Calf leather, the real stuff (Pics and review in thread)

[P5640blouson]

I just made an acquisition of a new jacket, this time its made of genuine Calf leather, yeah, the stuff they usually use on shoes, for patent leather, and other small articles. The brand is not important at this time, so maybe I'll post some pics when I get a chance.
Since its real calf, its smooth with beautiful varied grain, like horse. It's shiny like horse because there are very little teenie wienie pores in the hide. It's stiff and drapes like horse, with a paperlike bends wherever it flexes. I love it! I realize now that real calf looks nothing like mature cow or lamb.

Anyone here with experience of calf for jackets, please share your experiences.

Thanks in advance.

 

[feltfan]

Please share yours.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Those pores and bends and stiffness sound more like pig leather to me... which is popular in many Asian countries. I have shoes and wallets made of it and it's like you described. I always thought calve leather had a very tight grain.

Mind you, how leather behaves is often about how it was processed - not the animal persay.

 

[P5640blouson]

tienie wienie pores as in smooth/can't see the pores

I was not very accurate about the pores part, its quite absent of pores (smooth and shiny like horse, and only the random grain is quite evident). I'll post pics of my smooth pigskin asian made jacket in soon, and you can decide for yourself.

 

[Fiver64]

pores...........

that photo hide looks identical (in grain and texture) to my Aero FQHH, after broken in, but then again, it also looks like a well-worn steerhide that I have as well! From what I understand, depending on how it's processed, cow and horse can be almost identical.

 

[P5640blouson]

Picture is close but real deal is even better

yeah, I did some research on the calf and found out that calf is amazing stuff, but among the most PETA unfriendly. It is strong like kangaroo, hands like broken in HH. To prove the strength point, Adidas now uses calf on their Predator soccer cleat instead of kangaroo. Its a good alternative according to them. I am thoroughly amazed at the material as I search for the most functional leather jacket.
I have that jacket pictured, by the way, its the joint (Porsche Design/Baldessarini) special edition driving blouson. That high mounted zipper pull is a neapolean pocket hidden in the main zipper pleat accessible from the outside and can swallow a wallet. Simply amazing processing on the Calfskin- 2.5 oz. - jacket weight 3-1/2 pounds. This is compared to my 4-1/2 pound Lewis Leathers. Kind of stiff at this point but wearing-in will be much shorter than for say a Lewis.

 

[tonypaj]

I like veal. And I have eaten horse steaks (not bad, in fact), as well as camel and various other animals. As far as the leather goes, if the jacket is nice, I'll wear it. PETA approved or not.

 

[P5640blouson]

detail pic

Calfskin- 2.5 oz. body - jacket weight 3-1/2 pounds. size is 38, chest circumf. 41, finished piping and edges uses thinner hide. #8 custom zipper, hidden pocket next to main zipper top right in picture you can barely see the pull.