Leather usage marks

[esteban]

Hi there,

Looong time lurker, and first time poster.

I have seen this picture from another thread:

I wonder, what kind of usage does it take to get the type of "marks" that the leather jacket has, particularly on the arms, it sort of looks like an accordion.
Do you believe it was because it was used while wet? Is it continuous use? As in sleeping with it?

Thank you.

 

[scotrace]

.

First order of business: Welcome to The Fedora Lounge!

Excellent questions. From jacket manufacturers, I understand that the best way to achieve natural wear like that is to wear a jacket a LOT, in all weather, and don't baby it. But there are lot more knowledgable people here than I who will bring you advice.

The type of hide is also a factor, I'm sure.

 

[gimmesomeshelte]

Hello-

We forget that soldiers lived in their flight jackets. When I wear a leather jacket, I wear it from the house to the car, where I place it on a hanger, I spend 45 min in the car driving to work, where I wear it into the building, and then I place it on a hanger again... If I wore my jacket all day long, cleaning the yard, fixing my brakes, cleaning the gutters, moving servers around in the server room, I'm sure my jackets would look like that in nothing flat.

This reminds me of one of the most brutal aging processes I've ever hear of: One of the Aero employees would wrap a jacket around a football and kick it around their driveway - a driveway make of loose granite pebbles. It hurts just thinking about it.

Paul-

 

[Raymundo]

Moisture a.k.a rain and humidity can make a leather jacket look like the General's A-2 in the picture. I am sure that he wore his jacket in all kinds of Europe's worst weather and so it developed the look shown in the picture. Those jackets were worn daily wet or dry, dirty or clean. Under those conditions, leather ages rapidly. Motor Cycle jackets would be a good comparison.

Ray

 

[esteban]

Thanks for the replies, I was sort of expecting that answer... Basically: "Use, use, use, come hell or high water"...
I guess that my doubt was because it was a General on the picture, he might not be forced to "live" with the jacket on.

 

[greyhound68]

Here are a couple of jackets to show you usage. The first is an original Roughwear 18091 jacket. This is a pre-war contract and was issued at least twice and was reissued for the Korea war. The cuffs are replacements. Leather goatskin which holds up well after 60 plus years.

The next jacket is a RMNZ Dubow repro that has been worn a lot but is only a couple of years old. Leather is horsehide.

So with work and lots of wear in all conditions (don't baby it) you can get that worn look we like so much.

 

[scotrace]

Those are both fantastic jackets.