My Aero Natural Vintage HH - A2

[djgo-cat-go]

Dear Loungers,

after lurking on this fantastic Lounge for about a half year now I'm pretty confident that posting some pics of my first leather jacket will be much appreciated.. It's a fantastic A2 repro by Aero in Schotland. Tremendous service and very easy communication (with Amanda) about sizing details etc. I received this jacket 3 weeks ago, and allready the leather looks like I'm wearing the jacket for months now.. At first I was a little dissapointed with the suedy appearance of the oil-pull leather, I expected a more shiny finish.. but... The jacket grows on me and now I am a very proud owner!!

 

[JanSolo]

Congrats, welcome to this strange place! Your jacket looks perfect. But the rest of your attire looks pretty sharp as well. Nice RedWing Iron Rangers, shirt and denims! And your woollen newsboy cap looks sweet.

I know what you are talking about when you say you expected the leather to be more shiny.
Here's a thread about the A1 I purchased as a Christmas gift for my father. The jacket is too short but otherwise the fit is good: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=35690
A couple of years ago Aero's oil-pull was a lot different but obviously Horween changed the manufacturing process. One of the benefits is that your jacket is made from the softest and most pliable leather Aero can offer. It's still thick and strong but much softer than it used to be. Sometimes first time customers are shocked by the weight and cardboard stiffness of their FQHH jackets and I have heard of people who just couldn' t bond with such a heavy jacket.
One safe way to darken the leather and to give it a more shiny texture is to use wax spray for re-proofing motorcycle jackets. I use it a lot for my vintage Belstaff jackets. Make sure you only buy stuff which consists of a mild solvent and pure wax. NO Teflon, NO Nano-Protection, or shoe care here! Evenly apply it to all surface parts. Don't forget facings, inner sides of pocket flaps. After the solvent is gone you have an even, spotless and clean coat of wax on the leather. Just wear the jacket now and it will look amazing after a couple of days. It works so well because one of the "ingredients" of Horween oil-pull is wax. The wax content used to be a lot higher back then. I remember samples where you could scrape off a good amount of wax from the surface...

Enjoy your jacket,

Jan

 

[djgo-cat-go]

Congrats, welcome to this strange place! Your jacket looks perfect. But the rest of your attire looks pretty sharp as well. Nice RedWing Iron Rangers, shirt and denims! And your woollen newsboy cap looks sweet.

I know what you are talking about when you say you expected the leather to be more shiny.
Here's a thread about the A1 I purchased as a Christmas gift for my father. The jacket is too short but otherwise the fit is good: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=35690
A couple of years ago Aero's oil-pull was a lot different but obviously Horween changed the manufacturing process. One of the benefits is that your jacket is made from the softest and most pliable leather Aero can offer. It's still thick and strong but much softer than it used to be. Sometimes first time customers are shocked by the weight and cardboard stiffness of their FQHH jackets and I have heard of people who just couldn' t bond with such a heavy jacket.
One safe way to darken the leather and to give it a more shiny texture is to use wax spray for re-proofing motorcycle jackets. I use it a lot for my vintage Belstaff jackets. Make sure you only buy stuff which consists of a mild solvent and pure wax. NO Teflon, NO Nano-Protection, or shoe care here! Evenly apply it to all surface parts. Don't forget facings, inner sides of pocket flaps. After the solvent is gone you have an even, spotless and clean coat of wax on the leather. Just wear the jacket now and it will look amazing after a couple of days. It works so well because one of the "ingredients" of Horween oil-pull is wax. The wax content used to be a lot higher back then. I remember samples where you could scrape off a good amount of wax from the surface...

Enjoy your jacket,

Jan

Thanks for the kind words Jan,

yes, I remember reading your post about the A1 you bought your father.. That's a wicked looking jacket by the way..
I bought a little bottle 'Rejuvenator Oil' by Leatherique in Denmark.. this stuff can also be bought from the Aero-website.. I didn't try it yet, cause I don't want to risk ruining my jacket (it's my first ever leather jacket you know..) Wanted to try it first on my vintage leather couch (Knoll)..

You're right about the suppleness of the leather, it's actually a very comfortable wearing A2..and the first week stiffness is allready gone. You seem to know a lot about leather in general, and the leathers used by Aero more particularly.. You don't mind when I have any questions about leather jackets that I will come to you first?

