I've got a long list of jackets in the 'want' column now, with the intention of a mix of horse, goat and steer
I honestly don't understand why some people say FQHH is too stiff, that it takes years to break in, that it's really heavy to wear, etc. With all due respect, I wore my brown LHB right out of the box the night I got it, and, yeah, it was a little stiff but no more so than a Harris tweed. The great fun of one of these things, for me, was breaking it in over the first few weeks and watching the grain emerge as the jacket softened up. I've had it for about a year and a half now, and I swear it just gets more beautiful. If I'd wanted something soft and squishy, I'd have gone for velvet. As far as the weight goes, I've never thought about it while I was wearing it.
Too bad you didn't order last year and you'd have been two-thirds of the way there and saved on wardrobe space to boot.
It's not a complete breeze to break-in in very cold weather. But even though my HH jackets weigh up to over 10 pounds, I don't notice the weight. I only notice that I can't wear it when it's too warm. Cold is fine - I wear more under. I also use scarves or the sheerling collar. Variety is the key to jackets IMHO. No one jacket is perfect. Although some come close.
Bwahahahaha lol
Absolutely. I lean to the view that you're better off with a two season jacket that really works than trying to make it too versatile and compromising all the style out of it.
Of course, I may be rationalising....
Hanoi in winter is nice....but don't tell me you wore it over there during summer I leave it at my place in Europe, though I think for coming winter one of the FQHH jackets might make the trip to Delhi. Who's the maker of your A2, not many do them in HH I believe?
Have you worn the jacket for, say, twenty minutes straight or so? I'm asking because I've always found the leather to be very stiff whenever I first put it on, but it softens up after about fifteen minutes and, if I keep it on for some time, it becomes completely pliable once my body heat permeates it.I recently purchased a chromexcel front quarter horsehide jacket. The maker is Aero and the style is long half belt. The jacket is beautiful,(black) however the niceties ended there. Although the fit is dead on the act of wearing it is uncomfortable to say the least. Everything from bending the elbows to zipping the zipper is hard as a rock. So, now that I've sufficiently complained and shown my lack of manliness, I'll share what I did about it. After all; if one pays upward of a thousand dollars for an article of clothing, one should expect and be expected to wear it. After achieving little results from folding, rolling, sitting on and sleeping in the tank of a jacket I decided to........ oh yes, throw the hard thing in the dryer. Don't prejudge until I explain. As anyone familiar with these jackets can attest; they're made for hard wearing. That being said, I used the NO heat setting and added no less than twelve new tennis balls to the mix. I then ran the(No heat setting)dryer on 20 minute intervals. After three runnings I began to see and feel real results. This process did not age or discolor the item, but rather began the creasing and buffing of the leather. Thus beginning to make the thing "livable". It is of some importance to note that the tennis balls and the dryer took on significant coloring, being black, from the jacket. This was easily wiped out of the dryer with a damp cloth and oddly enough did not result in the jacket "giving-off" any color if wiped down similarly. In all I, shall we call it, tumbled the jacket four times over two days approximately 20 minutes each time. To be clear this process did slightly burnish or scuff the leather but did not make it appear old or aged or "vintage" which seems to be popular in some circles. This is most likely do to the tanning process and characteristics of the leather, which will leave a surface scratch with the fingernail. Now that I can semi-comfortable wear the jacket I plan to do just that. This was helpful to me and my circumstance. My sincerest hope is that it is also helpful to many of you. Happy horsehide leather jacket wearing.
That's a fairly well known way to break in a jacket. I prefer sticking them in a washing machine. I find jst walking in the rain or spraying them is not enough. But ultimately I find FQHH to be ghastly stuff. I had a well broken in Aero that 10 years on was still unpleasant to wear.You can just wear them in the rain a couple of times and just wear them out and about generally. I find that HH jackets are comfortable within a week. I think that steer hide is tougher and heavier, but I've only had one jacket in it and generally prefer HH or goat.