Distressing a Wested Goat.. .Should I or Shouldn´t I?

[IndianaGeo]

Hi to Everyone,
I´m still riding high on my recent purchases (A Wested Lamb and a Goat). I love how this feeling lasts. One thing I´ve been going through though in my mind is whether I should or shouldn´t start beating up the goatskin jacket to make it look weathered in ? Right now it feels pretty bombproof, shiny, and nice...maybe too nice, I don´t know. It´s a rather warm jacket for the summer, but I think cooler nights and fall weather will be perfect for it. I had this thought of a contraption full of rocks, like a washing machine, that one could put the jacket in and let it spin for about 10 hours. Or maybe just wear the thing and do what I do in it and let it "mature" that way with all the haphazard and random knocks that it would take over time. Is there a good way to get rid of the somewhat stiff feel that this has? Is it as simple as just crumpling it up every time you put it away and/or using some kind of softening conditioner on it? Any thoughts appreciated.

Last question, I hear that if anything the sleeves on a jacket may actually shorten a bit over time due to creases or folds that develop. How much in length can one expect this to happen? Thx.

[Terrasolo]

I'm no expert here but my two cents is this. My friend and I had a similar issue with a 9th Doctor (from Doctor Who) leather jacket from Wested. they sell distressed but that are brown and not black (as this particular jacket seems to be.

anyway, we thought it should still be distressed and were going to attempt this until we both though, "Hey, his jacket was new once too, and all of his adventures created that wear and tear.

So for my money when I get mine, I would be happy to let life distress it for me. that is if it is a jacket that will be wore and not just displayed. if displayed only then get distressing!

[IndianaGeo]

Terrasolo,
You make some very good points I think. I kind of agree with you that an authentic jacket, however that might be defined, should be something that ages naturally and through ones own natural efforts. I think it´s a little "misleading" perhaps to artificially age a jacket. It´s sort of like embellishing a resume in a way as if to say one has more "experience" than someone else. It´s just tempting you know.. because a distressed jacket just looks so good. I´m a bit torn about the whole thing. I guess I´m a little embarrassed at how good my jacket looks being so new and all.

[Louisiana Jones]

I distressed my first Wested Indy jacket.. and quickly regretted it. Yes it looked "cool", and definitely looked like it had been through many adventures...but it wasn't! That jacket is now sold, and I have another on the way that will be naturally distressed over time.. the way things should be.

I've seen a lot of Indy jackets on this forum that looked comical because they are so distressed.. some just look plain silly..I tried distressing that first Wested but quickly learned it wasn't for me. Just wear it, man.

LJ

[Terrasolo]

Terrasolo,
You make some very good points I think. I kind of agree with you that an authentic jacket, however that might be defined, should be something that ages naturally and through ones own natural efforts. I think it´s a little "misleading" perhaps to artificially age a jacket. It´s sort of like embellishing a resume in a way as if to say one has more "experience" than someone else. It´s just tempting you know.. because a distressed jacket just looks so good. I´m a bit torn about the whole thing. I guess I´m a little embarrassed at how good my jacket looks being so new and all.

Oh believe me I know the temptations, I also bought a suit that was based on a TV character and the suit looked so faded and washed a million times. crumpled and so one, but my suit was brand new. I thought about making it look faded and old and thankfully I had the feeling of regret that Louisiana Jones had but before I even tried it. It's a great suit, and I wear it a lot at work, but I would not be able to if I had make it SA.

the leather jacket lived in look is great and I know that I will face the same temptation when I get mine, but in the end, I will remember my past experiences and decide that I bought this jacket to take the wear and tear that it was meant to, so I had better get it to some adventuring of it's own.

besides that dark goat skin that i want is such a beautiful color.

What ever you decide, so long as you are happy with the end result is all that matters. if you are not, that is a lot of money spent just to make you unhappy,

[Scott63]

I have a Wested goatskin jacket. If I were you, I'd just wad it up in a ball and toss it in a corner of your closet until it gets cool enough to wear. That should take care of a lot of the stiffness.

As far as the sleeves shrinking over time, I have to say I haven't noticed any shrinkage with mine.

Scott

[Terrasolo]

I have a Wested goatskin jacket. If I were you, I'd just wad it up in a ball and toss it in a corner of your closet until it gets cool enough to wear. That should take care of a lot of the stiffness.

As far as the sleeves shrinking over time, I have to say I haven't noticed any shrinkage with mine.

