Wrinkles in leather coats? Mark of cheapness?

[Jack Burton]

I've been looking at a a lot of vintage leather coats lately. I know all coats will get some wrinkles around flex points but a fair amount of these coats are so entirely wrinkled, they look like used garbage bags(pic below). Is this a sign of thin cheap leather? Can you get these wrinkles out?

 

[Philalethes]

...a fair amount of these coats are so entirely wrinkled, they look like used garbage bags...

Agreed, and very funny.
I have been wondering about this, too. One thought I have is that the jackets have been (very) improperly stored for a long time.

 

[HackerF15E]

My guess is that they've been stored in a vacuum bag or something of the like.

 

[John in Covina]

I have heard that leather has a memory and it is near impossible to reverse such "damage."

I remember my dad saying that a new pair of leather shoes needs to be broken in carefully. Things like making sure the tongue is straight because if it gets set up crocked there ain't no fixing it.

However i wonder if it would be possible to rehydrate the leather and steam out the creases like small dents in wood can be steamed out.

 

[Dav]

I have heard that leather has a memory and it is near impossible to reverse such "damage."

I remember my dad saying that a new pair of leather shoes needs to be broken in carefully. Things like making sure the tongue is straight because if it gets set up crocked there ain't no fixing it.

However i wonder if it would be possible to rehydrate the leather and steam out the creases like small dents in wood can be steamed out.

Your right about the shoe thing I have a pair of boots that have creased incorrectly across the toe of the right one, no matter what I seem to do to it it keeps biting my toe. As for trying to steam leather I think that would make it shrink and go hard, not sure though but I wouldn't try it.

 

[GriffDeLaGriff]

showering it will take out some wrinkles.
But yeah, that is both thin leather and also wrongly stored.

 

[HackerF15E]

Would a spin through a washing machine on cold, then a careful drying process (at room temp and well laid out so as to not create new wrinkles) help out?

I have re-shaped leather using water (A-2 collars, based on numerous recommendations over on VLJ) with great success, so I don't see why this would be any less effective.

 

[Dav]

I don't think cold water would do much harm it was the steam I thought would make things worse, if that is possible.

 

[subject101]

I've been looking at a a lot of vintage leather coats lately. I know all coats will get some wrinkles around flex points but a fair amount of these coats are so entirely wrinkled, they look like used garbage bags(pic below). Is this a sign of thin cheap leather? Can you get these wrinkles out?

I have seen this kind of stuff on some stores. I never figured out if it was made like that on purpose or what.

 

[GriffDeLaGriff]

i think it looks terrible. To me it says cheap shait.

So if someone would give one to me, I would try get it straight in whatever way I could
starting with a luekwarm shower, gently drying flat making it stretched out as much as possible
and maybe going rougher if that didnt work (hotter water maybe, I dont think I would put it into the machine
im sure its safe I just like to be in control and not be surprised) because like that - to me - its useless.

 

[bentusian]

Those crazy wrinkles are often seen on the vintage leather garments, which had been stored stacked upon and entangled with one another in a container or some stuffy storage room. It has little to do with how cheap or expensive they originally were.

I too heard that the wrinkles are practically impossible to get rid of. It'll be waste of money.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The vintage ones do get quite wrinkled sometimes. but to be honest, the jacket above is hardly very vintage, really.

[heresy alert] Thin isn't necessarily bad, of course. There are plenty of 1930s-50s jackets around with exceptionally thin leather.

bk

 

[cooncatbob]

Upholsterers use steam when they stretch leather so it doesn't pucker.
Maybe if the coat was stretched on a form of some kind and then steam was gently applied.

 

[Metatron]

Heh, ironically what you are calling an unfortunate result of bad storage, has made it's way to a pre-creased jacket trend:

http://www.asos.com/River-Island/River-Island-Zip-Through-Jacket/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=1440444&cid=11760&sh=0&pge=0&pgesize=20&sort=-1&clr=Black