leather jacket lifestyle question 1

[navetsea]

If you and a friend wanted to go out for a hunting trip, and had to drive 30+ miles of dirt, unpaved roads to get to you camping site, would you take a white Bentley sedan with a White leather interior and Wool carpets?

I hear luxury car can eat this kind of road with passenger inside in relative comfort, I once rode as passenger in 4x4 suv on uneven rocky gravel road through villages to reach a beach area that rich with iron sand (not a tourist spot), my god, the car might be fine, but I got my head bumped to the handle above the door, and my spine wrecked, and my inside organs felt tumbled, I much rather stand and holding pipe frame and use slightly bending leg to absorb the shock than sitting strapped to 4x4 chair on unpaved road at medium speed like that

 

[El Marro]

Interesting question Regius.
I suspect that you are correct that certain types of jackets, such as the CHP or Perfecto, were seen as gear used for a certain purpose or activity and not as something to be worn everywhere.
On the other hand leather jackets were certainly much more common in that time period so it might not have been so unusual to see people from different walks of life wearing them.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

What I said in another post; Leather is leather. I don't really believe that Lost Worlds horsehide is particularly more durable than Shinki. Sure, LW's horse is slightly heavier, it's got tougher finish so you ought to get a few more years of use out of it in the long run but ultimately, both jackets could be used as working garments with equal amount of success.

And it's not that people in the past deliberately subjected their clothes to extreme conditions. They had less crap to wear so I'm guessing they were actually taking better care of their leathers than we do! All that knowledge about conditioning & maintaining leather had to have came from somewhere.

So anyway, I'm not sure I see your point, @dudewuttheheck as there's nothing about your jackets that... Well, makes them unsuitable as work-wear. Sure, cosmetically, they might scuff sooner, dull down, maybe even last a bit less but again, it's still the same ol' hide, same thread and same hardware used in any leather jacket made back then that was intended for serious use.

But I'd like to hear your perspective, why you feel they weren't meant to be work wear.

Another example; Fact is, newest Dainese professional leather racing gear is made of leather that's lighter than Shinki so provided your Mullholland makes a comfortable motorcycle jacket, there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't ride in it.

In all honesty, leather cross zips are absolute junk on most motorcycles that aren't chopper or cruiser.

All this is to say, I'm pretty sure that it's the price tag that makes people reluctant to do hard work in their leather jackets. Which is perfectly understandable because why risk damaging your $2000 investment if you have $50 Carhartt you bought specifically for the purpose.

What I am saying is not that they cannot be used for work, just that a lot of these jackets were meant as general all purpose jackets, not necessarily for actual blue collar work originally. So in that sense, they were not originally intended as work wear. Did people use them as work wear? I'm sure they did. I also could be wrong and maybe some of the jacket designs I wear were originally intended for blue collar work, but I do not think so. Three of my jackets were called sports jackets. I don't think they were originally meant for labor intensive work. To me, that sounds more like general wear and outdoorsman type stuff or something like that.

In my view, for anything to be labelled as work wear it should be to perform well in a serious blue collar work environment first and foremost. It's not just something that anyone wears to their jobs because if that were the case, EVERYTHING is work wear especially now because I have a friend who wears basketball shorts, graphic t shirts, and flip flops to his tech job every dat. As an example, aviator jackets were meant for pilots which is a certain type of work, but not what we think of when we think of "work wear." They were meant for a task, but that task was not labor intensive work.

Either way, I do not think that these types of jackets work the best for work today either. Can you use them for some types of work? Maybe. I work an indoor job so I'm not the right person to ask about that. It's not that I am saying that my jackets couldn't handle some work, but rather that they are not the best tools for the job. If I needed a serious work jacket, there are other jackets out there that are superior for the task than probably any leather jacket.

Ironically, I do wear my leather jackets to work so I suppose I have played myself because I do use them for my own "work wear "

 

[El Marro]

I am an electrician and I have worn almost every one of my leather jackets to work at least once.

