Raiders distressed Novapelle cowhide

Marv · Post by **Marv** » Fri May 30, 2008 10:43 am

I am going to purchase a Raiders jacket but at first was thinking about going for the current authentic brown horsehide after I confirmed with Gemma that they only now supply just the one type/colour of horse.
I then started looking at the pre-distressed novapelle cowhide but wasn't keen on the lighter hide but then on another post it was mentioned that Wested had a odd batch of the lighter hide but now have got a darker hide back in stock.
Does anybody have any pics of the Raiders jacket in the novapelle cowhide so I can compare the colour of the hides.....if have seen the LC thread on this but was hoping some pics could help me make a choice between the horse and the pelle hide.
Anybody got a pics of their Raiders in the current wested horse could post also I would appreciate it.
I don't mind giving it a coat of pecards but I would rather not, that's if I could ever find any in the UK.
Coming from an WW2 A2 jacket background, the Indy jacket scene is still new to me hence my questions.

thanks
Mav

Vivli · Post by **Vivli** » Fri May 30, 2008 11:53 am

I'm wearing a Wested Horsehide in the pics in this thread;

viewtopic.php?t=29579

if that helps at all. It's a few months old there. I love the horsehide jacket, the look and feel of it is brilliant, but if you want a jacket that will naturally distress quickly, horsehide's not the one to go for!

My jacket has picked up a lot of character pretty quickly, crinkles in the sleeves, pocket and collar, and after I got drenched the other day, its back has become pretty wrinkled and looks very cool, but I don't think it'll distress in an Indy style way, wearing down to reveal the lighter colour underneath, for quite some time yet. For me, this is good, as I wanted a jacket for the long haul. I want to be wearing the same jacket for years. But if you want an instantly distressed looking one, then novapelle might be a good choice. I got to try on one when I picked up my jacket, and it is awesome.

Anyway, hope the horsehide pictures help. I can post some better, non-costume/fancy dress ones if you want.

PSBIndy · Post by **PSBIndy** » Fri May 30, 2008 1:41 pm

I like my Wested HH LC jacket a lot, too. I have the dark brown, non-distressed color and it looks great! The HH doesn't have that "sheen" of lambskin and looks very classic and goes great even with a shirt and tie. My only knock against it is that it's very Heavy (heaviest of all leathers)and stiff, esp. when new.

Vivli · Post by **Vivli** » Fri May 30, 2008 1:51 pm

PSBIndy wrote:I like my Wested HH LC jacket a lot, too. I have the dark brown, non-distressed color and it looks great! The HH doesn't have that "sheen" of lambskin and looks very classic and goes great even with a shirt and tie. My only knock against it is that it's very Heavy (heaviest of all leathers)and stiff, esp. when new.

Really? Mine was very soft, even when I got it. Admitingly, it was a returned custom from somebody else, so I don't know how 'old' the leather was, but I'm pretty certain it hadn't been worn much. It felt very soft to me. Heavy, yes, but soft.

And I don't find it that heavy, but it's my only decent leather jacket, so I don't have much to compare it to. I find it the weight I like to think a leather jacket should be, to make you feel like you're wearing the jacket.

Marv · Post by **Marv** » Fri May 30, 2008 2:54 pm

thanks for the help guys, I decided to go with the dark brown backed Novapelle hide Raiders.....placed my order today so hopefully should see it in about a month, until then just keep wearing the good old A2.

thanks
Marv