Your needs and your A2

[Highwaymanman]

I paid just under half price for my HWM and it still made my eyes water a bit. I love the thing but I don't baby it. In fact, the thing I'm most wary of is getting it nicked. Woe betide the fool who tried....

My other leather is Schott and I'm with Seb on this one, I enjoy it equally to the fancy job. This one is my true beater though, my only true winter jacket in fact, and I don't hesitate to put it through the harshest wear.

 

[Superfluous]

I applaud and revere those who wear their expensive/high quality leather when operating heavy machinery, sword fighting and/or wrestling alligators. I personally cannot bring myself to expose my favored pieces to such elements. To the contrary, even though I know these jackets are made to endure harsh conditions, and look better/obtain character through active use, I am always conscious of surrounding threats to the integrity of my jackets, and avoid such exposure. In other words, I do not wear my bullet proof vest to a gun fight because I want it to remain pristine. Pretty silly, but I can't bring myself to use these jackets in they way they were originally intended.

As to the progression that many of us experience, I too initially never thought I would pay the prices I later ended up paying for leather. Yet, as time passed, I managed to come up with new and improved justifications for even the most unwarranted expenditures. It is similar to the evolution of my prior drug use. When I first started smoking pot, I absolutely swore I would never use any other drug, and certainly not the "hard" drugs. If you had hooked my up to a lie detector test, I would have passed because I absolutely believed what I was saying. Thereafter, slowly but surely, I came up with justifications for each and every new drug that I used and, before you know it, I was using all the drugs I swore up and down that I would never use (I am now sober 30 years -- any other Friends of Bill here?). I went through the same evolution with watches. I clearly have an addictive personality/OCD disorder. My only solace is that leather jackets are a better manifestation of my OCD than drugs.

 

[Mark]

I never imagined i'd own 3 leather jackets and pay on average £600 for each and consider buying yet another. I love my jackets too much to risk them getting scratched etc so wear them with a degree of care, no tramping through the under growth and so on. Besides I like that shiny new (ish) look, yes I am likely odd in that respect!

 

[bn1966]

I tend to like the well used look to a leather & have eaten and slept in most of mine (all currently Eastman). My A2 Roughwear has taken a bit of punishment (well patina-ed & a few scratches) and is on it's second lining and set of knits, still I virtually lived in it for a while; I'm more careful with my shearling though. I have an M422A which being goat, still looks too shiny...need to find some time & a hedge to change that

 

[frussell]

I waited a long time to buy myself something as expensive as an Aero, and completely understand how some would not want to expose them to too much wear and tear at those prices. However, one of the reasons I was okay with parting with that much $$ was that I wanted something that could put up with a good amount of abuse. My first one turned out to be "storse," and was odd, because it was super heavy, very thick, but scratched easily. It was returned, as I paid for and wanted horse hide. The Teamster I now own is FQHH, but at least half of it seems to be made of the thinner, wrinklier hide Aero sometimes cleverly advertises under another category. I was a little hesitant to put it through the usual paces, as the leather is thinner than what I was looking for, but I finally said "screw it," and have been wearing the crap out of it. I found out the fastest way to break in a horsehide jacket in the meantime. I leave it in the back of my car when not wearing it, sometimes with groceries, strollers, baby gear and other stuff piled up on top of it. It now looks like a much older jacket. I'm not going to change the oil in my car wearing it, but I don't avoid bushes or brick walls or leaning against things. I wanted a leather jacket I could live my life in, not like those easy-to-rip Eddie Bauer and Wilson's jackets that look great, but are more "garment leather." So far, so good. Frank.

 

[alsendk]

I am not worried about my swedish military horse hide coat. It can probably take all the beating I can possibly give it in this lifetime - and the next too.

But I am a bit nervous about my ALC Irvin jacket. I have no idea about how strong shearling sheepskin is, and how much beating it will endure, before the shearling looms in the wrong places. What say you, will it be able to take some punishment?

 

[Boyo]

Frank, If I recall it was the shoulder area of one side that was a bit off. I would be curious to see what it looks like now with a solid year of use on it.. Would you mind putting a pic up?

 

[frussell]

I'll try to post photos soon Boyo. It's already gotten up into the 90s here several times, so not great leather temps, although we had a weird cold front come through and I wore it in the morning three days this week. Shoulder's still a bit off, but what the hell. Frank