What does a fully broken in CXL jacket feel like?

[Guppy]

Is the tumbled CXL comfortable from the start? I don’t think I could tolerate wearing CXL long enough to break it in. Do you guys enjoy the process of breaking it in?

Tumbled CXL varies quite a bit in characteristics, apparently.

When I ordered my Wayfarer, I ordered heavy brown tumbled CXL FQHH. I really liked the tumbled cordovan example photos on Aero's website at the time (NOT the current photos, which are a different jacket), and wanted something very like it, only in dark brown rather than Horween Color #8. What I received did not look like it had been tumbled at all, but was otherwise matching all of my desired criteria.

I suspected that what had happened was that there wasn't a hide available the met all of my criteria, so Aero opted to go with all but the tumbling, because ultimately natural wear would give it that look I wanted in time, but thickness and color obviously weren't properties that would change. But when I asked them about it, they did tell me that they had used tumbled CXL.

It's hard to believe for me, because it's so smooth and doesn't show any of the characteristics that tumbled CXL normally exhibits. But that's what they told me.

In any case, everything I've heard/read/seen about tumbled CXL is that it's just normal CXL that has been tumbled to achieve a softer hand and broken in look that regular CXL will develop in time eventually on its own. The tumbling process can be replicated at home with a clothes dryer on a no-heat setting filled with softballs -- I'd recommend protecting the zipper pulls somehow. I haven't tried it, but it can be done.

The epilogue to this is that several years after I had my Wayfarer made, someone put up a nice tumbled cordovan Wayfarer in my size on the forums, and of course I bought it. It has none of the stiffness of the first Wayfarer that I had ordered, and since I bought it new, I don't know how much of that may be due to it being pre-worn by its owner, vs how much might have been due to the tumbling process. I tend to think that regardless of what I was told, that my first Wayfarer was simply not tumbled CXL and the secondhand one that I obtained was. But it remains possible that it was broken in more by its owner than I've broken in my first jacket to date. The first Wayfarer is definitely no longer like-new, and has softened some, gotten less stiff, but so far its grain hasn't popped out through the top coat as much yet, although it's starting to give some indications in places where the leather bends a lot, such as in the sleeve creases. I really need to put some more wear on it...

Comparing the two side by side, the thickness of the leather is about the same. The two jackets do not weigh the same -- the one I had made for me weighs in at 6.75 lbs, while the one I bought secondhand weighs 5.0 lbs. But my original is a 44, while the secondhand one is a 42, and has a lighter cotton drill lining as opposed to the Lochcarron herringbone wool I picked for mine, so some of the weight differences might be due to those factors. My original can still stand up on its own, but the secondhand one won't. Both are gorgeous and I'm fortunate to hold both in my closet.