anyone here consider that it's well into the range of 1000+ man hours to make a mail shirt? Also, that's not a "fitted" mail shirt, just a mail shirt made to template.

If the mail shirts were fitted to each individual soldier, you'd have great difficulty ever getting enough troops dressed for their first fight to actually have a fight.

And I dont get this whole thing of leather straps breaking? Cut maybe but breaking from simple wear?

As a youngin we'd go camping every summer. A month long camp/hiking trip. 10 miles on foot a day or there abouts. I had a backpack. I'd carry upwards of 50 lbs in that pack and it had leather shoulder straps. I had that pack for 10 years. Never once had a problem with either of those leather straps.

Leather has a hella lot more tensile strenght than some seem to assume.