Here I am wearing my LW CHP while installing a new main panel on the side of a house. I have to say this is probably one of the worst jackets to wear while working because it weighs over 7 pounds and does not allow for easy movement. On the other hand it is one of the most waterproof jackets I own and this has come in handy at work before.
Like several others have said, I usually wear my leather jacket to work and take it off shortly after I arrive.
Out of all the leather jackets I own I have found that the best one to work in is the G-1. The freedom of movement allowed by the ingenious pattern as well as the flexibility of goat skin make it comfortable to wear while climbing a ladder or working overhead.

 

[Coriu]

I would expect that the area of the world or area of a country a person lived in during the 30's or 50's would have played a significant part in determining the extent to which leather was worn. I would think that use of leather in the Deep South of the US would not have been nearly as prevalent as in other parts of the country due to the hot, humid climate there much of the year. I think a Mediterranean climate like on the West Coast of the US is just ideal for leather.

 

[navetsea]

honestly I think leather as jacket doesn't have a bright future, I see no youngsters wear leather jacket, more and more people into vegan lifestyle, sure movie stars or people in fashion still wear leather jacket, I think in few decades leather jacket would be as rare as leather pants, or seen as "costume", denim jacket would likely outlast leather jacket. I see many denim jackets worn on daily basis by young people and kids, but maybe a cult movie could easily change the course of history, look at how terminator, sons of anarchy, Indy or top gun popularize some style for awhile.

 

[Marc mndt]

I am an electrician and I have worn almost every one of my leather jackets to work at least once.
View attachment 327430
Here I am wearing my LW CHP while installing a new main panel on the side of a house. I have to say this is probably one of the worst jackets to wear while working because it weighs over 7 pounds and does not allow for easy movement. On the other hand it is one of the most waterproof jackets I own and this has come in handy at work before.
Like several others have said, I usually wear my leather jacket to work and take it off shortly after I arrive.
Out of all the leather jackets I own I have found that the best one to work in is the G-1. The freedom of movement allowed by the ingenious pattern as well as the flexibility of goat skin make it comfortable to wear while climbing a ladder or working overhead.

#1 coolest electrician ever.

 

[Monitor]

What I am saying is not that they cannot be used for work, just that a lot of these jackets were meant as general all purpose jackets, not necessarily for actual blue collar work originally. So in that sense, they were not originally intended as work wear. Did people use them as work wear? I'm sure they did. I also could be wrong and maybe some of the jacket designs I wear were originally intended for blue collar work, but I do not think so. Three of my jackets were called sports jackets. I don't think they were originally meant for labor intensive work. To me, that sounds more like general wear and outdoorsman type stuff or something like that.

In my view, for anything to be labelled as work wear it should be to perform well in a serious blue collar work environment first and foremost. It's not just something that anyone wears to their jobs because if that were the case, EVERYTHING is work wear especially now because I have a friend who wears basketball shorts, graphic t shirts, and flip flops to his tech job every dat. As an example, aviator jackets were meant for pilots which is a certain type of work, but not what we think of when we think of "work wear." They were meant for a task, but that task was not labor intensive work.

Either way, I do not think that these types of jackets work the best for work today either. Can you use them for some types of work? Maybe. I work an indoor job so I'm not the right person to ask about that. It's not that I am saying that my jackets couldn't handle some work, but rather that they are not the best tools for the job. If I needed a serious work jacket, there are other jackets out there that are superior for the task than probably any leather jacket.

Ironically, I do wear my leather jackets to work so I suppose I have played myself because I do use them for my own "work wear "

Ah, gotcha. I thought you specifically meant that Freewheelers, for instance, cannot be used as riding or work jackets and I wasn't sure why'd that be so as they look to be built up to standard.

I agree that wearing a leather jacket where there's absolutely no need for it is deliberately abusing it. When I got into leather, I used to wear my jacket where I worked, a cargo train depot, at all times. It was basically a huge warehouse & I'd drag boxes around (until I got my forklift permit lol). It was some cheap, mall jacket and even though back then I didn't even understand I'm not supposed to treat it as my denim trucker, I noticed pretty soon that while the latter never showed any sign of wear, other than getting dirty, my leather jacket immediately got scuffed and damaged and I stopped wearing it while carrying stuff around.