Scott

Hey scott, have you tried the wet the jacket to produce the wrinkles in the sleeves and loosen the collar. I may try this with might (when ordered) to help loosen the leather.

as for the distressed I thought about it some more and realized that if someone else distressed my jacket I might be ok with it, but when I do the work like that myself I see only all the mistakes that I wish I hadn't done. anyway more food for thought. I think Scott may be onto a nice middle ground idea for you though.

[Scott63]

I haven't intentionally wet it down to get wrinkled sleeves, but I have been caught out in the rain and noticed that water does tend to cause the leather to wrinkle easier. It may cause it to loosen up a little too - not really sure about that however.

Scott

[IndianaGeo]

Hi Guys, Thanks for all the comments so far. I agree with all of what you said. I think wadding the jacket up in a ball is a good idea. I can accomplish my goal of making the jacket less stiff while letting the leather age and scuff naturally through wear and tear. I personally don´t feel comfortable with artificially ageing/distressing my jacket because it feels like I´m "cheating" or something. But that´s just me. I don´t see anything wrong with it if someone else wants to do it to their own jacket(s).

[viper80134]

When i got my goat wested it i wanted to make it look used as well. I looked around and found that Rubbing alcohol was the best thing to use to take the sine off of it. Here are some before and after pics of the aclohol treatment. All i used was a rag and rubbed it into the jacket in small sections till it was complete.

Before: http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l103/ ... tress1.jpg

After: http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l103/ ... tress6.jpg

After that i used 300 grit sand paper was did a very light sanding in spots like seams and pockets. Utilmaly i did very little and disceded to let it naturally disstress.

After sanding: http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l103/ ... tress5.jpg

Hope this helps. Regards.

[Louisiana Jones]

Just a note to all of the "distressers" out there... when using rubbing alcohol or any acetone type of chemical to reduce shine, be very careful not to wet the stitching with it! Wested's stitching is thin enough as it is, and you don't want to go weakening it any more than necessary.

Viper I'm not taking a shot at ya, just letting others know to be careful. I do like the dull look of the jacket as opposed to the shine.. looks good.

LJ

[IndianaGeo]

Viper, hey... nice job on the distressing! I like that "slightly distressed" look and then taking the it the rest of the way naturally.

Louisiana Jones...Do you think Wested´s stitching is really thinner than some of the other jackets out there? I haven´t read much on the forum of people complaining about their jackets falling apart so hopefully it´s not a huge issue.

I´m quite happy with my goat. I wore it out tonight in a light London rain.
The jacket was awesome! (why am I so jazzed about a jacket??)

[viper80134]

Louisiana you are quite correct on that, no offence taken. When i used the alcohol i bloted a rag with it then rubbed it on the main parts of the jacket and tryed to reframe from useing alot around the stiching. Since i've done it i haven't noticed any frays as of now. Then saying "a little goes along way" applys to this to a tee.

IndianaGeo if you plan on doing this treatment try it out on an area first. Some were that is not shown like on the inside of the sleve or inside on the pocket if you had one put in.

[IndianaGeo]

Viper and Everyone, I think I´m going to go ahead and do the "roll the jacket up in a ball method" to soften it up a bit (I´m sitting on the jacket right now). I´ll just let the abuse of everyday life take it from there. The fact that I´m trying to distress it a bit will motivate me to wear it and be more serious about adventuring!

[Michaelson]

Good choice.

Regards! Michaelson

[Indiana Croft]

Don't forget the put it in the dryer with no heat method to soften it up. Zip it up and throw it in, just make sure no heat and it doesn't distress the jacket, just softens it up. I have a goat which I only did lite distressing (sorry Michaelson) but every once in awhile in it goes.
Love my goat

Croft

[Swindiana]

Clickable image.

This is pretty much what mine (goat) looks like after 4+ years of wear. It is slightly distressed using acetone, shoe cream (yes) and sand paper. Let me tell you, slightly distressed due to the fact that it is a stubborn leather and that I didn't really want to overdo anything. At first, i wanted to do it all the way but the acetone just wouldn't bite. For costume parties I went over it casually with sand paper, but that couldn''t be noticed after a coat of leather balm afterwards. For ToD contrast I used a shoe cream just slightly lighter in color after I sanded it, smoothing it out with leather jell. Nothing seemed to stay though or made it really stand out. I softened it in the spinner on no-heat setting and it has been rain soaked a few times.

