Anyone had an Aero CXL Steer Shrink?

[ProteinNerd]

Regarding schitzo and his shrinking jacket, I think this post by him explains what really happened. This is his original thread on obtaining the jacket, not the one later where he claimed it had shrunk.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/aero-1920s-original-hercules.77180/page-3#post-1784365

In essence, I think when he bought it, he spoke with Ken and Ken recommended a short, period correct length that we all know he likes. Schitzo agreed at the time but I think he later changed his mind and decided it was just too short for him. Most of the initial reactions in the thread say it looked nice but too short for most of us to feel comfortable in. He then tried to find an interesting way to have it returned and remade.....didn't someone later claim they had seen the jacket at the Aero factory so maybe he did get to return it?

 

[Superfluous]

Speaking of shrikage . . .

 

[Harris HTM]

Most of the time the jacket stays the same but the boy gets larger. I know that when my trousers don't fit my first reaction is to blame them, and then I cut down on the grilled cheeses and bacon.

I have the exact same problem with my trousers. The waist always seems to shrink, never the length. I guess I have a faulty washing machine (and a lust for beer).

 

[Harris HTM]

I don't think you should worry about it Furrowson. Some shortening on the sleeves is to be expected (though it will probably be unnoticeable), but back length? no, I don't believe it.

 

[samo]

Hi,

I can not comment member's shrinking jacket and I also have not experienced such issue, but I firmly believe that leather jacket can shrink. During tanning all the hides are stretched (OK except water buffalo) and under some environmental conditions they can recover to initial dimensions i.e. they can shrink.

P.S.: John Chapman supposed to wash hides in washing machine to shrink them and therefore prevent possible shrinking of the finished jackets?

 

[Fanch]

Personally I wouldn't wash any high end jacket for fear of ruining resale value, if nothing else. I do recall John Chapman telling me that he experienced one of his jackets shrinking during a prolonged downpour of rain for a prolonged period of time. I think he said it was a Shinki hide but could be wrong about that.

 

[Harris HTM]

Personally I wouldn't wash any high end jacket for fear of ruining resale value, if nothing else. I do recall John Chapman telling me that he experienced one of his jackets shrinking during a prolonged downpour of rain for a prolonged period of time. I think he said it was a Shinki hide but could be wrong about that.

I wouldn't wash any jacket I paid 800-1000e for either. I wouldn't dare.

 

[Monitor]

Neither would I even though I know nothing would happen.

 

[navetsea]

this thread makes me want to wash my jackets again...

 

[El Marro]

I had very good results with the Aero that I washed and dried. However, I'm not sure if I would try it on another high end jacket. I've read as many horror stories as I have success stories regarding HWT. Perhaps I had beginners luck the first time around and I should not expect to duplicate my positive outcome if I tried again.

 

[samo]

interview with John Chapman, where he also touched an infamous leather shrinkage

http://denimbro.com/john-chapman-of-good-wear-leather_topic1101.html

 

[ButteMT61]

Personally I wouldn't wash any high end jacket for fear of ruining resale value, if nothing else. I do recall John Chapman telling me that he experienced one of his jackets shrinking during a prolonged downpour of rain for a prolonged period of time. I think he said it was a Shinki hide but could be wrong about that.

I've stated that my Shinki HH Ventura seems to have shrunk a little. I did wear in the rain, but "rain" here usually means the same as running through the neighbor's sprinkler really fast for 10 seconds. Since the lining had dropped below the lower hem, I feel that I was correct. Also, another member here had the same jacket/hide that showed the same thing. To his credit, JC did a tuck on the lining and I was happy (free). It's a shorter design anyways, so I didn't really bother being upset.
Now, if I were to make this jacket again today *forget the two year line - I'd add probably 2" length to it. I know I'm not getting taller, so maybe it was a batch of that earlier Shinki?

Anyways, the only other time I've had this is when it was done on a used buy that was too large. I also did the HWT/dryer thing and it did work, as one would expect. I do doubt though that the average high-quality jacket will shrink from walking in the rain, etc. None of my others have...

