What will black leather look like when distressed and worn in?

[user290389023]

I know that brown leather usually turns slightly lighter, but black leather?
What color does it change into? Brownish? Greyish?

 

[nick123]

Dependent on how the leather is tanned. Most of today's jackets are chrome tanned and will show very little wear for decades; when scuffs do take place it's most likely just black, grey, or brown.

Chromexcel (both chrome and veg retwnned) or veg tanned leathers will typically age faster and have more dramatic color variation. I'm sure exceptions exist.

 

[Guppy]

Some chrome tanned black leader will show a blue-ish or greenish undertone. It varies depending on the method of tanning and dying, and I would imagine how the leather was treated (certain treatments will darken leather) and/or abused (scuffing the topcoat off will show the true leather color beneath, etc.) and even the original skin color of the animal

 

[GHT]

I know that brown leather usually turns slightly lighter, but black leather?
What color does it change into? Brownish? Greyish?

Depends how you define grey. If you have any black shoes or boots that haven't had a brush & polish in a good while you will see the fade effect that causes, same with anything made from leather. Nick & Guppy make good points, but hide quality also plays a part.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Depends on whether it has a grey or brownish undercoat.....

 

[tmitchell59]

Most quality black leather jackets should stay black, unless the have some sort of "tea core" effect. The "tea core" effect lets the brown undertones show through more quickly. This is used on several high end Japanese makes. it is by design.

This is a 50s Buco Steerhide with brown showing through. This is the effect that tea core is trying to duplicate. This came from years of wear, not by design.

The tea core effect allows for wear through to be accelerated

I have lots of Black jackets older than this, most do not have this kind of wear through.

The black Cafe Racer posted above looks to have been artificially aged, leaving the seams with a white color. That is a whole different thing.

A quality Black finished jacket should stay black for a long time.

 

[navetsea]

4yrs UV fading on my black goatskin jacket.
It started out as matte black dyed leather with little coat so it might get faded easier than one with top coat. Leather jacket fading looks more obvious when the jacket is photographed flat , when the jacket is worn it doesnt look as obvious. It just look less black and less new.

On contrary my 5yrs old pebbly black cow doesnt show any sign of fading at all while it is totally broken in

 

[Edward]

All comes down to which black hide REminds me of car colours ; black is notoriously hard to colour-match because no two blacks are exaclty the same. If memory serves, Austin-black had a blue undertone, while Ford-black had a red undertone. Another was green. I've seen black leather (notg the teacore stuff, which is only black on the surface) stay black, go grey, green or blue, all depending on how its tanned, the make-up of the black dye, the leather itself.... you name it.

Also worth remembering that leather, as an organic substance, will always vary. Even the hide off two cows from the same field may age distinctly differently despite all other elements being equal.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

It actually only depends on one thing effectively:

Is it tea core? If it is tea core, it will patina to brown/light tan underneath. There are chrome tanned jackets that have this feature (Four Speed Leathers) and combination tanned leathers that do it too (chromexcel). Obviously, there are more vegetable tanned jackets that have this feature, especially from Japanese tanneries and Japanese makers because they seem to really love tea core.

If it is not specifically tea core or brown underneath, then it will either not patina or fade to grey. For example, Freewheelers has black jackets that fade to brown (vintage black) and ones that fade to grey (rude black.)

 

[TheGuitarFairy]

this jacket mocks me daily .. it'll never fit

 

[handymike]

This black jacket is from the 1940s...and worn, not "Hollywood distressed".

 

[Captain Sensible]

Perhaps feeding the troll but Google images is good for this kind of stuff

 

[Captain Sensible]

https://www.google.com/search?q=fad...WSSRUIHY1KCqcQ_AUIDygC&biw=1280&bih=683&dpr=2

 

[Captain Sensible]

Nice one, any lighter colour coming through like the pics you’ve already seen?

 

[regius]

Found this thread, and this perfect example on ebay, but I do have questions. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1940-s-195...047824?hash=item23ccfde990:g:UPcAAOSwNHZd9mz~

 

[regius]

and this one, classic, Ralph Lauren wearing his favourite Langlitz, completely faded to beige. Together with the ebay jacket, my question is, HOW?? if not by artificial aging? (I've seen one or two faded langlitz in their store, but the rest old ones are still black) The disappearing of the black top coating is either due to chemical peeling or abrasion, no other way. Unless the jacket was dipped into chemicals, the person got sprayed by chemicals, or the person rolls on the ground a few times in a precise manner, I can't see how the non-contact surfaces also becomes faded. Arms, shoulders, elbow, upper back, sure, but the two front panels and the whole jacket so evenly faded???
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...rtnership-Royal-Marsden-Hospital-Chelsea.html

 

[58panheadfan]

Doesn't look lika a "natural" fading on a leather jacket by just wearing it... more an artificial one, maybe they did it this way...

 

[Peacoat]

My Schott is fairly evenly faded, mostly by UV light on countless motorcycle rides and by hanging over my seat during lunch breaks. There is no artificial aging on this jacket. Notice how it is darker under the right arm where the sun doesn't much shine.

 

[58panheadfan]

Based on the photos, this jacket looks to me as artificially aged ... on the detail image, unusual wear and tear can be seen, as if it would have resulted from "natural" wear.

Edit: It looks like the whole surface has been processed non-naturally...

 

[ton312]

Found this thread, and this perfect example on ebay, but I do have questions. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1940-s-195...047824?hash=item23ccfde990:g:UPcAAOSwNHZd9mz~

That hide reminds me very much of an old hercules I had. It was as if the top coat literally just disintegrated. The leather was still strong though. I think these jackets had a top coat that easily chipped and quite literally fell off. Combine that with plenty of sun exposure and you end up with something just like that. I'll have to try and find pics of my Herc. The wear like that was mainly at the shoulders if I recall correctly.
PS-though it's not my style per se, that's a cool jacket for $125!