horsehide jacket - how long to break-in?

[wdw]

Yeah, the weight of FQHH has never been even noticeable to me. I sometimes wonder if those who think it's too heavy haven't got a dodgy storse one without realizing it.

 

[Sloan1874]

I think it's all relative - I love the weight of FQHH and think nothing of it, but my dad tried to shrug my jacket on this afternoon and almost fell backwards!

 

[Edward]

I think the weight all comes down to expectation as much as anything. As has been pointed out (usually by Baron Kurtz), the typical work jackets of the period weren't often as heavy as horween fqhh, but that's a compromise I'm more than happy to make for the durability, and the look. Thing is, too, I cut my leather jacket teeth on bike jackets back in the eighties, when it was all about thick and heavy: the very pinnacle of achievement in our circles was a jacket that could stand up by itself. I still have that mentality, a bit. For me the joy of leather is that sense that it's almost like armour... breaking a jacket in is like breaking in a good pair of boots (though with no blisters!). Maybe if I'd started with premium fashion leathers, which tend to be lighter, or if my first high quality jacket had been a Lewis, I'd feel differently. I have grown to appreciate having the option of lighter jackets, though. My steer Highwayman has a nicer drape to my eye, closer to the original jackets of that style from the Fifties for its being that bit lighter than the fqhh. I also appreciate my goat jackets in the slightly warmer weather. I've got a long list of jackets in the 'want' column now, with the intention of a mix of horse, goat and steer being the thing. In different jackets, obviously...

 

[wdw]

I've got a long list of jackets in the 'want' column now, with the intention of a mix of horse, goat and steer

Too bad you didn't order last year and you'd have been two-thirds of the way there and saved on wardrobe space to boot.

 

[Sloan1874]

lol

 

[Seb Lucas]

I honestly don't understand why some people say FQHH is too stiff, that it takes years to break in, that it's really heavy to wear, etc. With all due respect, I wore my brown LHB right out of the box the night I got it, and, yeah, it was a little stiff but no more so than a Harris tweed. The great fun of one of these things, for me, was breaking it in over the first few weeks and watching the grain emerge as the jacket softened up. I've had it for about a year and a half now, and I swear it just gets more beautiful. If I'd wanted something soft and squishy, I'd have gone for velvet. As far as the weight goes, I've never thought about it while I was wearing it.

Hmmm... as an owner of 6 Harris Tweed jackets - my heaviest weighs 750 grams while my Aero HH weighed 2.5 kilos. That's 1.6 pounds versus 5.5 pounds. The Harris is much nicer to wear. The other thing is that HH is heavy without being warm. I don't find it a versatile jacket and I rarely encounter weather where wearing it is comfortable. It's either too hot or too cold for HH. I'm six feet 2 and I am strong, after years of trying to wear heavy jackets I know that anything over 2.5 oz is not for me. It's a simple comfort thing. Like Pak, goat is my preferred option. For those who enjoy HH, that's great. it just isn't for everyone.

 

[andy b.]

Thanks to this thread, and finding a jacket that fit me, I ended up getting a jacket in black horsehide today. I'll post pics in a new thread...

Andy B.

 

[ButteMT61]

It's not a complete breeze to break-in in very cold weather. But even though my HH jackets weigh up to over 10 pounds, I don't notice the weight. I only notice that I can't wear it when it's too warm. Cold is fine - I wear more under. I also use scarves or the sheerling collar. Variety is the key to jackets IMHO. No one jacket is perfect. Although some come close.

 

[Edward]

Too bad you didn't order last year and you'd have been two-thirds of the way there and saved on wardrobe space to boot.

Bwahahahaha lol

It's not a complete breeze to break-in in very cold weather. But even though my HH jackets weigh up to over 10 pounds, I don't notice the weight. I only notice that I can't wear it when it's too warm. Cold is fine - I wear more under. I also use scarves or the sheerling collar. Variety is the key to jackets IMHO. No one jacket is perfect. Although some come close.

Absolutely. I lean to the view that you're better off with a two season jacket that really works than trying to make it too versatile and compromising all the style out of it.

Of course, I may be rationalising....

 

[ButteMT61]

Bwahahahaha lol



Absolutely. I lean to the view that you're better off with a two season jacket that really works than trying to make it too versatile and compromising all the style out of it.

Of course, I may be rationalising....

That's why we're here. lol

 

[Asienizen]

Hanoi in winter is nice....but don't tell me you wore it over there during summer I leave it at my place in Europe, though I think for coming winter one of the FQHH jackets might make the trip to Delhi. Who's the maker of your A2, not many do them in HH I believe?

Hanoi has winters that are very appropriate of leather jackets or trench coats for that matter. It's cool and dry until New Year's, then it's usually drizzly, cloudy and cold after that until April.
My jacket maker is USAuthentic, budget - but worth the money for a basic A2 repro. Maybe I'll get a GW when I get middle aged and moneyed.

