Best way to condition a leather jacket?

[ButteMT61]

HWT = Hot Water Treatment.
It isn't a set process - I think I've done and seen a few ways here. It's not nearly as severe as the dumping into a washer/dryer. I would do lots of reading before messing with anything on a new leather jacket.
"My" way with two Aero FQHH jackets was to turn on the shower - hot only water.
Hold the jacket under the hot water until the outside is soaked (did not soak the liners - one Tartan, one Alpaca).
Place into clothes dryer for ~10 mins at a time, trying it on to make sure it wasn't shrinking too much.
On about the third run (not successive - over a course of a week or so) I started wearing the jacket when about 1/2 dry so it would mold to my body.
It basically sped up the break-in of the heavy hide and shrunk it a tad as I had lost some weight.
Again, do lots of reading before doing such things - every jacket/hide/maker is different.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Well, i read that machine washing makes a leather jacket smaller- at least a size down...

I've bought leather jackets since 1982 - I have washed a dozen of them and owned another dozen (not that I can count them all). I have never had a jacket shrink in the slightest. Ever. Use a dryer and maybe it will shrink. The key is to let the jacket dry slowly which takes 2-4 days depending on weather.

 

[mybabybook]

Just one more thing- how do you know if jacket started drying out and needs conditioning? I mean what are the signs for it... Again- not sure how old is mine, but shouldn't be older than 3-5 years

 

[Peacoat]

Just one more thing- how do you know if jacket started drying out and needs conditioning? I mean what are the signs for it... Again- not sure how old is mine, but shouldn't be older than 3-5 years

The leather will look dry and feel dry. Hopefully there will not be cracking of the leather. Once that starts, there is no repair of the jacket.

Yours should be good for another 15 or 20 years before you need to put any leather conditioner on it. As Butte said, you might want to give the inside of the collar, where it touches the neck, a bit of a clean up every year or so. But I wouldn't do anything more than that.

 

[mybabybook]

And there are also some areas, especially on the sleeves, where leather is worn. Should I dye and condition those areas, or just dye?

 

[Seb Lucas]

This is going on a bit... sounds like you're paranoid about the jacket needing conditioning. Just condition it then. Use Pecards or Lexol and follow the directions. It won't hurt the jacket - as long as you use the stuff sparingly. Don't dye it. The conditioner will even up the wear and wear is what you want anyway. Some strange people actually attack their jackets with rubbing alcohol and sandpaper to get them looking worn in. A leather jacket is meant to look worn and broken in, creased and scuffed. That's why people buy them.