Some context for the crew. Hong Kong gets maybe six real weeks of jacket weather a year, and every single year I spend them wearing a hoodie, a cardigan and a scarf on top of each other because I never bought a proper warm jacket in time. By the time I want one, I want it that afternoon, and I pay whatever it costs.
This year I’m doing it backwards. I bought the winter jacket first. It is currently 30 degrees outside. I am keeping a log.
Day 1, 09:12. Outside: 30°C. Humidity: personal.
Target located in the Special Offer section of Levi’s Hong Kong. Four sherpa-lined trucker jackets, all marked down to HK$769 from HK$1,099:
The women’s ’90s Sherpa Trucker, light indigo, relaxed cut, XXS to M.
The women’s Original Sherpa Trucker, dark indigo, slimmer cut, warm lining and collar, XS to L.
The men’s Type III Sherpa Trucker, dark indigo, standard cut, XS to XL.
The men’s Relaxed Sherpa Trucker, light indigo, relaxed cut, XS to L.
Every size of all four was in stock. In my experience that’s what the start of a window looks like, not the end.
Captain’s choice: the ’90s one. Light wash, boxy, the kind of jacket that looks like it already has a past. The dark Original is the sensible pick and I respect it from a distance.
Day 1, 09:20. Navigational hazard.
Free shipping starts at HK$800.
The jacket is HK$769.
Thirty-one dollars short. And SF Express delivery, if you don’t clear the line, costs HK$30. So the jacket plus shipping comes to HK$799, one dollar under the free-shipping line. I’d like a word with whoever designed this.
Then I noticed the banner at the top of the site. Pick two items from their selected styles and you get an extra 12% off. Three or more, an extra 20%. The banner’s “shop now” goes straight to the Special Offer section, which is where the sherpas live, along with a Dry Goods Supersoft long-sleeve tee at HK$244 (was HK$349).
Recalculating. HK$769 + HK$244 = HK$1,013. Take 12% off and it’s about HK$891. Free shipping, a jacket, and a long-sleeve tee I will honestly wear more than the jacket for the next two months. For HK$92 more than just paying the shipping.
Navigator approves. The checkout page is the final word on what stacks, so watch the total before you pay.
Side note: joining their Red Tab membership is free, and their membership page says the first transaction gets an extra 5% off. I can’t promise it stacks with the 12%. Worth the thirty seconds to find out.
Day 1, 09:31. The fine print, read aloud to the crew.
This is the part I almost skipped, and I’m glad I didn’t.
Levi’s HK’s online return policy only covers full-price items. Sale items are excluded, and so are collabs and limited editions. A sherpa at HK$769 is a sale item. Treat it as yours forever the moment you pay.
Even for full-price stuff, you need to be logged into a member account to return anything (guest checkout gets no returns), and it’s refunds only, no exchanges.
So size like there’s no lifeboat. If you can, try the cut on in a store first. I already knew my size in their trucker jackets from an old denim one, which is the only reason I was brave enough.
Day 4, 19:40. Cargo received. Outside: 29°C.
Their shipping page says 2 to 10 working days with SF, and you can send it to an SF locker or station if you’re never home. Mine came on day four.
Tried it on in the flat with the air-con at 23.
Lasted six minutes.
But in those six minutes: the collar is the best part. It folds up around your jaw and you immediately understand why this jacket has been around for decades. The wash is that soft, faded blue that makes everything you own look like it goes with it. White tee, black jeans, the one grey hoodie. All of it.
Crew morale: high. Crew temperature: also high. Jacket returned to its hanger, by the door, where I can see it.
Day 6, 21:50. False alarm. Outside: 25°C on the water.
Took the Star Ferry over to Tsim Sha Tsui after dinner and decided the breeze counted as weather. For the ten minutes on the harbour, I was correct. Then I walked up Canton Road and was very, very incorrect.
But I walked past the Levi’s Tailor Shop at Silvercord (30 Canton Road, shop LG48-52), which I’d forgotten existed. Price list on their site: buttons from HK$40, pins from HK$60, regular patches HK$50 each, and small machine embroidery from HK$100 for up to seven letters.
C-A-P-T-A-I-N is seven letters. I counted it on my fingers in the street.
Since the jacket can’t be returned anyway, there’s nothing stopping me from having it stitched inside the collar. They’re open 2 to 8pm on weekdays, 1 to 8pm on weekends and public holidays. I haven’t booked yet. I’m waiting until I’ve worn it once outside without sweating, as a matter of principle.
Small bonus I noticed on their refund page: if you buy jeans online and they’re too long, you can bring them and the invoice to a designated store within three months and get them hemmed for HK$20, or HK$50 for an original hem. Not jacket-related. Just good to know.
Day 8. Today. Outside: still 30°C.
Checked the site again this morning before writing this. All four sherpas are still HK$769. Every size is still in stock. The extra 12% / 20% banner is still up.
Which means the window is open for you too, and it’s open in the most boring possible way: nobody in this city is thinking about a sherpa jacket right now. That’s exactly why it’s 30% off.
Projected Day 70-ish. Destination.
Somewhere around December, the Observatory will put up its first cold weather warning, everyone will dig through their wardrobe for the coat they don’t own, and I will put on a jacket that’s been waiting by the door for two months like a dog that knows the word “walk.”
Rough maths: if I get 25 wears a winter out of it for three winters, that’s about HK$10 a wear. My hoodie-cardigan-scarf stack has cost me more than that in dignity.
Standing orders for the crew
The four sherpa truckers and the HK$244 long-sleeve tee are all in the Special Offer section at Levi’s Hong Kong. Remember: free shipping from HK$800, sale items can’t be returned, and the extra discount needs two items from the selected styles.
Disclosure: that’s an affiliate link, so I earn a small commission if you buy something, at no extra cost to you. I’d have bought this jacket anyway. I’ve been cold every January for years.
What’s the earliest you’ve ever worn a winter coat in Hong Kong? Mine is going to be embarrassing, and I’d like company.
End of log. Captain out.