on a leather jacket
when I see someone wearing one, is the creases in the arm
because the elbow like stretches out, but you can really
just see like now that, you know, I've been wearing this
one, it's always got this really beautiful crease going on.
Every experience that you have in that jacket,
something evolves in that material.
It's like modern day armor 'cause it gives you this
like confidence that you really don't get
from any other piece of clothing.
You put on your leather jacket and you feel
like you can walk out the door and take on the world.