Club Obi Wan

Hi guys!

I currently own a custom raiders in goatskin from wested and I was curious on how to distress it. It's literally a shield of a jacket. Simple methods on distressing lambskin wouldn't show some patina on the goat. Would appreciate some tips on how to distress it easily.

Quite tough and difficult to have the "worn in look", but it does serve its purpose for being a tough yet soft jacket to wear. Have worn it during treks and caves and it kept me comfortable and safe. An adventure jacket for sure.

Thank you in advance!

Goatskin is pretty much bombproof as a jacket material as you mentioned.

While I'm no leather expert, I do know that distressing goat relies on whether the skin is chrome or vegetable tanned.

Chrome tanned goat doesn't distress the "traditional" way. If the finish shows wear at all, it's usually as white or greyish scratches or scuffs. Beyond that, chromed goat just acquires more wrinkling/grain and relaxes with age and use. Search pics of vintage military-issue Navy G-1 jackets to see what I mean. I randomly sleep in mine and sleep with/store it unzipped and balled up in an old soft cotton pillowcase to accelerate the process.

Veg tanned goat distresses normally with light brown leather gradually starting to show through worn areas. This is probably the result you're looking for. The distressing gurus will probably weigh in and a forum search should also yield plenty of tips.

Good luck!

Just my two cents.
I’m a fan of distressing (sorry Michaelson) and I once had a Wested goat, unsure of what type, chrome of vegetable.
But on mine, I used a very fine sandpaper. And only on area’s like seams and cuffs. Around the pockets some. Mostly my theory is less is more, subtle. Because if you go to crazy you can’t undo it. You don’t want a jacket that looks like you just took sand paper to it.
A little at a time, I’d sit at my desk at work during the slow season and just sand a corner or two. Very relaxing.

Good luck.

Croft

Thanks for this guys! Been doing a water treatment for the past days. Made it softer and mad some wrinkles. Rough side of the sponge wouldn’t work and I don’t need have sandpaper here so I tried using my Swiss Army knife (I read that’s how they did it the night before shooting raiders). Did some on the seams but I may have gone a tad more on the chest area. Looks like it's got some slash marks. Does it look bad? What do you guys think?




https://imgur.com/WHyEuMh (without flash)
https://imgur.com/swBhJNv (with flash)

That's some distressing!

I'd say, wear it more. The wrinkles, in the arms especially, don't look natural. Get it wet, wear it until dry. Repeat. I've only had my Wested LC Goat for a few weeks now but I've done that a few times and I like how it's developing.

BTW, I'm pretty sure Wested is currently using chrome tanned goat.

Thanks for this!

Yes, clarified this with Wested and they do use a chrome tanned goat.

Lovely jacket btw!

For my Wested goat, I used alcohol. What I did was get a paper towel damp, squeeze out the excess rubbing alcohol, and then gently rub the finish. By removing/squeezing out the excess alcohol, there wasn't any there that could soak into the leather as much. You see, when you start rubbing that finish, I really comes off easy. If you have too much alcohol on the cloth, it'll mix in with the dissolved finish and soak into the leather, leaving it a darker leather.

Once you've rubbed off some finish, let it dry-out completely and then rub it with a soft T-shirt. This actually brought back the shine, giving it a very appealing patina. The result of the rubbing gave the undertones a look of antique brass. The finish became a dark, chocolate brown, but the whole jacket has very nice, subtle variations in color. It made the jacket look much, much nicer.

The finish comes of really easy this way, so don't over-do it. Take your time. Be patient. I would not use any sandpaper on this finish. You won't need it. That is not necessary. Alcohol easily did the trick. Again, this finish is easily, very easily removed with rubbing alcohol and the trick where you rub it with a soft T-shirt really did the trick for me.