Aero Sheene Natural CXL

[Blackadder]

It is not unusual for makers to pick out parts of the stretched therefore thinner leather to use for panel at say underarm, back of sleeves etc. I doubt anyone can seriously expect a normal makers to throw away all those leather. Besides, the stretched therefore thinner parts are quite suited for those underarm back of sleeves. Having said that, I would not accept stretch-marked leather on the front or back main panel of a jacket nor would I accept it on a Hermes Birkin.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Leather is a natural material and should have character. What you've posted looks like normal leather in action. If that overly bothers you, you may never be happy with the look of leather. perhaps safer to buy something in waxed cotton or corduroy.

 

[navetsea]

Thanks @sweetfights @Monitor & @Psant25 . What do you think about below pics ? Is this classified as loose graining? That is another jacket in natural CXL Steerhide(not aero). I am just trying to err on the side of caution with this one View attachment 235364
View attachment 235363

loose grain I think is bad for like say vamp of a dress shoe, since the part is small to begin with, and the maker could easily have used better part of the hide unless they really cutting cost, but on a huge leather piece like jacket it is only add character. anyway still I won't be too happy if the loose grain part is placed on the chest or anything super visible like that.

 

[ton312]

Nothing presented in the photos would bother me in the least. Be it “loose” or “tight” grain is the bedrock foundation of any leather jacket worth its weight. Time to wear the snot out of the jacket. Looks fantastic!can we see the rest of it?

 

[J Leather Investigater]

Hello good folks of TFL, hoping everyone is well & safe

Just received a new jacket from Thurston Bros, this is a Sheene in Natural CXL. I would love to have your views on the stretch marks on some parts of the jacket. I have more than a few CXL jackets in both Steer & FQHH, and although I understand that each hide has its own unique characteristics, feel & look, and CXL is known to 'grain' more/better(subjectively) than most leathers, but I don't think this is the 'grain' of the leather coming out, rather looks more as leather stretch marks?
What do you think?

View attachment 235341

Looks awsome to me

 

[trainspotter]

Thanks @ton312, @navetsea & @John D Maccarter. Personally I am not a fan of loose grain, I think it has no place on a $1,000 jacket. It’s not like the jacket is made from a single hide, It uses several hides, various panels stitched together. Makers like Aero, Himel, RMC pride themselves in choosing the best leather from the choicest of hides, and price their products accordingly. So, IMO ‘loose grain’ kind of scenario can be avoided. Don’t get me wrong, I love graining, marbling and creasing of leather, especially CXL. But loose grain is not my preference
Anyway, here are a few more pictures of the jacket.

 

[Hh121]

Looks like nothing wrong, I'd like to compare horween hide Aero uses with Schott, clearly Schott uses higher grade leather.
By the way, the leather looks painfully thin compare to Aero jacket I had before.

 

[marker2037]

Loose grain in chromexcel is very common. If you're into goodyear welted boots/shoes you'll find it can happen on the shaft of a boot or even on the vamp, which is less desirable of course because that's the most obvious visible location. I would try to avoid it on a vamp of a shoe/boot, but a jacket like this is going to crease up and show grain anyway so I wouldn't really worry about it.

I think your jacket looks awesome.

 

[trainspotter]

Thanks @marker2037 .I do have a couple of goodyear welted boots, again in natural CXL, but don't see any loose grain around(the leftmost belong to my better half)
Regarding the jacket, yes this one doesn't have any loose graining, just some extra creasing on the arms which was anyways bound to appear on usage as you said

 

[navetsea]

Im only assuming here, if the color of the hide is the common choice like black or brown, then it is easier for manufacturer to optimize use of leather while avoiding the bad parts, while more special rare color picked for a single jacket, then they have to maximize the hide more using the less smooth area for not so visible parts, like on facing, underarm, trims etc. if they have to take another sheet of leather to get all perfect cherry picked panels then probably the price would reflect that, unless they also make smaller items like pouches, cap, etc on the side.

 

[Guppy]

Thanks @ton312, @navetsea & @John D Maccarter. Personally I am not a fan of loose grain, I think it has no place on a $1,000 jacket. It’s not like the jacket is made from a single hide, It uses several hides, various panels stitched together. Makers like Aero, Himel, RMC pride themselves in choosing the best leather from the choicest of hides, and price their products accordingly. So, IMO ‘loose grain’ kind of scenario can be avoided. Don’t get me wrong, I love graining, marbling and creasing of leather, especially CXL. But loose grain is not my preference
Anyway, here are a few more pictures of the jacket. View attachment 235426 View attachment 235427 View attachment 235428

There's nothing wrong with it, but if you don't like it, no one is going to convince you otherwise.

