Aero options balancing strong grain and good longevity

[l'oreille]

I'll take the heavy grain any day.

Likewise! And to be clear, my question really was aimed at finding an Aero offering that most closely would approximate this.

 

[Zoro]

Dunno about Venetian, but Saphir is very easy to find in Europe. Even found a dealer in Estonia! As I'll be getting a pair of CXL boots soon to match my CXL jacket I might grab some of this "Crème Cuir Gras" stuff.

Yes, Saphir is French so it's very easy to find, both online and in small shops, even in little towns.

I have a little Venetian Shoe Cream bottle that I bought in a work trip to US though, as I had read that Saphir gives a shinier look and I'm not keen on that.

 

[l'oreille]

The primary reason for this is climate, not tanning. Japan with its subtropical (and tropical) climate isn't healthy for leather so humidity and salt is what is destroying those jackets, not the way they were tanned.

Horween's Chromexcel tanning method is, in general, very durable but it is also very susceptible to climate due several reasons I won't get into right now. But Aero's jackets that stayed in the UK, especially Scotland, never display this kind of degradation.

If you're living in a country with a mild climate, you have nothing to worry about. If not, some other leather might be a better choice.

Interesting! I’ve never considered that that would be a possibility, especially given the amount of care I’ve seen in Japan when it comes down to things like “the right way to clean and polish shoes”.

Maybe I’ll do a deep dive and try find some examples of old CXL jackets online that are in a milder climate (as I’m in Belgium, there’s barely any difference with the UK climate anyway).

 

[MrProper]

But Aero's jackets that stayed in the UK, especially Scotland, never display this kind of degradation.

I had my CXFQHH for around 12 or 13 years. I inspected it carefully before selling it and didn't notice anything like that.
I'm not going to worry about my CXSH either.

 

[Aloysius]

Dunno about Venetian, but Saphir is very easy to find in Europe. Even found a dealer in Estonia! As I'll be getting a pair of CXL boots soon to match my CXL jacket I might grab some of this "Crème Cuir Gras" stuff.

Zoro was referring to Venetian. Saphir is European.

Interesting! I’ve never considered that that would be a possibility, especially given the amount of care I’ve seen in Japan when it comes down to things like “the right way to clean and polish shoes”.

It's the climate. Like how classic cars just do better in California even if well maintained in wetter states.

 

[Marc mndt]

The primary reason for this is climate, not tanning.

Maybe it's a combination of tanning and climate?

You know I've handled a ton of vintage leather jackets in Japan. I didn't get the impression that jackets deteriorated faster in general over there.

 

[Monitor]

Maybe it's a combination of tanning and climate?

It is. I had this really informative talk about leather with a person who works at a tannery in Italy (met them through Poell server) and to vastly simplify things - Not by choice but by need because full, technical explanation went way over my head - several ingredients that the Horween's CXL tanning method consists of, decompose faster in humid, warm and salty climate than they would in, say, the UK or German weather which, in turn, acts as a cascade and accelerates the degradation of the leather.

It's wax, I think but I'm not sure but that's why applying conditioner on an already crusty jacket doesn't do nothing.

The more basic the chrome tanning, the longer will the jacket live so basically, many jackets will still live a long, happy life in Japan, as they do, especially if kept safe but leather in general has a shorter life-span in Japan.

My Kendo teacher had to replace all the leather parts of his katana three times as often whilst training in Japan and leather straps, belts, etc. just weren't viable.

Another example are all those sicc fadezzz on jeans that all turn up on guys from tropical countries, who wore their denims for three months, only on Sundays, on the way to church while Joe from North Dakota had to use Eyedropper tool in Photoshop to finally realize how his jeans stopped being a perfect indigo after 4 years of daily (and nightly) wear.

 

[Marc mndt]

those sicc fadezzz on jeans that all turn up on guys from tropical countries, who wore their denims for three months, only on Sundays, on the way to church

I thought that was accomplished by a thing called sandpaper lol.

 

[Monitor]

I thought that was accomplished by a thing called sandpaper lol.

Well... That helps, too.

 

[Guppy]

However, I've handled so, so much CXL (both jackets and boots) over the years (especially thrifting in Japan), and I've noticed how it sometimes just straight up falls apart after some time. CXL appears to look great and healthy - until it doesn't, and the leather just crumples. I'm not talking about surface cracking: I remember handling a lovely black CXL 30s HB in Tokyo where the top of the sleeves (right at the upper arm) had holes in them, with leather fibers just spilling out - almost like wool that is moth bitten. It didn't look like a motorcycle spill either: the leather was dry and felt like a piece of crumpled paper.

I have no idea why CXL does this after a long time, but I've seen it often enough to be terrified of it happening.

I have personally handled a pretty large number of leather jackets over the past 15 years. Probably 25+ Aero jackets have passed through my hands, most of them purchased secondhand, including from sellers in Japan.

I have seen deteriorated leather jackets being sold by Japanese sellers just as you describe, with cracked or deteriorating leather. They are easy to spot and therefore easy to avoid if you look at the photos, and they tend to be priced around $200 which even at that price it's best to avoid such damage, because those jackets are basically ruined.

As far as what causes it, I have no idea. I have handled a lot of older Aero jackets made from CXL that are going strong at 20-30 years old. My oldest Aero that was purchased from new was I think in 2014, so about 10 years old, and I haven't needed to treat it yet, and it has no problems. I can't tell you the history of the jackets that I bought secondhand, obviously, but most of them haven't needed conditioning since I took ownership of them, and haven't shown evidence of this type of deterioration.

So I know that it CAN happen, but I don't know WHY. My guess would be along the lines of what Monitor was suggesting, that it has to do with climate or storage conditions, maybe salty humid air has something to do with it. I live on the shores of Lake Erie, so we have a lot of humid air but not salty. Speculating, it might be more likely that the damage is caused by the leather being wet (rather than simply in humid salty air) regularly, and not properly dried out. I would imagine if worn in the rain a lot, especially when in a state of needing to be conditioned with wax to keep it waterproof, that could probably do it. But CXL is so stuffed with waxes and oils that it typically goes many years before needing anything. Aero themselves say maybe after 25 years. So I wouldn't recommend over-conditioning it to prevent problems. Overconditioning can cause problems, too. And in fact could possibly be another hypothetical explanation for what we're talking about.

I don't really worry about these problems, I just buy and enjoy what I like. I wouldn't hesitate (and haven't) to buy a CXL leather jacket and wear the hell out of it. Just avoid the used ones that look like they have this issue.