Mostly, it's now just a well loved jacket worn a lot. So... Either way.
Now, this jacket really is a part of my every day life.

Do what makes you happy. And, hey, you have two of them.

Regards,
Swindiana

[Louisiana Jones]

Beauty of a jacket, Swindiana.

LJ

[Swindiana]

Thanks!

I enjoy it.

Regards,
Swindiana

[Long John Tinfoil]

For whatever it's worth, I'm in the "wear it a lot and make it your own" camp for anything you actually want to wear.

[IndianaGeo]

Hey, the dryer without the heat method sounds intriguing. But guess what I don´t own a dryer! I know.. sounds medieval but I´m living in a rather small flat in London that only has a space for a washer. I don´t know what the landlord was thinking honestly. I dry my stuff on the radiators in the place and this is definitely a no go for my Westeds. Hopefully I won´t be in this place much longer and will get proper pad.

Hey, what about this Picards stuff? Can someone tell me their views on it? I assume it´s a leather dressing right? (I know, I´ll look it up on the web also). Have people here had good luck with it?

[Louisiana Jones]

Louisiana Jones...Do you think Wested´s stitching is really thinner than some of the other jackets out there? I haven´t read much on the forum of people complaining about their jackets falling apart so hopefully it´s not a huge issue.

It's not that the stitching is too thin, it's just that it's a thinner stitching that can be compromised by a few wrong scrapes with sandpaper, etc. My other leather jackets are 7 or 8 pound motorcycle jackets that have thick stitching that can take a few scrapes on the ground without breaking through.. the Wested are a different story (granted they aren't made for sliding on pavement).

So I'm not knocking Wested, I'm just advising first timers to be careful when distressing their jackets.. You don't want one broken stitch to slowly unravel.

LJ

[DanielJones]

Clickable image.

This is pretty much what mine (goat) looks like after 4+ years of wear. It is slightly distressed using acetone, shoe cream (yes) and sand paper. Let me tell you, slightly distressed due to the fact that it is a stubborn leather and that I didn't really want to overdo anything. At first, i wanted to do it all the way but the acetone just wouldn't bite. For costume parties I went over it casually with sand paper, but that couldn''t be noticed after a coat of leather balm afterwards. For ToD contrast I used a shoe cream just slightly lighter in color after I sanded it, smoothing it out with leather jell. Nothing seemed to stay though or made it really stand out. I softened it in the spinner on no-heat setting and it has been rain soaked a few times.

Mostly, it's now just a well loved jacket worn a lot. So... Either way.
Now, this jacket really is a part of my every day life.

Do what makes you happy. And, hey, you have two of them.

Regards,
Swindiana

Swindiana,

Gotta say that looks good man! well done!! I'm slowly working on my goat. Tentative steps at a time. Used a little water & wear to wrinkle up the sleeves and a bit of sand paper, but the Pecards tends to cover up the scratches. So, I started again. I think I have a good start but I think I'll let nature take its course now.

Cheers!

Dan

[BlueSkyz]

I believe that natural distressing is the way to go,every mark will be from one of YOUR adventures! I do put my jackets in the dryer[no heat,of course] but I put them in a pillow case,zipper up to prevent cuts from the zipper and tumble it for as long as you can stand not having the jacket on, and that really softens and loosens the leather.

[Doeindy]

Hi Geo.

Hope you are well. As you may know that I recently purchased a Raiders Wested Goat. I am still buzzing from this, but I can only say that I would not distress your jacket. Why not just let it distress over time. Your jacket will then be painted with history and good memories. Not to mention that it will last longer.

Take care Geo,

Paul.

[jacksdad]

I got a new wested goat too just a month ago,too hot to wear looking forward to my own adventures so I will not distress it at all. Goat skin is very tuff and will not look that bad even after years of wear. Enjoy your new jacket and we will all have to post pictures after a year of wear.By the way where do you live will your jacket see alot of snow. I live in Illinois so mine will.

[rbinko2001]

I will be getting a Wested Goat very soon. I believe in the "natural distressing" method. Let the character of the jacket come out as you wear it. It will acquire it's own personality on its own with lots of wear. I think forced distressing is good for the movies because it looks good on screen. In real life, it looks kind of corny. Just my opinion.

[Andymac84]

I believe in the "natural distressing" method. Let the character of the jacket come out as you wear it. It will acquire it's own personality on its own with lots of wear.

My opinion in your words. Keep it up.