How do I care for and store my jacket????

[lesnichei]

Hi all. I'm new to this forum...I'm a watch guy, so leather jackets are pretty new to me. I recently purchased a new Eastman Leather B-6 shearling bomber and am curious the best way to care for my jacket, and how to store it when it gets warm out. Any advice is appreciated! Also...I have another leather jacket (pics to come) that I'm wondering how to take care of. Do I condition the leather, just wipe it down, etc?

Thanks!

 

[navetsea]

looking at the number of views vs reply you can tell TFL don't reach a single voice of how to store or treat leather jacket...

there is no standard best way, leather jacket is rough wear, just don't store it next to heat source, or humid dark place, and pets with claws, the rest is your common sense and personal preferences, some throw it on the sofa to crumple and get more character, some would fold it certain way not to leave unwanted folding creases, some would put it over hanger, some over padded hanger, some would hang it over a mannequin, it is easy if you only live with small number of jacket, now some members here probably have a second house, storage unit, or small bungalow for storing their jacket rails when off season.

for your type of jacket probably you would wear it very sparingly and layered over other full covering shirt, it will never touch skin let alone sweaty skin in the weather you would wear it. so probably you would never need to treat/ care it with anything,

if you plan to have another jacket you would wear daily, if the jacket has leather collar then you might want to just wipe down the part touching your skin like the collar and cuff monthly or if you feel you wear it for a long time and might deposit skin oil or sweat to it. I just wipe it down with non alcohol wetties every now and then,

as for conditioning it depend on your leather some leather is very waxy and pretty much self conditioning, some have thick water proof top coat conditioner won't even penetrate and the existing tanning oil can not evaporate so you don't need to add anything, some with thin aniline finish with open pore requires more conditioning, natural vegtan leather without any finish needs conditioning but you would feel it with your touch if the jacket need some conditioning, if the jacket feel supple then do nothing to it, if the surface seems dry and wrinkly almost scaly then you probably need to condition, when you do do it sparingly like putting lotion to your own arm, I just use a coin size conditioner lotion on my hand, rub my hands together, and then I use both hands to transfer lotion to the jacket by massaging it. I saw tutorial on youtube people use half bottle spurting the lotion over the jacket like mayonaise, personally I think that would over saturate the jacket and would make it feel mushy and oil logged and it will never goes away.

 

[Carlos840]

I try to keep it as simple as possible.
I store them on a hanging rail on wide shouldered hangers:

I don't have a regular "care routine", but here are a few things worth mentionning:

Don't hang wet leather jackets, you could get shoulder deformation, if i come back from outside and it has been raining i leave my wet jacket flat on the floor somewhere.

The oils from your skin are not good for leather, i try to clean the back of the neck and the inside of the wrists of my most worn jackets once or twice a year with a damp clotch and a tiny bit of Lexol Leather cleaner.
I then apply a tiny bit of Pecard's dressing on these areas.

If your jacket gets dirty just wipe it clean with a damp cloth.

If it feels dry give it a rub with a bit of Pecards or you favourite dressing.
This should not be done on a regular basis, Aero for example says you should do nothing for the first 20 years of wear of your jacket.
Your B-6 has an acrylic finish, dressing will never get through it, all you have to do to that specific jacket is wipe it clean with a damp cloth.

Good luck, Welcome to TFL.

 

[Monitor]

As @Carlos840 pointed out, there isn't a whole lot you can do to condition your B6. Nor any need, for that matter. Consensus whether leather conditioners actually do anything at all is still to be reached.
Take care that the jacket is clean, keep it away from direct heat source and avoid downpours. Water shouldn't harm it in general but on the other hand, it isn't a waterproof jacket so no point in wearing it when it's raining anyway.

Would also add, if you're going to hang your jackets, use a long hanger, preferably with wide ends. Pointy / short hangers can deform the shoulder line of your leather jacket.
Buying a coat-hanger that's reaching all the way to the sleeve openings is the best thing you can do for your leather jacket and it's not even an investment of any kind.
Material is irrelevant; Plastic, wood, all the same.

 

[navetsea]

if I don't get scared of mannequin I swear I want to buy one mannequin bust place it near the door and I would hang my go to jacket on it, but I dislike seeing human figure or headless human figure standing in the dark in my house when I wake up in the middle of the night and want to make some drink.

 

[Monitor]

if I don't get scared of mannequin I swear I want to buy one mannequin bust place it near the door and I would hang my go to jacket on it, but I dislike seeing human figure or headless human figure standing in the dark in my house when I wake up in the middle of the night and want to make some drink.

Buy an intentionally creepy one. Scariest you can find! That'll shift the whole thing from potentially scary to ironic.

 

[Spiney]

I try to keep it as simple as possible.
I store them on a hanging rail on wide shouldered hangers:

I don't have a regular "care routine", but here are a few things worth mentionning:

Don't hang wet leather jackets, you could get shoulder deformation, if i come back from outside and it has been raining i leave my wet jacket flat on the floor somewhere.

The oils from your skin are not good for leather, i try to clean the back of the neck and the inside of the wrists of my most worn jackets once or twice a year with a damp clotch and a tiny bit of Lexol Leather cleaner.
I then apply a tiny bit of Pecard's dressing on these areas.

If your jacket gets dirty just wipe it clean with a damp cloth.

If it feels dry give it a rub with a bit of Pecards or you favourite dressing.
This should not be done on a regular basis, Aero for example says you should do nothing for the first 20 years of wear of your jacket.
Your B-6 has an acrylic finish, dressing will never get through it, all you have to do to that specific jacket is wipe it clean with a damp cloth.