 

[Sloan1874]

Regarding schitzo and his shrinking jacket, I think this post by him explains what really happened. This is his original thread on obtaining the jacket, not the one later where he claimed it had shrunk.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/aero-1920s-original-hercules.77180/page-3#post-1784365

In essence, I think when he bought it, he spoke with Ken and Ken recommended a short, period correct length that we all know he likes. Schitzo agreed at the time but I think he later changed his mind and decided it was just too short for him. Most of the initial reactions in the thread say it looked nice but too short for most of us to feel comfortable in. He then tried to find an interesting way to have it returned and remade.....didn't someone later claim they had seen the jacket at the Aero factory so maybe he did get to return it?

I saw it there. Don't know how it was resolved, I'm almost certain he didn't get a remake, but I can imagine it involved a lot of very lengthy emails - the man did/does love the sound of his own voice and in any exchange is dead set on having the last word in every situation. It's not for nothing that he's been barred from this place at least twice, though I've always suspected some very unpleasant posts from short-lived members were Schitzo adopting temporary personas. I repeat: extremely unpleasant person.

 

[robrinay]

I've machine cool-washed a number of jackets to remove weird smells (not mine) and to clean off excess leather treatments applied by previous owners including something that smelled of coal tar and also shoe polish. I've dried them flat and well supported and none have shrunk. Only one was damaged - a 1950s long half belt Schott, when the weight of the waterlogged fleece lining tore the front panel as it was spin dried. I should have hand washed it - hindsight is an exact science

 

[ton312]

I've noticed very minimal shrinkage in my CXL steer Bootlegger. The creases have memory and stick. Talking maybe a 1/8" at most but that's just part of owning a heavy leather jacket. The more you bend and crease the leather, the less it rebounds. It's the entire beauty of the hide. If you spec your jacket right, with numbers accordingly, I would seriously doubt you'd ever notice the shrinkage at all. So much so that I'd call it broken in rather than shrinkage. Imagine a piece of paper crumpled into a ball repeatedly. No matter how flat you lay it out it will always retain some memory of those folds and therefore will never be as long as an untouched sheet.

 

[handymike]

^^well put.

 

[Furrowson]

@ton312 Thanks for providing an answer to the original question! Also, in your experience is it true that using steer rather than horse effectively reduces the jacket by ~1/2 a size due to the thickness? That seems like a lot to me. Guess it also depends on the hide.

It makes sense that a certain degree of shortening would occur due to creasing etc. Ken said so himself, which seems to go rather unrecognised for the most part. My query is really whether or not this is just as true in CXL steer, which is thicker and maybe holds creases differently. I also wonder the same about tumbled CXL FQHH.

The only thing I'll say on the past infamous case(s) of shrinkage is that, like I said, apparently Ken himself said that 1/2-1" of shrinkage is likely over time. Numerous people who actually measured their jackets after owning them for some time found this to be the case. They generally didn't care as their jackets still fit.
Schitzo only ever stated that his jacket shrunk by 0.75", which is within this range. His problem was that his jacket was too small to begin with, so any shrinkage was very obvious. We can't say for sure that it did shrink, or not.

The way I see it, adding 1/2" to your desired length, as long as it's still ok like that, is a good move. This is what I can gather from the evidence available to me since I've never owned an aero.
I've also read that companies like aero allow 5% extra for this reason when they make the jacket, but have not seen anything at all to back that up. That would make a 25" jacket 26.25" on arrival. There do seem to be cases of people receiving jackets that are longer than spec'd, but if this is why you'd have thought aero would say so.

When I do own an aero I'll measure the back on arrival and again after 6 months or something.

Cheers

Furrow

 

[navetsea]

he wore the jacket together with the hanger mystery solved

 

[Sloan1874]

I doubt that was Schitzo's only problem. Otherwise, I'd not sweat this too much, the tumbled will wrinkle too, though not to the same extent and over a longer period.

 

[Peter Mackin]

The only shrinkage I get with my aeros is with my wallet...I'm not complaining though..worth every penny.the jackets don't shrink..ever.