Losing length- how much to take into account when buying new?

[Andrew Putnam]

In regards to my quest continuing in the purchasing of jackets by measurements alone. Should I be looking at an inch longer in the back length and sleeve length to account for length loss in the Aero CXL HH?
My experience with other jackets I've owned is they seem to actually stretch over time HH or SH but particularly steer hide. Perhaps the CXL HH behaves differently?
Would anyone like to share what they have found in measurements changing?

 

[Carlos840]

No you should not.
I have more than twenty leather jackets, three of them are made from CXL HH, not a single one has shrank with wear.
A jacket that is too long will tend to stack at the wrists, and it might appear shorter, but it isn't, it is just stacked.
If your jacket is the "correct" length from the start this wont happen.
IMO everytime i see someone saying "i added 1" in length to account for shrinking" the jacket they are wearing is too long, and no wear is going to change that.

This thread is a good example:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/aero-cafe-racer-keeper-fit-pics.97597/

You can check out my fit pics here:

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/my-leather-jacket-database.93804/

Not a single one of these jackets has shrank.

 

[Monitor]

In my exeprience, yes. I personally would always order a CXL jacket with an additional inch added to the length I've originally had in mind and have done so on every order after the first couple of jackets I bought lost an inch or so in the back.

Though, it's something I find to be unique to Horween CXL. It's the only hide that I've handled that actually does shrink (or at least it did with virtually all of my jackets).

It's a combination of creasing and... I dunno, just the properties of a leather, I guess.

 

[Bennarion]

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/my-leather-jacket-database.93804/

Aero Bootlegger, size 40, Brown CXLHH, 2016:
I especially liked how it suits you

 

[Carlos840]

In my exeprience, yes. I personally would always order a CXL jacket with an additional inch added to the length I've originally had in mind and have done so on every order after the first couple of jackets I bought lost an inch or so in the back.

Though, it's something I find to be unique to Horween CXL. It's the only hide that I've handled that actually does shrink (or at least it did with virtually all of my jackets).

It's a combination of creasing and... I dunno, just the properties of a leather, I guess.

How is it that none of mine ever shrank?
I keep reading about mysterious shrinking leather jackets, but have never experienced it!
Is it because i like shorter sleeves and body and thus the leatehr has nothing to stack on?

 

[sweetfights]

I have owned about 5 cxl jackets.
Whatever the environmental/lifestyle factors that contribute to length loss, they exist for me.
I wear mine in all four seasons to some degree, less of course in the summer. Maybe the exposure of temperature variance and relative humidity come into play.

 

[Carlos840]

I have owned about 5 cxl jackets.
Whatever the environmental/lifestyle factors that contribute to length loss, they exist for me.
I wear mine in all four seasons to some degree, less of course in the summer. Maybe the exposure of temperature variance and relative humidity come into play.

Please do not take this as a personnal attack, this is just an observation, but IMO you are part of the long jacket brigade. I would not be surprised at all to hear you had experienced stacking/shrinkage as IMO most jackets i have seen you order new were a couple inches too long compared to what i would describe as a perfect length.

 

[Monitor]

How is it that none of mine ever shrank?
I keep reading about mysterious shrinking leather jackets, but have never experienced it!
Is it because i like shorter sleeves and body and thus the leatehr has nothing to stack on?

No clue, and you're not the only one. Same as it wasn't just mine jackets that shrank. There's no concensus, it's been reported both ways but it does happen. As to what the cause might be, I honestly don't know.

My first new Aero was a CXL MC jacket. I wasn't really checking that one and I think it was least affected, if at all. But it was an extremely stiff jacket. The 106 I got afterwards lost more than a full inch in the back. Ditto for the CR's. Amusing story, when I listed one Aero up for sale, I measured it being more than half an inch shorter than what I initially spec'd (and it arrived dead on what I requested, by the way) and then when the person who bought the jacket from me listed it back up for sale again some months later, they measured it another half an inch shorter.

I've never had it happen on any other jacket and my Aero trucker jacket in Jerky HH is still the exact same length it was when I bought it, and I wore that jacket a lot.

Yep, what @sweetfights says, maybe it's got to do something with how CXL stiffens and relaxes in different temperatures.

 

[jpk_NJ]

I have owned about 5 cxl jackets.
Whatever the environmental/lifestyle factors that contribute to length loss, they exist for me.
I wear mine in all four seasons to some degree, less of course in the summer. Maybe the exposure of temperature variance and relative humidity come into play.

Intersting point. I never thought about the environmental factors but could definitely see this playing a part. Leather is an organic material, closer to wood than steel (even that expands/contracts ). If your climate is pretty stable year round then maybe less change of the hide, but huge swings in temp or humidity....

 

[handymike]

I noticed 1/2" shrink in sleeve length due to creasing in Horsehide jackets. Not so much with steer (unless it's heavy Horween). Thicker/ crisper hides tend to hold creasing more than softer hides. The back only shrinks if it gets creased up by you sitting. These factors are totally due to how your jacket fits on your body. The jacket will settle/ mould to you. If you get shorter sleeves, for instance, they wont crease as much in the forearms (stack). Likewise, if the jacket is shorter, it won’t crease up when you sit. Unless it’s the incredible Shrinki hide or @schitzo’s Hercules .

 

[navetsea]

I think the shape of the sleeve matters too, sleeve with room for elbow and curved sleeve won't crease as much than straight slim sleeve, and what other clothes sleeve and lining material of the jacket you wear also matters, if you wear short sleeve tshirt, it is easier for the sleeve of the jacket to hang straight, but if you wear long sleeve jumper or tshirt with rough texture underneath, then once the sleeve of the jacket rides up will stay there unless you pull it down.

 

[Colin G]

How is it that none of mine ever shrank?
I keep reading about mysterious shrinking leather jackets, but have never experienced it!
Is it because i like shorter sleeves and body and thus the leatehr has nothing to stack on?

I'll get maybe 1/2" shrinkage on sleeves max, zero on the body of any jackets I have ever owned. All were heavy steer hide like Vanson and Lost Worlds and none have ever shrunk in length. A Schott heavy horse hide never shrunk in length either after 15 years of heavy use in cold weather and wet snow.

 

[Peter Mackin]

Ah Schitzo,,a blast from the past,,I remember his rants well ,,

 

[Bennarion]

@schitzo’s Hercules

It was not an open riddle

 

[Monitor]

Man provided concrete photographic evidence and a YouTube video. Sort of.

 

[Bennarion]

This is understandable as two and two that he did something to him. Maybe put in boiling water.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Of all my Aero CXL FQHH jackets I've had in the past, which is many, I've never noticed any shrinkage in body length and only slightly in sleeve length as the hide wrinkles up mid arm by bending and movement.
HD

 

[Bennarion]

About the sleeve correctly said. He also stretches in the elbow.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Schitzo was a fraud and made great effort to deceive with his shrinking jacket video. Manipulation.

 

[Bennarion]

It is not clear what he wanted to achieve.