To treat or not to treat?

[Dagenham Dave]

Hi all,

I recently took delivery of the Aero "1950s College Jacket" as pictured below, with a beautiful tanned goat suede outer and Cheviot Check cotton tartan lining.

Should I treat the suede with a protector such as Scotchgard before I wear it?

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Fanch]

You might wish to pose your question to Aero before using Scotchgard on your new suade jacket. Offhand though I doubt there would be any downside to doing so. I recall years ago my wife buying a lambskin jacket from Wilson's and her having me take it to the garage and spraying it with Scotchgard with no discernible ill effects.

 

[ButteMT61]

I've done this. I would do as @Fanch recommended too - there may be a better product or there may be a reason not to do it.
I have done jackets and boots with no ill effects, and it kept the marking down considerably.
Suede is a bugger, so anything that can help...
Nice jacket, BTW!

 

[ProteinNerd]

I've toyed with the idea of a suede jacket from Aero a few times but the fear of it staining too easily has always scared me off.....if you get some info from Aero re treating it, can you pass it on please?

oh, and great looking jacket...when do we get the fit picks?

 

[Dagenham Dave]

You might wish to pose your question to Aero before using Scotchgard on your new suade jacket. Offhand though I doubt there would be any downside to doing so. I recall years ago my wife buying a lambskin jacket from Wilson's and her having me take it to the garage and spraying it with Scotchgard with no discernible ill effects.

I have asked Aero, and Denny said that they have little experience with suede jackets, so he suggested I pose the question on The Fedora Lounge.

And thanks for the compliments ProteinNerd and ButteMT61.

 

[apba1166]

If you intend to wear the jacket every day and beat it up, don't bother. The idea of suede is that over time, years, rain, wear, abrasion, etc. the hair rubs down revealing great and different grain from that side. My heavy suedes barely have any left. The markings wear off with the rub. On the other hand, I have some luxury suedes, and those drape differently, and I wear them much less. They seem to look nicer unmarked, but only because the markings wear off less quickly with less wear. No bad effects to the spray. Done it on suede sport coats, and I think it helps protect them from wear, if that is what you are after.

 

[navetsea]

I wonder how to "feed" this kind of leather when they feel dry out.

 

[yakima]

I have the same jacket - in a different colour.

I'm doing my best to get rid of the "newness" by wearing it in light rain.

Personally, I would not protect it, but it is your choice. Enjoy the jacket

 

[nick123]

I used to work selling Vans shoes. We always were obliged to recommend selling a scotchguard formula for suede shoes for an additional $5. Did it work? Sort of. Probably a sales ploy. I'd leave the jacket alone.

 

[ButteMT61]

I've used it a lot more on boots (one jacket years ago) and it definitely does work. ScotchGuard though needs to be re-applied every year, but if you wear it more often in rain, etc., you'd likely do it more often. No big deal - it surely won't hurt and if it were mine, I'd do it - FWIW.

 

[Smithy]

Dave, I had a brown suede jacket at uni (all the rage there in the early 90s) and being a dodgy student wore the hell out of the thing, to gigs, to the pub, slept in it on sofas round at mates' digs, if memory serves the poor old thing was even worn during an impromptu game of watermelon rugby at some stupid boisterous party. It is the only suede jacket I have ever owned (it was Czech and incredibly sturdy and very well made) and it looked great - to my eyes at least - it developed a really lovely patina, the suede wore down on the high and wear points to a dark colour. I gave it to a mate who had hankered after it when I first moved country and actually really regret it now. He's still got it and it's still going strong.

Moral of the story from my opinion, it really depends if you want to keep that new suede look or if you want it to get that particular patina that suede gets if you use it hard. Up to you and what you want, I can't see Scotchguard doing anything untoward with it but probably unnecessary if you're going for the hard lived suede look.

 

[Peacoat]

Although I don't think I have ever owned a suede jacket, only boots, the responses by Butte and Smithy seem reasonable. My rough out boots lost the suede look after a year or so, when they were well broken in. I did use ScotchGuard on them for waterproofing, which was effective.

 

[navetsea]

to me it is all cool when it is soiled by dust or motor oil, or carbon from exhaust smoke and other "cool" stuff, not so cool when soiled by tomato ketchup, strawberry jam, ballpoint ink, and other thing more commonly found in modern men daily life .

 

[Dagenham Dave]

Thanks to all of you for your advice. It is much appreciated.

Maybe I'll leave it to get that "hard lived suede look". I just hope it doesn't get any "tomato ketchup, strawberry jam, ballpoint ink" stains on it!

 

[ProteinNerd]

Dave, can you give us an idea on what the suede is like? Is it stiff at all? Thick, thin...does it feel like a regular suede jacket, as much detail as you can give would be appreciated.

 

[Seb Lucas]

This is interesting reading. The suede jacket I had 30 years ago got shiny and looked stained (it wasn't) with wear. A look that came off as shabby. I would love to see a photo of a worn suede jacket that actually looks cool.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

This is interesting reading. The suede jacket I had 30 years ago got shiny and looked stained (it wasn't) with wear. A look that came off as shabby. I would love to see a photo of a worn suede jacket that actually looks cool.

Me too. I don't remember ever seeing one.

 

[ProteinNerd]

I agree, my brother had one years ago when we were living in London that looked cool as hell initially. Getting caught in the rain a few times fixed that....it looked terrible.

 

[theundeadkennedy]

I think softer, finer suedes with shallow nappiness to them definitely look best when new and crisp, but thicker suedes with deeper nappiness tend to look good with some wear to them.


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[Dagenham Dave]

Dave, can you give us an idea on what the suede is like? Is it stiff at all? Thick, thin...does it feel like a regular suede jacket, as much detail as you can give would be appreciated.

I only have one other suede college style jacket that I had custom made a few years ago, and it feels slightly thicker to me than that one, but it still feels soft. It's definitely not stiff.

Here's an article written about it on Jocks&Nerds: https://www.jocksandnerds.com/articles/aero-leather-1950s-college-jacket#.

Also, I have attached the photos from that article below. They are a spot-on representation of what mine looks like (apart from the lining). Maybe they help to give an idea of the suede used.