The Jacket Maker was started by Syed Obaidullah and a group of friends who were shopping for a leather jacket themselves and found only two options: fast fashion or luxury labels charging over $1,000. Concluding that most of that price went to distributors, wholesalers, and marketing rather than the product, they began designing and manufacturing in-house and selling direct to consumer, with each jacket made from full-grain leather by a single craftsman rather than on a chain-production line. Its jackets have since been featured by outlets including GQ, Esquire, Gear Patrol, and Men's Journal.