Wested Hero Legacy Turning Grey During Distressing?

[WarmWaves]

Hi All! So a couple years back I got my very own Raiders Hero legacy jacket in lambskin. It's amazing jacket, but just very shiny and new looking. I've held off on distressing and just wore the #### out of it, but a few years later, it's still looking shiny and new. I just prefer the more weathered look! With that in mind, I've done a bunch of research on distressing a Wested and decided to give it a shot in an inconspicuous spot (under the arm). I took a scouring pad and went to work.

Now, I've heard that the Raiders lambskin was tough and may require sandpaper... they weren't kidding...this thing can take a beating. That said, I finally broke through a small area with repeated rubbing and I have to be honest...it looks grey! I was expecting a nice light tan or light brown like I've seen in videos, but it definitely looks grey to me. I immediately stopped because I wasn't sure if it was the scouring pad rubbing color on it or something and I just didn't want to ruin the jacket.

It's important to note, I haven't given this the water treatment yet, and I'm wondering if I should do that first before I start the distressing. I was planning on it anyway as I've heard it removes some of the shine (which is what I'm hoping for), but I'm not sure if that would make a difference here.

Has anyone else run into this before? It might be hard to tell from the photo, but it definitely looks light grey in person.

[Indiana Jeff]

Grey undertones are not uncommon and are a result of chrome tanning as opposed to vegetable tanning which results in more tan undertones.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Indiana Croft]

I thought the Legay line was supposed to have the brown undertones.
Or is that another Wested line.

Anyway I have an older Wested that had the grey undertones.
I distressed it and then one done int it it with brown leather dye, ya sounds scary, but I used the dye all over the jacket even on areas non- distressed.
Any area that was grey was bow a light brown.

Later I’ll try to find the name of the dye, there is a thread somewhere that talks about it.

But it does work.just let dry.

Croft

[Illinois_Jones]

Yeah, it's normal for chrome tanned leather to be grey -- in the industry it's called "wet blue" and it's just the way it is. Depending on the leather and the quality, some will have a base dye put down that may or may not have permeated all the way through and then most will have a top coat that is essentially painted on but aniline leather doesn't have that top coat. Wested's regular leathers all pretty much just have that top coat over the grey, but the Legacy has had an undercoat dye applied first so as it patinas you get that orangey color coming through. We've all pretty much been through it, but there are plenty of threads about dying the grey if you want.

[Dangerfreak]

Some years ago I got myself a Wested Raiders. The recommendation I recieved for getting rid of the shine was a simple soaking in cold water, then roughly roll it up for a bit before allowing it to dry out naturally.
Be patient with the distressing though. I was too eager to dry my jacket out so I could move on to the next bit, so I shoved it in the tumble dryer and kept checking it every once in a while. It turned out fine, but everyone said I was lucky, very lucky, that the different sections of the jacket didn't dry at different rates which would have pulled it out of shape.
The next step was to get some natural looking wear. I achieved this by doing several commando crawls over some stone slabs in the back garden with the jacket zipped up, then by rubbing my back and shoulders against the brickwork of the house. Yes, I felt pretty stupid doing that. I must have looked like a nutter, but the jacket took the punishment really well, making it look scuffed in the right places without overdoing it.
Luckily for me, the scuffed areas came through that orange colour rather than grey so, unfortunately, I can't help you with the grey issue.
All the best with your jacket.

[WarmWaves]

Thanks for all the info on this! It’s definitely a legacy Raiders Hero, I double checked my order confirm from years ago. I guess it’s a different tanning than LC jackets because I’ve seen those distressed on YouTube and they have great light brown undertones.

As long as I’m not rubbing color onto the jacket from the pad and it’s supposed to naturally look that way, I’m ok with it. I’ll keep plugging away and if it turns out to be too grey, I’ll check out some of the threads on dying. Thanks again for the help, I was freaking out for a second thinking I might have ruined the jacket!

[Arch Stanton]

I have the Legacy Temple of Doom jacket, which has the same leather as the Raiders. I gave mine the water treatment and then weathered it with 2000 grit, and then rougher paper for the spots that are supposed to look more rough and a tiny bit "shredded", like on screen. It is a hideous grey. I used a cotton ball and some Dark Brown liquid Rit dye, dabbing it on the grey spots. It came out looking good to me...

[rbxb]

You NAILED the fit! Good call

I have the Legacy Temple of Doom jacket, which has the same leather as the Raiders. I gave mine the water treatment and then weathered it with 2000 grit, and then rougher paper for the spots that are supposed to look more rough and a tiny bit "shredded", like on screen. It is a hideous grey. I used a cotton ball and some Dark Brown liquid Rit dye, dabbing it on the grey spots. It came out looking good to me...

[WarmWaves]

Yea this looks great! The dark brown dye came you that light huh?


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[Arch Stanton]

Thanks, everybody. Yeah, it came out that light. It truly is the dark brown Rit. The leather really soaks it up. Some spots I had to go over again after a couple days because it soaked it in so much. I didn't dilute it at all. Just kind of dab and lightly rub it in. Then whatever dye is still on the more "slick" parts of the leather around the distressed area, wipe it up with a paper towel. I'm always concerned about the fit of Wested jackets. I know the ToD jacket is more "fitted", or tailored-looking. Even then I always order smaller. But this one seems to fit perfect. My chest measures 41.5", but the ToD is a size 40. My Destiny is slightly larger than the ToD, and its a size 38...