 

[Ronald Keller]

I recently purchased a chromexcel front quarter horsehide jacket. The maker is Aero and the style is long half belt. The jacket is beautiful,(black) however the niceties ended there. Although the fit is dead on the act of wearing it is uncomfortable to say the least. Everything from bending the elbows to zipping the zipper is hard as a rock. So, now that I've sufficiently complained and shown my lack of manliness, I'll share what I did about it. After all; if one pays upward of a thousand dollars for an article of clothing, one should expect and be expected to wear it. After achieving little results from folding, rolling, sitting on and sleeping in the tank of a jacket I decided to........ oh yes, throw the hard thing in the dryer. Don't prejudge until I explain. As anyone familiar with these jackets can attest; they're made for hard wearing. That being said, I used the NO heat setting and added no less than twelve new tennis balls to the mix. I then ran the(No heat setting)dryer on 20 minute intervals. After three runnings I began to see and feel real results. This process did not age or discolor the item, but rather began the creasing and buffing of the leather. Thus beginning to make the thing "livable". It is of some importance to note that the tennis balls and the dryer took on significant coloring, being black, from the jacket. This was easily wiped out of the dryer with a damp cloth and oddly enough did not result in the jacket "giving-off" any color if wiped down similarly. In all I, shall we call it, tumbled the jacket four times over two days approximately 20 minutes each time. To be clear this process did slightly burnish or scuff the leather but did not make it appear old or aged or "vintage" which seems to be popular in some circles. This is most likely do to the tanning process and characteristics of the leather, which will leave a surface scratch with the fingernail. Now that I can semi-comfortably wear the jacket I plan to do just that. This was helpful to me and my circumstance. My sincerest hope is that it is also helpful to many of you. Happy horsehide leather jacket wearing.

 

[zebedee]

You can just wear them in the rain a couple of times and just wear them out and about generally. I find that HH jackets are comfortable within a week. I think that steer hide is tougher and heavier, but I've only had one jacket in it and generally prefer HH or goat.

 

[tropicalbob]

I recently purchased a chromexcel front quarter horsehide jacket. The maker is Aero and the style is long half belt. The jacket is beautiful,(black) however the niceties ended there. Although the fit is dead on the act of wearing it is uncomfortable to say the least. Everything from bending the elbows to zipping the zipper is hard as a rock. So, now that I've sufficiently complained and shown my lack of manliness, I'll share what I did about it. After all; if one pays upward of a thousand dollars for an article of clothing, one should expect and be expected to wear it. After achieving little results from folding, rolling, sitting on and sleeping in the tank of a jacket I decided to........ oh yes, throw the hard thing in the dryer. Don't prejudge until I explain. As anyone familiar with these jackets can attest; they're made for hard wearing. That being said, I used the NO heat setting and added no less than twelve new tennis balls to the mix. I then ran the(No heat setting)dryer on 20 minute intervals. After three runnings I began to see and feel real results. This process did not age or discolor the item, but rather began the creasing and buffing of the leather. Thus beginning to make the thing "livable". It is of some importance to note that the tennis balls and the dryer took on significant coloring, being black, from the jacket. This was easily wiped out of the dryer with a damp cloth and oddly enough did not result in the jacket "giving-off" any color if wiped down similarly. In all I, shall we call it, tumbled the jacket four times over two days approximately 20 minutes each time. To be clear this process did slightly burnish or scuff the leather but did not make it appear old or aged or "vintage" which seems to be popular in some circles. This is most likely do to the tanning process and characteristics of the leather, which will leave a surface scratch with the fingernail. Now that I can semi-comfortable wear the jacket I plan to do just that. This was helpful to me and my circumstance. My sincerest hope is that it is also helpful to many of you. Happy horsehide leather jacket wearing.

Have you worn the jacket for, say, twenty minutes straight or so? I'm asking because I've always found the leather to be very stiff whenever I first put it on, but it softens up after about fifteen minutes and, if I keep it on for some time, it becomes completely pliable once my body heat permeates it.

 

[Ronald Keller]

I have literally slept in the jacket. Meaning overnight in bed and yes more than 20 minutes.

 

[zebedee]

Go for mid-weight horsehide or goat next time. The mid-weight hides are really good.

 

[Seb Lucas]

You can just wear them in the rain a couple of times and just wear them out and about generally. I find that HH jackets are comfortable within a week. I think that steer hide is tougher and heavier, but I've only had one jacket in it and generally prefer HH or goat.

That's a fairly well known way to break in a jacket. I prefer sticking them in a washing machine. I find jst walking in the rain or spraying them is not enough. But ultimately I find FQHH to be ghastly stuff. I had a well broken in Aero that 10 years on was still unpleasant to wear.

 

[zebedee]

I'm probably lucky never to have felt that about the FQHH- my Highwayman isn't too heavy and I got the Stockman in the lightest FQHH they could find. Not mad keen on the steer hide, though, which I find too unwieldy. I like Aero's seal goat, but I don't like paying so much for it at all, at all. I think Aero's mid-weight hides are ideal.

 

[handymike]

If you really want to soften it up, wear it for a long hot shower or bath. That's what happened to one of mine, and it was very wearable. There are a couple of drawbacks depending on how it dries. I really liked my jacket though.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Yeah..a spray bottle or hanging it in a running shower ( of course protecting the liner ) seems preferable to me rather than walking in the rain which some here seem to often favor. I never did have any enjoyment of getting soaked in drizzling rain or a rain storm. Just be sure to dry it at room temps or you might find uneven shrinkage.