I soaked my Wested goat in cold water and it shrank!

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:35 pm

About a year and a half ago, I bought a Wested goat jacket. Liking the worn look as much as the next man, but not being keen on more drastic ways of distressing it, I had been hoping that simply wearing it would make it nice and worn - and I guess it will, given enough time. But 18 months isn't enough time, appearently: So far it has refused to become the slightest bit worn, and it still looks more or less as smooth and shiny as the day I received it.

Until a few days ago, that is: The other day I decided to try a mild kind of distressing, and soaked it in a tub full of cold water. (Note: The jacket had quite a lot of excess dye in it, and I changed the water five or six times - every time it ended up as brown as the time before, so in the end I gave up on getting all the excess dye out...)

That's not the problem, though, and neither is the fact that a soaked-through goat jacket takes forever to dry - in my case it took almost three days.

On the plus side, it does look nicer now, being less shiny and a bit more crumpled, and I am happy about that.

However, soaking it and leaving it out to dry has shrunk the jacket. When first putting it on after it had dried, I'd say the sleeves had lost between ½ and 1 inch in length. The body was also both slightly shorter and felt noticably tighter. Wearing it for a couple of hours today has helped a bit, but it is still not the same size as before.

So, what to do? Have I irreversably shrunk my jacket, or will it stretch back to its original size given enough time? I'd hate to think that I have ruined it, especially since I thought cold water was a relatively "safe" treatment.

Any advice will be much appreciated...

IndyMo · Post by **IndyMo** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:04 pm

Well, there may have been some shrinkage depending how fast it dried. Secret is not to dry it too fast. Also, applying some Pecards may help relax it a bit. I would wear it for several hours to loosen it up then apply the Pecards this should help.

Mike

Magnum Jones · Post by **Magnum Jones** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:39 pm

I'm not one of the big jacket gurus here , but if you want the distressed looked goat was the wrong skin to get.

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:44 pm

Well, even more than a distressed look I wanted the jacket to be sturdy and strong...

Weston · Post by **Weston** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:46 am

Goatskin is very pliable when wet. I've run mine through the wash several times. I usually put it on when it is still damp and pull down on the cuffs now and then as it dries so they don't come up short, and the same can be done with the body although my jacket seemed to relax back to the right length in the body by itself. If you do this, you will be able to keep you jacket the right size while at the same time aquire all the cool wrinkles and creases an Indy jacket should have.

Weston

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:02 am

Thanks, guys.

Weston, what do you suggest I do now? Should I just wear it and hope for the best, or should I make the leather wet again and try to pull it back into shape while it dries? I am not sure I am up to completely soaking the jacket again, but less can probably do it if I just want to get the leather wet...

Weston · Post by **Weston** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:14 pm

I would get it wet enough that it becomes pliable again, and tug it down to the right length. After it is dry, it would not hurt to put some dressing on it, although mine softens up after wearing it. I hope this helps, it worked for me.

Weston

IndyWannaBee · Post by **IndyWannaBee** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:49 pm

The problem is that any type of leather will expand and shrink wet it is wet. The key to making sure it didn't shrink too much was to wear it while it was wet and allow it to dry slowly OR put it on a mannequin or something that would keep it stretched out.

You could rewet and stretch the leather but be careful not to pull out the stitching or the lining.

Once leather dries it will shrink however you can rewet. The brown is definitely the dye leaching leaching out of the leather or maybe the lining. Most likely the leather.

Your jacket is rescuable BUT I think you run into slight shrinkage in cold water!

gmarthe · Post by **gmarthe** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:32 pm

Any updates Jens? I am curious to see how your jacket has fared and what steps you have taken to get you there.

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:57 am

Not much to tell so far. I have worn the jacket a couple of days and it seems to have softened up and stretched a bit just by being worn. It is still shorter in the sleeves than before and is noticeably tighter in the body. In fact, the action pleats which used to be "folded" nicely are now stretched quite open when I have the jacket zipped. I suppose it must have lost some length in the body as well, but being a TOD model it was generously long to begin with, and it doesn't feel too short now.

I also wrote Wested about my problem, and got a reply from Gemma to the effect that the shrinkage was irreversible. Well, time will tell whether the jacket is salvageable.

At some point, I will probably try out IndyWannaBee & Weston's suggestions that I rewet it (slightly - I definitely don't feel like soaking it again) and possibly wear it while it dries. I think I might wait for some above-freezing temperatures before wearing wet clothes outside.