ELMC Californian Walnut – Scratches/Cuts Present on Arrival: How Should I Handle Them?

[frieren]

Hi everyone,

I'd appreciate some advice on how to deal with a few scratches/cuts on my ELMC Californian in American Walnut.

I've been wearing the jacket for around three weeks and only recently noticed these marks. I believe they were present when the jacket arrived.

• Photo 1, #1: A small cut/scratch.
• Photo 1, #2: The main scratch.
• Photo 2, #3: Another scratch that was captured in my unboxing video, although it's not very clear.
• Photo 3, #4: Close-up of #2 and #3 with the damaged areas lifted slightly. They don't appear very deep, but the underlying leather fibers are visible.

What would be the best way to address these marks? Should I attempt any repair, or would contacting ELMC directly be the best first step?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[AeroFan_07]

If you bought it new, reach out to them directly (or whoever the stockiest was). These are not "normal".

However if you have worn it outside, taken the "tags" off (if there were any), or done any routine work, walking around, etc., you may just have to live with them, since you apparently did not notice the defects upon initial inspection. I've done that too myself, missed some things in the excitement of something new.

If you picked it up second-hand, say off eBay, that may be more difficult as you have worn it...not sure if you could get your money back in that instance.

I hope you can sort this out, Eastman leathers are expensive and what you show here has some clear defects.

 

[Tom71]

These cuts don´t happen just like that. Looks like somebody opening the package with a carpet knife and without due diligence. Did it go via a customs border?

I have found ELMC to be very good on the customer care side, but as @AeroFan_07 said, they will find it hard to identify the reason for the cuts after three weeks of wear.

On the other hand, while the cuts obviously constitute structural damage to the jacket, I have not seen a case where such cuts spread out with normal wear in the course of time.

 

[frieren]

If you bought it new, reach out to them directly (or whoever the stockiest was). These are not "normal".

However if you have worn it outside, taken the "tags" off (if there were any), or done any routine work, walking around, etc., you may just have to live with them, since you apparently did not notice the defects upon initial inspection. I've done that too myself, missed some things in the excitement of something new.

If you picked it up second-hand, say off eBay, that may be more difficult as you have worn it...not sure if you could get your money back in that instance.

I hope you can sort this out, Eastman leathers are expensive and what you show here has some clear defects.

I bought it new directly from the ELMC official website. Although I’ve already worn it for three weeks, I’ve contacted ELMC and hope we can find a good solution.

 

[frieren]

These cuts don´t happen just like that. Looks like somebody opening the package with a carpet knife and without due diligence. Did it go via a customs border?

I have found ELMC to be very good on the customer care side, but as @AeroFan_07 said, they will find it hard to identify the reason for the cuts after three weeks of wear.

On the other hand, while the cuts obviously constitute structural damage to the jacket, I have not seen a case where such cuts spread out with normal wear in the course of time.

I bought it new directly from the ELMC official website, and it was shipped to my home. I actually recorded a little over three minutes of unboxing footage. I opened the outer packaging by hand, and also opened the inner cardboard box by hand.

I was too excited when it arrived and unfortunately didn’t inspect the jacket carefully. However, I later compared it with the unboxing video and confirmed that the cut marked #3 is in exactly the same location.

I’ve contacted ELMC and hope we can find a good solution. Thanks for your input!

 

[Tom71]

I bought it new directly from the ELMC official website, and it was shipped to my home. I actually recorded a little over three minutes of unboxing footage. I opened the outer packaging by hand, and also opened the inner cardboard box by hand.

I was too excited when it arrived and unfortunately didn’t inspect the jacket carefully. However, I later compared it with the unboxing video and confirmed that the cut marked #3 is in exactly the same location.

I’ve contacted ELMC and hope we can find a good solution. Thanks for your input!

That video was a good call on your behalf. If there was one cut, I guess it´s fair to assume, the others were there as well (you did mention the video, so apologies for me glossing over this).

Could be a customs officer, if the parcel crossed a border, but I´d hope that Eastman wil osrt you out.

 

[RDS]

I bought it new directly from the ELMC official website, and it was shipped to my home. I actually recorded a little over three minutes of unboxing footage. I opened the outer packaging by hand, and also opened the inner cardboard box by hand.

I was too excited when it arrived and unfortunately didn’t inspect the jacket carefully. However, I later compared it with the unboxing video and confirmed that the cut marked #3 is in exactly the same location.

I’ve contacted ELMC and hope we can find a good solution. Thanks for your input!

If I was Eastman there are a couple of things I would want to question.

Firstly, you went to all the trouble of setting up and recording a fairly lengthy unboxing video, however you then never took any time to look the jacket over and inspect the quality of materials or workmanship, even briefly ?
Then, you’ve actually worn the jacket for 3 weeks, yet in all that time have only now just noticed not one but four cuts or scratches, all of which from the photos do seem hard to overlook ?

I’m not saying that these flaws weren’t there from the outset or suggesting how they might have been caused, however knowing how much an Eastman jacket costs if it was me I’d be going all over it with a fine tooth comb and taking a very close look as soon as it was received. Not necessarily to just check for any issues or mistakes but also to admire the materials, workmanship and see exactly what my fairly substantial investment has bought.

 

[frieren]

If I was Eastman there are a couple of things I would want to question.

Firstly, you went to all the trouble of setting up and recording a fairly lengthy unboxing video, however you then never took any time to look the jacket over and inspect the quality of materials or workmanship, even briefly ?
Then, you’ve actually worn the jacket for 3 weeks, yet in all that time have only now just noticed not one but four cuts or scratches, all of which from the photos do seem hard to overlook ?

I’m not saying that these flaws weren’t there from the outset or suggesting how they might have been caused, however knowing how much an Eastman jacket costs if it was me I’d be going all over it with a fine tooth comb and taking a very close look as soon as it was received. Not necessarily to just check for any issues or mistakes but also to admire the materials, workmanship and see exactly what my fairly substantial investment has bought.

Thanks for laying that out clearly, genuinely fair points to raise.





On the first one: I think the disconnect is that the unboxing video and a quality inspection are really two different mental modes. When I’m filming, my attention is on the process of opening it up, not scrutinizing every square inch —
When I was filming, my focus was on capturing the moment of opening it, not conducting a detailed inspection — those are just two different things I was doing at the same time, and my attention wasn’t split evenly between them.


On the second one: I’d push back a bit on ‘hard to overlook from the photos.’ Those are close-up macro shots, which exaggerate scale and texture significantly compared to how the jacket actually looks and feels in normal daily wear. At arm’s length, under regular indoor lighting, a shallow mark like that blends into the natural grain and waxy sheen of the leather — horsehide especially has a lot of inherent texture variation, so a small mark doesn’t necessarily jump out unless you’re running your fingers over it or catching it at a specific angle. I only noticed it when I happened to look closely at that exact spot, not because I was doing a systematic inspection.


I take your point that at this price point, a more thorough inspection upfront would’ve been the more cautious move, and in hindsight I agree. But I don’t think the timeline or the video undermines the core fact: the unboxing footage timestamp confirms the mark predates any wear, which is really the central issue here.