Depends on the job, too but I've quickly learned that simply carrying cardboard boxes while wearing a leather jacket can completely scrape off the finish at places and within a few days.

But yeah, I'm pretty sure leather jackets weren't intended for manual labor and weren't often used in such a manner, especially back in the days when getting one wasn't as simple and cheap as it is today.

 

[Monitor]

honestly I think leather as jacket doesn't have a bright future, I see no youngsters wear leather jacket, more and more people into vegan lifestyle, sure movie stars or people in fashion still wear leather jacket, I think in few decades leather jacket would be as rare as leather pants, or seen as "costume", denim jacket would likely outlast leather jacket. I see many denim jackets worn on daily basis by young people and kids, but maybe a cult movie could easily change the course of history, look at how terminator, sons of anarchy, Indy or top gun popularize some style for awhile.

Maybe in Indonesia but this year, I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that 8/10 girls are wearing a leather cross zipper leather jacket with more and more guys getting into them. I'm seeing FAR more leather jackets than ever with denim ones slowly fading out of favor. Check out mass market clothes stores, you'll notice leather Perfectos are their no. 1 sellers when it comes to outerwear. That will of course change next year but since everyone bought 'em recently and leather jacket always is pricey, compared to textile stuff, I don't suppose they'll disappear of the streets any time soon.

 

[navetsea]

yeah maybe in my country, I saw some "cafe racer" getting a bit popular several years back here but has since died and forgotten, same with "biker" nobody wear them, not even those middle age HOG members. I think it's pretty easy to see trend if youtube style influencers wear it or teach how to wear it then it is trendy at least for this year only. since BTW jeans every style guru chose to hate "the bootleg" is making a comeback, I wonder how they would lick back their own spit

 

[AeroFan_07]

I am an electrician and I have worn almost every one of my leather jackets to work at least once.
View attachment 327430
Here I am wearing my LW CHP while installing a new main panel on the side of a house. I have to say this is probably one of the worst jackets to wear while working because it weighs over 7 pounds and does not allow for easy movement. On the other hand it is one of the most waterproof jackets I own and this has come in handy at work before.
Like several others have said, I usually wear my leather jacket to work and take it off shortly after I arrive.
Out of all the leather jackets I own I have found that the best one to work in is the G-1. The freedom of movement allowed by the ingenious pattern as well as the flexibility of goat skin make it comfortable to wear while climbing a ladder or working overhead.

Nice photo there El Marro - jacket suits the situation well, and while we're at it, the M18 Fuel hammer drill is quite the excellent tool. I have the same one and have used it extensively. I have a little too much "red" in the toolbox these days, which is a good thing.

Ok enough derail - back to the normally scheduled thread on jackets and work!

 

[Coriu]

I am an electrician and I have worn almost every one of my leather jackets to work at least once.
View attachment 327430
Here I am wearing my LW CHP while installing a new main panel on the side of a house. I have to say this is probably one of the worst jackets to wear while working because it weighs over 7 pounds and does not allow for easy movement. On the other hand it is one of the most waterproof jackets I own and this has come in handy at work before.
Like several others have said, I usually wear my leather jacket to work and take it off shortly after I arrive.
Out of all the leather jackets I own I have found that the best one to work in is the G-1. The freedom of movement allowed by the ingenious pattern as well as the flexibility of goat skin make it comfortable to wear while climbing a ladder or working overhead.

I hope you don't wear that leather jacket with metallic buckles when there is potential exposure. Even if the job you are doing at the time had no exposure, it's easy to forget. Sorry to sound preachy. I have seen too many fatalities in industry.

 

[Leather Walker]

but maybe a cult movie could easily change the course of history, look at how terminator, sons of anarchy, Indy or top gun popularize some style for awhile.

"Cruising" by Friedkin

 

[RL204]

Maybe in Indonesia but this year, I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that 8/10 girls are wearing a leather cross zipper leather jacket with more and more guys getting into them. I'm seeing FAR more leather jackets than ever with denim ones slowly fading out of favor.