It's an expensive thing, you should get what you want and like it.

It does look to me like it's been going through quite a bit of breaking in already.

I have handled many CXL jackets, horse and steer both, and I will say that the grain can vary quite a bit, from very fine to rather coarse, but I have seen very little in the way of what I would consider unsightly. The few jackets that have been not to my liking have been blue label and trainee jackets with poorly mismatched grain from one panel to the next, where it looks uneven. Some people really like that though, but it's not for me.

Looks like nothing wrong, I'd like to compare horween hide Aero uses with Schott, clearly Schott uses higher grade leather.
By the way, the leather looks painfully thin compare to Aero jacket I had before.

I would have a hard time putting the leather in most Schott jackets I've handled above Aero leather, but Schott runs a pretty wide gamut in my opinion. The best Schott leather I've seen looks amazing, but a lot of it is frankly kinda pedestrian, though still above most "fashion" makers.

Here's a few close up photo of my Highwayman, which I bought used from Japan. I don't know if this is natural undyed leather or battered tan or what, but it's exquisite. Steerhide. I don't know how old, but quite broken in and amazing.

 

[NZJono]

View attachment 235391 As I said before all of this is highly subjective but I don’t see why stretch marks on natural cxl would be undesirable. When I found the hide with these stretch marks (natural veg tan cow) I was super excited to build a brief case out of it. I think it looks amazing!

That’s nice. Where did you get the hide?

 

[zebedee]

That's what the leather is supposed to do as it wears in. I don't think that what you've photographed is loose grain (at least as far as I've been able to research what it is in shoemaking, where the phrase is overused). I have similar graining in the arms of most of my Aeros and I think that the leather is supposed to wear in like that.

If it's making you fret, see if a refund is available or sell it but I think that the leather is behaving as leather does and that there isn't anything wrong here.

 

[trainspotter]

@Guppy I believe a correction is in order. I really like this jacket. The loose grain pictures I posted earlier were of another CXL natural jacket, not this one.

I understand this jacket has a bit more graining on the sleeves out of the box, and I am perfectly fine with it, it was eventually going to happen anyway

Btw your highwayman looks great

 

[torfjord]

That’s nice. Where did you get the hide?

Thanks! From a local wholesale leather dealer. Went for a visit and picked this out for myself. The leather was tanned in Italy, I don’t know the name of the tannery unfortunately.

 

[Guppy]

@Guppy I believe a correction is in order. I really like this jacket. The loose grain pictures I posted earlier were of another CXL natural jacket, not this one.

I understand this jacket has a bit more graining on the sleeves out of the box, and I am perfectly fine with it, it was eventually going to happen anyway

Btw your highwayman looks great

Glad to hear you like your own jacket, and your disapproval was for another that isn't yours! Enjoy breaking it in and bringing more of that grain out!

 

[trainspotter]

@torfjord you have a natural CXL dustbowl right?Would love to check out the patina and creasing after almost 2 years?

 

[trainspotter]

That's what the leather is supposed to do as it wears in. I don't think that what you've photographed is loose grain (at least as far as I've been able to research what it is in shoemaking, where the phrase is overused). I have similar graining in the arms of most of my Aeros and I think that the leather is supposed to wear in like that.

If it's making you fret, see if a refund is available or sell it but I think that the leather is behaving as leather does and that there isn't anything wrong here.

Thanks @zebedee. I do have the option of return through TB since the jacket is brand new, but I quite like it. Also, have been waiting to get a Sheene in Natural CXL since ages, and with Aero closed, cannot fathom waiting for a few months at the least

 

[zebedee]

Thanks @zebedee. I do have the option of return through TB since the jacket is brand new, but I quite like it. Also, have been waiting to get a Sheene in Natural CXL since ages, and with Aero closed, cannot fathom waiting for a few months at the least

Keep it- it looks great and will settle down- the graining only looks striking because it's new and it will smooth out as you wear it and the hide burnishes. As a friend of mine said to me about a job choice: 'You're letting the perfect spoil the good' (which I thought was quite profound when we were in the pub, but then realised later that he'd stolen the phrase from Picard in the new Star Trek [which normally I'd never watch, but he insisted, so now I think that he has less profundity and still think that Star Trek is awful] ) - but the point is solid. The leather isn't going to weaken or crack and doesn't have any flaws. That jacket looks amazing and you should wear it every chance you get.

 

[torfjord]

That’s right. There’s a couple recent photos in this thread: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/dustbowl-natural-cxl.94019/page-3

My Dustbowl is more uniform in colour than most other natural cxl jackets I’ve seen from Aero lately. It has been from the start. Batch variance or they modified their recipe? Anyways, it has darkened considerably over the past 2 years.