Distressing a US Wings Goatskin

[Dengar]

I think I'm going to lightly distress my dark-brown US Wings goatskin jacket. I was wondering exactly what tools I need and where to get them. Where can I get some Pecards dressing? Also, is there anything I should avoid so I don't ruin the thing?

[Indiana G]

after my first wested, i've chosen not to distress anything....but if you want advice....go very, very, verrrrrrrry slowly as too much all at once may leave you with something you don't like.

take the shine off with ospropyl alcohol (70%). wear it for a while when its all dull....see how much you like it. this may be enough for your taste.

if you want to go further, use sandpaper lightly around the edges.....wear it again for a while. keep going over the spots that you want to distress more (shoulders and elbows).....slowly. go over the seams with the sandpaper very lightly and slowly.

at some point you'll get to your happy place where she looks good and aged. now i stress doing all of the above slowly and through time as you do not want to end up with a jacket that is obviously new and been distressed. hope this helps and good luck.

[IndyBlues]

There's an old thread of mine, recently brought back to life on the first page of the Leather jacket section, that will have some pics, and some good tips as well.
'Blues

[Michaelson]

Yeah, Blues, but pouring gas over yourself and then setting yourself on fire was just a bit much, I thought.

Oh, you meant a DIFFERENT post, eh?

Regards! Michaelson

[Dengar]

after my first wested, i've chosen not to distress anything....but if you want advice....go very, very, verrrrrrrry slowly as too much all at once may leave you with something you don't like.

So you would recommend not distressing it? Do you think its unnecessary?

[Indiana G]

i think its unnecessary but i'm with the 'natural aging' group. its all personal preferrence really.....or personal patience i guess.

[Strider]

after my first wested, i've chosen not to distress anything....but if you want advice....go very, very, verrrrrrrry slowly as too much all at once may leave you with something you don't like.

So you would recommend not distressing it? Do you think its unnecessary?

Now, as a lot of people here can attest, I've been down the artificial distressing road, almost to the point of no return. On my first Wested lamb, I distressed it with sandpaper, as I had a goatskin Wested on the way, and thought meh, why not? The advice to go slow is some good advice. I went overboard my first time, and let me tell you, it is a really sick feeling you get when you start to think you have ruined something that means so much to you, as Bufflehead Jones put it to me at the time. I was lucky, though, I was able to use brown Pecard dressing to revitalize the jacket, and it actually turned out alright, but man ... until then, I felt AWFUL. Since I only have one Wested right now, I am allowing it to distress naturally, because I see no reason to go ape on it when I might be able to use it as a nice jacket to go someplace cool in, so I figure the longer I can use it for that purpose, the better.

However, if you want to distress your jacket, and trust me, there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to do it, here is what I think you should do.

Don't use acetone, because acetone is PERMANENT. I mean permanent in the most heavy sense of the word. Whatever you do with acetone will NEVER be able to be undone, and you don't want to make a mistake and have your jacket be like that forever.

Get yourself some light grit sandpaper, and go to www.pecard.com to grab yourself some brown Pecard leather lotion. Distress one area at a time, going slowly, and evaluate what it looks like when you're done with it. Remember, judge with a critical eye. You don't want to delude yourself into thinking it's okay, when it really isn't. That's what I did, and the fall from that high up is dreadful indeed ....

If you find that you don't like how an area turned out, you're not sunk, just rub some of that brown Pecards into the leather. I use my fingers, but if you have an old white t-shirt you don't need anymore, go with that. Massage the Pecards into the leather (a little Pecards goes a long way..do it in layers if you have to to avoid overuse), and re-evaluate the distressed area. Pecards saved my jacket from complete ruination, so if you take things slow, it should be able to make anything you do look better.

Remember not to do the distressing too evenly. If you distress the entire jacket evenly, it looks artificially distressed. Some of the best artificially distressed jackets I've seen had sporadic distressing, mostly on the places that would see the most use. A little bit here and there on the pockets, the front panels, some on the sleeves, a tad on the seams, a little bit here and there on the collar and back of the jacket ... use judgement.

Lastly, don't be afraid to do it. It's only irreversible if you go overboard, and after reading this, I don't think you will. With judgement, I don't think you'll go through the same things I went through.

Hope that helps.

[Dengar]

Thanks for the advice. I'm leaning towards not distressing it. I guess I'll just let it distress on its own over time. After all I'm sure that's what Indy did.

[Dengar]

OK, I finally decided to distress my jacket. So I bought some Pecard leather lotion and applied it to my jacket. I think I followed the application directions correctly: I used a small washcloth and put on a thin layer of the lotion all over. But after about an hour of letting it dry I didn't notice any difference. So later in the day I put more Pecard lotion onto the jacket and let it dry overnight. And in the morning it still looked exactly like it had before I put the lotion on.

Am I doing thing wrong? Maybe it would've been more wise to use Pecard dressing instead of the lotion... Should I have rubbed alcohol on the jacket to remove the shine? Should I use sandpaper to distress it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Michaelson]

I'm kind of scratching my head here. Well, actually my chin, if you believe the smilie.

Why are you using Pecards to 'distress' your jacket? It RESTORES the moisture TO your jacket, and therefore reverses the appearance of any distressed leather. It is NOT a product that distresses anything. It's kind of like expecting car wax to weather your car. That's not what it's intended to do.

Pecards is a leather dressing that is made to keep leather looking it's best, and helps it maintain water resistance.

As Strider stated above, use Pecards to help cover up the areas you messed up in your distressing technique, especially the tinted brown dressing.

I'm not an artifical distressing person what so ever....but it appears to me like you've put the cart in front of the horse!

Regards! Michaelson

[Dengar]

I'm kind of scratching my head here.

Why are you using Pecards to 'distress' your jacket? It RESTORES the moisture TO your jacket, and therefore reverses the appearance of any distressed leather. It is NOT a product that distresses anything. It's kind of like expecting car wax to weather your car. That's not what it's intended to do.

As Strider stated above, use Pecards to help cover up the areas you messed up in your distressing technique.

You've confused me.

Regards! Michaelson

Oh. I must really be out of it. For some reason I always thought it was Pecards that was used for distressing. I have no idea why.

OK, so what are the best methods for distressing the jacket? Alcohol? Sandpaper? Should I put it in the dryer?

[Michaelson]

Like I said, you're asking the wrong guy on this one, but I believe Strider covered the technique pretty well in his post above.

What you've done to date is exactly what
I would do to make the jacket last longer, so you get a big thumbs up from ME on your application....but if you're looking to distress, you'll find the study of those 'black arts' just down the hall.

HIGH regards! Michaelson

[Dengar]

Like I said, you're asking the wrong guy on this one, but I believe Strider covered the technique pretty well in his post above.

Regards! Michaelson

Ok, thanks. I'll try out Strider's suggestion.