What type of leather drapes the most?

[blueoakleyz]

As in which is the most flappy, mostly wrinkly etc.

I know lambskin is probably it, but which type?

I just got a leather blazer from Macys, it's nice but it's a bit stiff (maybe it'll wear in?) yet last year I felt a leather jacket at GOttschalks that was much smoother to the touch.

My goatskin A2 from US Wings drapes a lil better actually than the blazer.

How do you tell what type of leather you have (other than the basics like goat/cow/lamb)

[Chewbacca Jones]

Honestly, leather can be a pain to navigate for the average consumer. Most department store items won't even label the type of hide. Even if you know your lambskin from your goat and all that, there is still a lot that can determine how it drapes and feels. Thickness, treatments, geographical source, and so on. Your Macy's blazer is probably inexpensive lambskin or thinly cut goatskin. Goatskin has a pebbly texture, while lambskin should be smooth, soft, and light. Cowhide can be thick to very thin, but it's always heavier that lamb.

The best bet, if forced to buy without touching first, is to ask which maker of the jacket style you want has the softest, floppiest leather. Odds are, you'll be looking at lambskin, but if you factor in "washed" hides, goat might enter the running. Goatskin, once it breaks in, drapes very nicely.

My ultimate recommendations would be either Todd's standard lambskin or Magnoli's washed lambskin. Washed lambskin would make butter seem stiff. Keep in mind that US Wings has lambskin, but the word is that it's a bit thicker than most other offerings. Thus, it would be stiffer.

[blueoakleyz]

I wasn't feeling it with Todd's standard.. not in that way anyway. The leather felt fantastic, buttery soft though.

It doesn't even have to be for Indy's jacket, just in general I'd like to know too

what I'd really like is something that felt like liquid leather. I hope that makes sense

(yes, I know, I'm being extra super picky.)
So far my goat A-2 really drapes well.

This stuff is so hard to think about. I obsess over it so much. You know lambskin feels so soft and is nice and thin, yet it's...thin and not waterproof (how the #### did Indy's jacket survive all that water shooting? Seriously, I know it's fiction but even during shooting didn't it get messed up being lamb?),
goat is thick and durable and feels soft too.. but would it be accurate etc..

[Inbanana]

I thought cow had the more pebbly texture compared to goat or lamb... for example if you look at nephilo's pic of his three jackets:

(Novapelle/Washed Goat/Authentic Lamb):

...the texture on the cow stands out the most to me.

[Forrest For the Trees]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but Wested once offered "lamb-touch" cowhide. From the pictures, it looked to be what you are describing. I'm sure someone could chime in who owns one. Maybe Wested still has some "lamb-touch" hanging around...

[Chewbacca Jones]

Wested stopped using that lambstouch stuff before I was even a member here. I saw one once. It seemed like a strange mix of cow and lambskin, of that makes any sense.

The texture of the novapelle likely has a lot to do with the finish. It's predistressed, and isn't really hiding much. I've noticed that most distressed jackets in general show more texture, particularly cow hide. Goat is difficult to distress, so it's "new" texture lasts longer, I guess. But when comparing undistressed hides; goat is consistently more coarse than lambskin, while cow seems do vary greatly depending on the source.

At least, that has been what I have observed over the years.

blueoakleyz, if you go for anything predistressed, you will compromise the water resistance. However, unbroken lambskin can handle some. Nevertheless, leather is skin, however treated. All types of hide will eventually start absorbing water if left untreated. It just happens that goatskin is more resilient in that regard.

As far as "liquid leather" - if that's your priority, lambskin is your only avenue, I think. Either very expensive, or washed. It would also serve to be accurate to the movies. But for durability, the closest you'll get to a "best of both worlds" compromise will be goatskin. Since you aren't limiting your thought to Indy jackets, accuracy matters little.

And about the seemingly immortal leather jackets of the films; 1. Short term abuse. 2. Extra jackets.

[blueoakleyz]

I found a mall jacket like I was thinking of again. Supposedly it's lambskin. It is EXTREMELY smooth. And shiny. Think it's fake/imitation? It had large segments, visually.

[CM]

You can only judge the drape of leather after around 6 months of solid wear. Anything else is based on how it appears in the shop - on the hanger. I find that some lamb seems to drape well at first, but a thin cow hide ultimately does a better job drape-wise after a few months. The comparative heavier weight helps to shape the leather and make it bend and flow (drape!).

[blueoakleyz]

well i was just watching temple of doom last night
it would ripple a lot as he moved
I also saw a jacket like that in a commercial

I would imagine it means something very soft (not just to the touch)

[Michaelson]

If you watched TofD, it was a distressed lambskin Cooper/Wings jacket.

Regards! Michaelson

[Holt]

Right. and after they distressed it the leather it became more drapy

[blueoakleyz]

Wested makes a good custom jacket?

Does making a jacket distressed automatically make it look tarnished? and will it look less shiny?

[Chewbacca Jones]

Everybody has their own opinion about custom Westeds. Personally, I think their off-the-rack work is more reliable. They didn't get my custom Raiders right. I just didn't know what I was looking at back then, so I did not realize it until later. Living in the States, I would be afraid to risk another custom Wested because of the high return rate reported the last few years. However, when they get it right... BOOM! Out of the park, baby!

A distressed jacket will break the surface finish of a jacket, so areas that are distressed will have less shine. By "tarnished" I take you to mean an uneven, less-then-new look. Broken in. If that's what you mean, then, yes. That's distressed, like this;

Keep in mind that distressing varies from jacket to jacket and from maker to maker.

Then there is "washed" which does not break the finish. It just dulls the shine and softens the leather. Here is a comparison of washed lambskin (left) and regular lambskin (right). Note that the right side is a little shinier, but it is three years older than the one on the left!