Ultra intense/heavy/thick new leather jacket - how to break in?

[Infinitum]

Hi guys,

I received a new jacket in the mail and I have to say that it is the most intense, heavyweight, bulletproof leather I have ever felt/seen/been around. It is reverse cow leather (some areas are a rough suede, some are more matte). The jacket weighs 8 pounds, stands on its own, and feels like armor when it is on. It is flat black for the most part - the gold in the photos is from a light source. It's a "black leather jacket" for all intents and purposes.

It is really stiff. To give an example... I had a FQHH jacket from Goodwear Leather. It was pretty stiff... but it honestly feels like a cotton blouse compared to this monster.

I do not wear leather daily (suits at work), so this is a weekend/evening out type jacket for me. How in the world do I break it in/soften it up a bit, especially the elbow joints? Tennis balls + dryer trick? Something else?

Thank you for the help!

 

[Boyo]

I'd like to hear more about the jacket, who made it, custom spec's see a fit picture.

As far as breaking it in I would say you just gotta wear it, wear it outside, wear it inside,, some would wear it to bed. throw it on the floor, sit on it.
I would be cautious about washing it or putting it in the heat of the dryer as that will change the fit, but getting it wet and wearing it dry has worked for many.
sit tight and you'll get a few more opinions.

 

[Carlos840]

Personally i find the whole drier or soaking a bit extreme!

Best way to break it in is to wear it.

All i ever did to mine was spray them with some water using a spray bottle, not soaked, more like fake rain, and then wear it at home.
if you want to get the elbows creasing started just spray them and then sit on your couch and watch a movie with your arms crossed, it does wonders!

Although, considering this is untreated leather i am not sure water is a good idea, maybe try wetting a hidden spot first, to make sure it doesn't mark.

 

[Plumbline]

I must have tried every trick in the book ... and a few which aren't in the book ... there is NO silver bullet, no quick win ... wear it, use it, drive in it, wear it walking the dog ..... it's the only way. You can soften the leather but that's not really what breaking in is about, it's about moulding the unweildly thing to YOUR shape and how you move and that only takes time and use I'm afraid.

Because it's "roughout" leather anything you apply to it will be soaked in almost immediately like a sponge so be careful what you apply.

In terms of softening I have had some success on a cool drier in a laundry ( the sort of large industrial type ones ) with a few ( try 6) of those hard drier ball things but it was on stiff goat and not this sort of heavyweight material .... principle should be the same though. Stick it in, NO HEAT or VERY LOW heat and let it run for an hour or so .... I had a pal who did this and used a basketball with his bike jacket and it came out looking a bit the worse for wear ( like it had seen a few hard parties) but definately a LOT softer .... so it's your call

HTH

 

[Mark Ricketts]

My new jacket is a 4.25 oz CXL Johnsons' Leather. Out of the box it did not just stand up on its own, it stood to attention!
With three hours of hot sweaty farmwork the sleeves were perfectly supple and comfortable. With ten days the body is stiff when cold, but fine and flexible when warm. If you do not have a farm, wear the jacket to the gym every day, people may look at you oddly, but it will break in a treat.

 

[Vespizzare]

Who doesn't have a farm? But seriously I'm going to try that cold dryer/tennis ball gig with some talcum powder at the seams where a new jacket squeaks (theoretically). I have to hunt up some tennis balls first though.

 

[Jeff M]

Another vote for wearing it as much as possible.

 

[apba1166]

The trick is to get your body heat to soften the jacket as much as possible while wearing it a lot. So you want something on the exterior side of the jacket to keep that warm too. But instead of getting under the blankets, buy yourself an alpaca poncho. I have several I got in Peru years ago, but you can find them on ebay sometimes. Wear the jacket as much as possible with the poncho over it and do things. Don't just sit in a chair. You will be amazed how quickly it softens. In fact, I wear a poncho over my horsehide jackets when it is cold; within 5-20 minutes they go from stiff to soft: the only way to give them flex when it's below freezing out.

 

[Seb Lucas]

My view is a minority one here. I really dislike wearing thick HH; it often stays stiff and feels clunky for years - no matter how determined your balls and dryer are.

 

[Surferbruce]

Really great looking jacket...need some details!

 

[Dav]

Move house, wear jacket while doing so! I've just done this with a three year old Highwayman which I thought was fully broken in, it clearly wasn't, as it now feels like a second skin. So another vote here for, just wear it!
Nice looking jacket btw!

 

[Mark Ricketts]

It does not matter how many hours you wear the jacket, it is more important how much you move whilst wearing it. It is a pointless exercise trying to break in a jacket by wearing it to watch TV or lie in bed. Beat the snot out of your jacket. Run, jump, row a boat, dig a hole or wrestle a bear, it does not matter so long as you are burning energy.
On the other hand I have to agree with Seb Lucas, unless you have a specific need for a beast of a jacket, a softer, lighter, more comfortable hide makes far more sense.

 

[fukigen]

my 2 cents advice: wear it, wear it and wear it...
even inside if you want to "speed up" the process...
maybe not while having a bath but caught in light rain might help...

 

[tropicalbob]

It's hard to tell from the photos, but it looks like someone may have tried to treat it with something that they shouldn't have. The reason I say this is because I took an old cowhide messenger bag of mine to a shoemaker to get the strap fixed and asked him to clean it while it was there. The end result looked a lot like the leather in your pics. It doesn't look too bad and I still use the bag, but I wanted to murder the guy. By the way, what make is the jacket?

 

[Sloan1874]

my 2 cents advice: wear it, wear it and wear it...
even inside if you want to "speed up" the process...
maybe not while having a bath but caught in light rain might help...

+1 (Got caught in a torrential downpour at the weekend, did further wonders for the patina on my jacket)

 

[Surferbruce]

I've had a comp weight vanson for about 6 months and it's finally getting there. I've beat it, thrown it around, leaned/rubbed up against stone walls and tree trunks, driven my wife nuts in the car from constantly flexing my arms and pulling and stretching them, wiped it down with h20/alcohol, scrubbed it with green scrubbies, hit areas with sandpaper, and on and on. We rock climb a lot and i've hiked to the cliffs in it and tosssed it in the dirt. It's finally starting to look a little used but man it's taken some work.

 

[Infinitum]

Guys - thank you for all the advice. Lots of fun and useful responses - I really appreciate it. Realistically, it seems like it will take a long time to break in this particular jacket because of circumstances. I don't live on a farm, and unfortunately I do not have a yard in which I can work (the pros and cons of city living...). I will wear it as much as possible, that is on evenings and weekends, and hope that it breaks in over time.

The jacket maker is Rick Owens. His jacket are generally not at all the style norm of this forum, but this one is a special makeup (with an exorbitant price tag, that I hopefully navigated by buying the jacket second hand (but only worn 1-2 times) in a size that is not sough after (56, which fits like a US 44-45)). The leather is special order, but the jacket was not made for my measurements - as far as I know, Rick Owens does not do Made-to-Measure clothing (at least not for us regular folk ) I will try to get some daylight photos and additional photos as well.

 

[IXL]

^^^Oh, it WILL break in over time. You just don't know how much will be required. All part of the fun!

 

[thor]

If you were here on the East Coast you could've broken it in by now just by shoveling snow all winter.

 

[apba1166]

If you were here on the East Coast you could've broken it in by now just by shoveling snow all winter.

Yes, been breaking in plenty, but now I think it's breaking me. 18" more yesterday. As far as that Rick Owens jacket, it looks like Nubuck maybe. Nice piece. If you decide it's not for you, I'm sure there might be takers...Is that my hand raised?