Good luck, Welcome to TFL.

Really good advice there. ( phenomenal collection too ! ).

 

[s4rmark]

I would advise against keeping sheepskin jackets on hangars for long periods of time. Buy a suit bag with a zip up front and place jacket inside it then lay flat in a wardrobe or similar away from heat .

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

which Pecards do you use? Cream, Conditioner, Antique Conditioner, Motorcycle Leather Conditioner?

 

[Carlos840]

Antique conditionner, i have heard that they are all the same product with different labels.

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

Antique conditionner, i have heard that they are all the same product with different labels.

yeah, pretty much what I was thinking. Maybe the moto kind has more wax for a better waterproofing and supposedly the cream is faster absorbing. But I'm sure it's the same basic formula.

 

[Peacoat]

Here is a prior thread about conditioners:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/ultimate-leather-conditioner comparison-on-reddit.101735/
.

 

[dubpynchon]

I wouldn’t store a shearling jacket on a hanger, I have mine in garment bags, stored flat on top of wardrobes, under beds etc. Shearling can easily get damaged by hangers, I returned a D-1 I bought once because it had been hung on a wire hanger and the shoulders were out of shape. Pity, it was a nice D-1 otherwise.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Antique conditionner, i have heard that they are all the same product with different labels.

The boss at Pecards certainly stated this at COW the Indiana Jones forum. It's also relabelled as Harley Davidson leather dressing. Same exact stuff.

 

[Monitor]

I wouldn’t store a shearling jacket on a hanger, I have mine in garment bags, stored flat on top of wardrobes, under beds etc. Shearling can easily get damaged by hangers, I returned a D-1 I bought once because it had been hung on a wire hanger and the shoulders were out of shape. Pity, it was a nice D-1 otherwise.

I don't have that much experience with shearling jackets but from little that I do have, I tend do agree with this.
I never store my shearling trucker on a hanger. It's just too heavy and the break in the shoulder line is very pronounced due to the extremely soft leather. I imagine it wouldn't take long until it stays that way for good...

 

[navetsea]

Buy an intentionally creepy one. Scariest you can find! That'll shift the whole thing from potentially scary to ironic.

Hmm... can build pyramid head on top

 

[Carlos840]

I don't have that much experience with shearling jackets but from little that I do have, I tend do agree with this.
I never store my shearling trucker on a hanger. It's just too heavy and the break in the shoulder line is very pronounced due to the extremely soft leather. I imagine it wouldn't take long until it stays that way for good...

I have had my schott B-3 hang on the plastic Schott hanger it came with for close to 20 years and it shows no shoulder deformation of any kind...

 

[lesnichei]

Wow...thank you all for the amazing information! I really didn't expect so much attention to my simple request. I thought I would be indelicately directed to Google. And...an impressive collection Carlos840. Reminds me of my watch collection. If I also fall down this rabbit hole...I suspect that will be the straw that broke the camel's back (easily broken under the weight of all those heavy jackets). I have done a quick read of everyone's response...but will read in more detail. So far, I understand there is really little I need to do right now in terms of conditioning. If I take care of the leather, it will take care of me...unless there are specific areas of abrasion, damage, exposure to skin oils, that may need to be treated accordingly. I should NOT hang up when wet, should keep from heat and animal claws, use a special wide-shouldered hanger when storing while in season, and probably store flat when in storage for the summer.

Again...many, many thanks to all for your time and attention! I will post a few pics of my B-6 and my other leather jacket. I believe it's a waxed leather jacket, bought from Banana Republic years ago...not a repro of a specific style but likely reminiscent of something from the 60s, etc. Funny story about that one, was carrying my then 2-year old (he was facing backwards) and all the ladies were checking me out. I kept thinking, "Wow...my son is quite the babe magnet...or is it my jacket?" However, when I passed by a large mirror and turned to get a look at the two of us, he had apparently been vomiting down my back for the last 30 minutes. My jacket was absolutely covered in breast-milk vomit. So...maybe not a babe magnet. The jacket is fine. I wiped it down with a damp cloth and there wasn't any staining. The jacket was new then and the waxy finish was doing it's job.

Pics to come. And...please don't let me start collecting jackets. I need some of you to intervene if I post pics of more than the two jackets I currently own...

 

[willyto]

I have had my schott B-3 hang on the plastic Schott hanger it came with for close to 20 years and it shows no shoulder deformation of any kind...

As long as the hanger fits the shoulders it isn't a problem. All these myths about hangers and stuff just exist because people think that hangers are a universal size.

 

[Bfd70]

I try to keep it as simple as possible.
I store them on a hanging rail on wide shouldered hangers:

I don't have a regular "care routine", but here are a few things worth mentionning:

Don't hang wet leather jackets, you could get shoulder deformation, if i come back from outside and it has been raining i leave my wet jacket flat on the floor somewhere.

The oils from your skin are not good for leather, i try to clean the back of the neck and the inside of the wrists of my most worn jackets once or twice a year with a damp clotch and a tiny bit of Lexol Leather cleaner.
I then apply a tiny bit of Pecard's dressing on these areas.

If your jacket gets dirty just wipe it clean with a damp cloth.

If it feels dry give it a rub with a bit of Pecards or you favourite dressing.
This should not be done on a regular basis, Aero for example says you should do nothing for the first 20 years of wear of your jacket.
Your B-6 has an acrylic finish, dressing will never get through it, all you have to do to that specific jacket is wipe it clean with a damp cloth.

Good luck, Welcome to TFL.

I showed this photo to my wife. She said they all look the same! Face palm. See my post in leather jackets for the ladies. This game ain’t for everyone.