I totally agree with this. So many women walking around now with cross zip leather jackets. The quality of the leather always seems to be on the lower end all the way down to what looks like black plastic.

Sometimes I feel a little weird when I am at a crosswalk and I’m wearing my black cross zip and there’s a female right beside me in a similar style but I get over it pretty quick.

 

[RL204]

For wearing your leather jacket and doing work I have definitely done it to a mild extent. Shoveling snow, moving things around, cleaning the garage and other light duty is fine. If I’m getting down and dirty wrenching, fencing or painting then no way am I risking my nicer jackets as I wear them to look good and don’t want major stains, scratches or splatter marks on them.

This summer I am starting an experiment with an older and lower cost leather jacket. I am using a leather cross zip as my camping jacket. It provides decent movement and will keep me warm in the cool mornings/nights, chop wood, protect me from bugs, smell like smoke, etc. I’m curious to see if it smells like bar oil, smoke, diesel or whatever after a few months of camping use. Also curious to see how it holds up. I’m sure it’ll be just fine and may just need to be aired out every now and then. I will report back in October after a summer of abuse.

Last year I used a pair of Black Frye engineer boots as my camping boots and they did great. Held up well, can kick burning logs back in place without damage and keep the mosquitos off your feet and more importantly ankles and store bottles of port and/scotch very well.

 

[Carlos840]

@El Marro's post made me want to take my camera to work today...
Appologies in advance as there isn't a single leather jacket to be seen, but it should make it pretty obvious why i don't wear leather when i work.

Start of the day, my office:

Job is pretty simple, follow the fence, if there is a broken wire fix it, if a tree fell accross the fence remove it, if a post is broken replace it. On top of that i dismantle fallen trees so that they lay flat, i fell the dead standing ones and do a general cleanup:

One of the big "crash sites", a huge beech tree (30-40m tall) fell on the fence, it took around 10 hours of sawing to clear things to what can be seen here:

New post, new wire:

Lunch break:

Staff kitchen, cheeky chicken Korma:

Crash site number two, another huge fallen beech that you can see at the bottom of the valley in the background, this one took around 14 hours, it is a good 120cm across at the thickest parts.

Dead standing Oak i fell, the stump can be seen on the left in the previous shot:

Crash site close up:

And then a couple instagram worthy shots...
What do you guys think?
Should i start a leather lumberjack IG?

On a serious note, this job took around 10 days to finish, i went through two pairs of deerskin gloves, pulling barb wire wrecks them faster than anythign else i usually do. I must have hooked myself in the wire at least 100 times, luckily cotton duck doesn't care.
Add to that the pretty intense two stroke smell, the chain oil splatters, had i been wearing a leather jacket it would be in the trash with the two pairs of gloves i wore.


If someone is feeling brave you can send me a leather jacket and i will test in in the field, see how it responds to "rugged activities", let me tell you i have low expectations...
I hear Himel are great fishing jackets, maybe i need to try one in the woods!

 

[Coriu]

I totally agree with this. So many women walking around now with cross zip leather jackets. The quality of the leather always seems to be on the lower end all the way down to what looks like black plastic.

Sometimes I feel a little weird when I am at a crosswalk and I’m wearing my black cross zip and there’s a female right beside me in a similar style but I get over it pretty quick.

Unless, of course, her jacket is nicer than yours

 

[RL204]

@Carlos840 beauty pics. I have to agree with you that a leather jacket wouldn’t last very long with you doing that everyday. Barbed wire would just ruin a leather jacket with Snags in short order.

I am curious how leather will take bar oil splattering on it. I’ll figure that out this summer. My guess is light staining and a smell that won’t leave.

 

[Mich486]

Pretty cool working in the woods!

On the other hand, my typical day at work

9am

1pm

5pm

I could wear a leather jacket though and not be worried to damage it

 

[Boyo]

Great Photos @Carlos840, quite a change from your previous job!.. I would love to see what you would do to a leather jacket after a few weeks, surely you can sacrifice 1?

@RL204, im sure if your wear that jacket through a Camping season it'll look dynamite afterwards.