Diego

 

[JanSolo]

Don't use rejuvenator on oil-pull! The moment it is applied to the surface it's soaked in. Impossible to evenly spread it over the entire surface. You will end up with a ruined jacket covered with dark spots.
You will need an aerosol (no pun here). Best is a wax spray with a piston driven pump, or a pressurized can (Fjällräven).
Don't be distracted by me making suggestions how your jacket could be darkened and water proofed....
Your jacket looks marvelous. Leave as it is!

Jan

 

[John Lever]

Is the Natural Vintage the same as the Oil Pull Horse Hide ?
It looks great by the way.

 

[buler]

Welcome to the lounge djgo-cat-go!! Jacket looks great. I really like the cap with it. Also the Red Wing's.

B

 

[deanglen]

Welcome to the Lounge! You look terrific in that A-2!










dean

 

[djgo-cat-go]

Thanks for the warm welcome deanglen and buler!

Jan, thanks for the warning!! and I will leave this jacket as is, and see what happens with rough-wear the next couple o' months.. by the way, I try to stay out of the rain, is Oil-pull leather water-resistant or does water leave marks?

best regards,
Diego

 

[rgraham]

That's a very nice jacket, and it seems to fit well.

It's a brand new jacket, and I wouldn't put anything on it. Give it some time to breath, and break in a little on it's own. The finish will change over time, and who wants a shiny jacket anyway?

More importantly, where did you buy that cap?

 

[djgo-cat-go]

That's a very nice jacket, and it seems to fit well.

It's a brand new jacket, and I wouldn't put anything on it. Give it some time to breath, and break in a little on it's own. The finish will change over time, and who wants a shiny jacket anyway?

More importantly, where did you buy that cap?

I won't.. and you're right about shiny jackets.. I'll let the jacket live.

Which cap do you mean? the 'two-tone' tweed-newsboy on the last picture or the other one? The two-tone I won on e-bay, it's a no-brand cap. The other one I wear in the other two pics is a C&A cap I bought in Germany last december. Both caps are cheap no-brand.. probably made in asia..

 

[djgo-cat-go]

Is the Natural Vintage the same as the Oil Pull Horse Hide ?
It looks great by the way.

I really don't know John, it seems to me, but I might be mistaken, that the only Oil Pull HH Aero has on offer is the 'Natural Vintage HH'..

Thanks for the compliment.

 

[Fenton]

great jacket! I really like your redwings as well ... yet another item on my 'to buy' list

 

[djgo-cat-go]

great jacket! I really like your redwings as well ... yet another item on my 'to buy' list

the first time I saw the redwings I was sold!! very comfy shoes by the way..

 

[OneEyeMan]

Hey Diego,
That's a killer looking jacket! :eusa_clap
I think it's the first Oil Pull I've seen on the forum.
I especially love how the dull and shiny areas are intermixed.
It just looks so comfy.
And I agree with what several others have said, leave it alone and wear the heck out of it.
Welcome to the forums.
Lenny

 

[Tibor]

Went to the dictionary and looked under "cool", and there you were. What a great look! Great jacket and a perfect match for the shoes.

 

[djgo-cat-go]

Starting to break in and develop nice patina allready

but that doesn't really show on these pics.. mm.
I'm really, really in love with this jacket!!

Sorry for the shirt hanging loose.. ehm, looks pretty neat actually lol

 

[jack miranda]

Nice jacket. And the red knits are killer.

The first oil-pull A-2 I've seen, and it is splendid. Enjoy the daylights out of that one, d-c-g. And, welcome to the forum, although I'm so new a member myself I'm not sure I've been granted welcoming privileges .

 

[gfirob]

Congrats

Great looking jacket and I think the leather looks very nice. I don't know what you were expecting, but this oil-pull has a great looking finish from here.
Welcome
Rob

 

[PADDY]

Nice.

Just leave it to wear naturally.

I had the very first Aero A-2 in oil pull with the same berry knits. Lovely jacket and often mistaken for an original.

Looks good on you - enjoy!!

 

[scotrace]

Perfect combination of stylish wearer, great jacket and a great fit. I can understand why you like it!