Tangential: In 2024-25, I was looking to replace a well-worn leather vest. I looked at the various places I’ve bought leather clothing from before, but no luck. Several no longer sold vests, some did, but not in styles that matched my own. A few no longer sold CLOTHING or had ceased business operations altogether.
But YEARS ago, I found Etsy had a bunch of quality leather workers, so I went looking for vests on Etsy. And I found a BUNCH.
And given where this tangential post started, you might be able to guess that a significant amount of the ones I found were depicted with “fetish”/“bear”/“hardbody” dudes.
I did eventually find Etsy sellers who had what I was looking for…including at least one selling bear wear. Wound up with three leather vests- black, blue, and distressed brown- and may get some more, later on.