How black is blackened brown vicenza?

[nightandthecity]

A simple question, though i suspect I might not get a simple answer!

The sample i have from Aero is .....well, black. Defo not brown. In fact in blind comparisons I chose it as "blacker" than the black vicenza. But I see from some comments on the web others seem to detect the brown basecoat when looking at a full jacket. Which could be because they expect to. Or they could be right because my small sample might be misleading.

 

[El Marro]

There was a post on the Thurston Brothers Vincenza thread where they had a blackened brown jacket next to a solid black one:

This is one of the photos from that post on April 3rd of this year. The blackened brown jacket is on the right and it definitely looks like a warmer color to my eyes. Have a look at the original post as there are some other photos taken both indoors and outdoors of the two jackets.

 

[Edward]

It'll be a warmer colour - though likely you'll only see the difference when you put them next each other. The real change will be seen as it breaks in and seams / wear pints go brown rather than grey.

 

[nightandthecity]

Thanks chaps. I did see the Thurston post with the two jackets side by side and I honestly couldn't see much of a difference. I'll give it another look though, maybe on my phone which has sharper colours than my laptop.

What I'm hoping is that the brown will only show through as it wears - instead of grey, as Edward says. And that the wear doesn't happen too fast or too thoroughly!

Basically I'm after a black jacket but i do like that the idea of a brown base eventually showing through at the stress points. I'm thinking of some of the old resprayed A2s I've had where the dark seal wears away at the stress points to show an original russet or light seaL base.

 

[Worf]

Thanks for asking this. I was just about to post something similar. Thinking of a new A2 in blackened brown Vicenza. Your post is eerily right on time.

Worf

 

[mattc123]

Definitely had a similar question. I am considering trading in my black vicenza Board Racer for one in blackened brown as I want the top coat to fade to light brown like Shinki overdyed HH. But there are no pictures in existence yet of how the Blackened Brown fades/wears over time. Anyone have a sense of how this will fade?

 

[Carrie @ Thurston Bros.]

Definitely had a similar question. I am considering trading in my black vicenza Board Racer for one in blackened brown as I want the top coat to fade to light brown like Shinki overdyed HH. But there are no pictures in existence yet of how the Blackened Brown fades/wears over time. Anyone have a sense of how this will fade?

The Blackened Brown Vicenza is still fairly new, so there aren't going to be many patina photos yet. However, one of our first customers to receive the Blackened Brown posted up a photo of his worn-in jacket on this thread--

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/which-aero-leather-is-the-softest-of-them-all.91776/

 

[ProteinNerd]

So is the blackened brown essentially a teacore?

 

[nightandthecity]

It does sound a bit like it. I've been busy researching "teacore" leathers and i have to admit I am a little put off by some of the things I've read. Basically I would like a black leather jacket that after several years of hard wear starts to show brown rather than grey undertones but is still recognizably a black jacket even when it's near the grave. I'm not really interested in a leather designed to give the undertone effect after a few months, or that is basically brown after a few years, which is what some of these leathers seem to be, though I understand why people might want that.

 

[ai00344]

It does sound a bit like it. I've been busy researching "teacore" leathers and i have to admit I am a little put off by some of the things I've read. Basically I would like a black leather jacket that after several years of hard wear starts to show brown rather than grey undertones but is still recognizably a black jacket even when it's near the grave. I'm not really interested in a leather designed to give the undertone effect after a few months, or that is basically brown after a few years, which is what some of these leathers seem to be, though I understand why people might want that.

I agree 100%. I thought I wanted teacore but the most recent pictures of A1’s jacket show that it is now essentially a brown jacket ( albeit a very cool one) so I am second guessing myself.

 

[technovox]

It does sound a bit like it. I've been busy researching "teacore" leathers and i have to admit I am a little put off by some of the things I've read. Basically I would like a black leather jacket that after several years of hard wear starts to show brown rather than grey undertones but is still recognizably a black jacket even when it's near the grave. I'm not really interested in a leather designed to give the undertone effect after a few months, or that is basically brown after a few years, which is what some of these leathers seem to be, though I understand why people might want that.

Yep. That's exactly what I'm always trying to find in a leather jacket...that mythical vintage overdyed black with brown undertones.
As an example, here's a vintage Golden Bear cafe I found a couple of years ago that has it going on...

And a vintage Cal Leather motorcycle jacket...

 

[technovox]

My Vicenza "Blackened Brown" Sheene is starting to get brown shading in some of the worn areas, and the jacket has developed some subtle brown highlights in places, like along the back yoke. But it's not something I can really capture in photos- the jacket would just end up looking black...or blackish, in the pics.

 

[nightandthecity]

My Vicenza "Blackened Brown" Sheene is starting to get brown shading in some of the worn areas, and the jacket has developed some subtle brown highlights in places, like along the back yoke. But it's not something I can really capture in photos- the jacket would just end up looking black...or blackish, in the pics.

interesting - how long has your Sheene taken to get like that?

And would you describe your jacket as basically black?

 

[technovox]

Yes, it's basically black. But kind of a dull black, not as deep or saturated black as some of my jackets. I've had it since May.

 

[ton312]

I tend to think, at least from what you've described as your ideal, straight up black CXL will give what you're after. You'll have to work hard for it.

 

[El Marro]

I think Ton is probably right about this. I have a Teamster in midnight blue CXL that I subjected to a brutal session of hot water treatment followed by hours in the dryer. This had the desired effect of shrinking the jacket to the size that I wanted it to be. It also wore off some of the topcoat and now I see nice auburn brown beginning to emerge along the seams and some of the wear points. In time, and with more wear, I think the brown will show through more and more noticeably.
Perhaps a black CXL jacket will give you the look you want more slowly and subtly than the teacore would.

 

[ton312]

My CXL j106 will do this. It will take years upon years of hard use to make it happen. I can see it just starting to happen at seams and wear points but it won't glow brown until I really beat the Hell out of it. Over and over again.

 

[nick123]

Front quarter cordovan is interesting. The undercoat is almost a pink. Actually hope it turns pink one day when I'm an old man. That'd be a statement.

 

[nightandthecity]

The jacket I'm considering is a black Royale, and it's not available in CXL.....which is reasonable, as 1930s/40s British jackets were not made in heavy leathers. I might have to go for the black jerky (though it didn't fare well in water resistance tests, surprisingly) or mid-weight black steer (which is highly water resistant but a bit bland compared to the BB Vic)

 

[Big J]

Oh yeah. An A-2 made out of this, with mid-brown stitching and knits, after a couple of years of wear, yeah, that would look real nice.

Anyone got any pics of this leather broken in and showing some character?