Best way to soften up and break in a leather jacket quickly?

[Darius Alucard]

I aquired a great leather jacket and am planning to wear it with a costume I'm putting together.
It's VERY sturdy jacket and will take quite awhile for me to break in by normal wear.
I'd like to soften it up as much as I can before Halloween.

All of my other leather jackets have been soft lamb skin so I don't have experience with this type of thing.

Any ideas how to do this quickly?

 

[DarkHelmet]

Depending on the leather, I use mink oil to soften up my leather jackets. It will darken it, so it's best to use on black leather, unless you don't mind brown leather darkening.

As for breaking in....do you mean distressed? I can't imagine a leather jacket not being broken in off the rack.

I once used sand paper to distress a jacket. Just used it around the seams and areas where I knew there would be wear (elbows, shoulder blades etc).

 

[Darius Alucard]

I don't care about distressing/weathering it just yet, but if the mink oil will darken it, I might try it to make it look more "used" at least.

Thanks for the tip.

The leather is thick and tough. It doesn't bend as easily in the joint areas as it will after it's "broken in". I have an ankle length leather trench coat and this jacket is just as heavy if not heavier than that.

Back when I was younger, all of the new leather boots and dress shoes I got tended to be uncomfortable when worn for long periods of time until they were "broken in".

 

[TheGreenMachine]

I usually saddle soap and oil my new leather items a few times to help initally soften them. Though I prefer 100% pure neatsfoot oil to mink oil.

- TGM

 

[TK171]

is mink oil what they use to soften up or break in a baseball glove?

I can't remember what we used when I was a kid. But whatever that was my dad had, worked pretty good. I do rember it darkened up a bit, but worked in nicely.

j

 

[Lancer]

piss on it. works a treat on tough leather boots. smells a bit though but your tastes may vary

 

[TV8]

piss on it. works a treat on tough leather boots. smells a bit though but your tastes may vary

WTF!

Anyway, I had a brand new tough Vanson Wolverine X1 which I broke in by doing the following:

1. 30 minutes of dry sandblasting. Especially around the high wear areas. Good luck finding a sandblaster and don't forget to wear a breathing mask.
2. Rubbing alcohol from the chemist - give it a good going over with an old rag, will take out a lot of the colour and shine
3. high grit sandpaper, like 300 or 400 lightly over the high wear areas, like the sleeve cuffs, seams and shoulders.

 

[Vaderman]

Wad it up, put it in a pillow case or similar, place in garage, par the car on it. Take car to not crush any buttons or the zipper.
Let sit for a day.
Take out, reposition, re park.
Repeat until soft.
Mink oil will help, or many other leather treatments out there for breaking in leather. Talk to some people at a bog sporting goods store where they deal with kids getting new baseball mitts every year and needed to break them on fast!
The sanding and sandblasting will also help soften it but will also weather it.
I've never heard of the alcohol treatment or the pissing, though it is an animal hide and does have oils in it, like our skin and needs them replenished or it will dry out and crack.

 

[h8ter18]

go to

www.filmjackets.com/forum

there are all sorts of tips and tricks there.
like putting it in the washer, for example.

 

[Kt Templar]

Mink oil can turn rancid with time.

This is less aggressive than the washing machine....

Try this if you have a clothes dryer. Zip up all the zips and put the jacket in a pillowcase that you don't want anymore and a few baseballs. Tumble the whole lot in the drier NO HEAT for a couple of hours. Obviously will be pretty noisy!

Or do it the old school way. Zip the jacket up and get a group of kids kick it around a room for a few minutes. Ouch.... I know, but it works!

 

[Darth Lars]

piss on it. works a treat on tough leather boots. smells a bit though but your tastes may vary

Will some household ammonia work just as well?

 

[madrobot]

Aussie Leather Balm.

As a guy who actually makes stuff out of leather, I can tell you it is your friend. It makes leather workable, and it also gives it a lot of character over time. Go buy some.

 

[HAL9000]

If you want to distress leather quickly there is no surer way than
boil-washing. Just stick it in the washing machine and set it to a
high long-spin cycle and repeat.

 

[bleyd]

I broke my Indy jacket real quick by using a leather lotion and rolling into a tight ball.

Instead of duin the sandpaper and wire brush route I threw it in the dryer with some tennis balls with the heat off. The noise is anoying but it broke down the shine and gave it a nice look. I heard of others putting in a football or softball but I didn't go that route. I also let mine get wet in the rain and rolled up the sleeves while still on. Now mine has that nice wrinkled look Indy has as well without the need of any acetone or hasrsh chemicals others have done. Not knocking that technique but I personally would hate to ruin a good leather jacket that way.

 

[Darius Alucard]

Thanks for all the tips guys!

I just wanted to reiterate that I'm not looking to make the jacket look one way or another just yet...

I'm just trying to get the leather softer, IE: broken in, so I'll be more comfortable with a fuller range of mobility while wearing it.

From most of the responses I've read, it would seem that without weathering the jacket before or after, most methods I could use to soften it would darken the color significantly.

 

[micdin2083]

I aquired a great leather jacket and am planning to wear it with a costume I'm putting together.
It's VERY sturdy jacket and will take quite awhile for me to break in by normal wear.
I'd like to soften it up as much as I can before Halloween.

All of my other leather jackets have been soft lamb skin so I don't have experience with this type of thing.

Any ideas how to do this quickly?

Of course, you can easily make softener your jacket. I have a black leather jacket, and I use it more in the winter season. I give you extremely idea apply it. I am sure you like it. Firstly apply conditioner on your jacket in which part is harder like elbows, and shoulders. Don't wash and soak overnight or a long time. Simply spray on the jacket and rub it using a cotton pad.

 

[Fly4v]

For a natural break in, A good wash with saddle soap and wear it.

For extended wear time put it on when you go to sleep and when you cant wear it during the day roll it up and stuff it under your mattress.

 

[Uridium]

Getting knocked off my motorbike (motorcycle, for you US guys) did a pretty good job of breaking-in and distressing my leather jacket.

Wouldn't really recommend this method tho!

Remember drivers... Look Twice, Think Bike!

 

[FPLeatherCo]

Just to reiterate what others have said:

There are two things being recommended, oils and conditioners. Saddle soap, and Aussie Leather Conditioner are examples of conditioners. They will clean and/or weatherproof your leather and soften it up to a degree. If it's a newish jacket you probably don't need saddle soap or wax-based conditioner or finish like Aussie, Carnauba Cream, etc.

Oils on the other hand will soften up dried or stiff leather and add some weather and wear resistance throughout the leather. For oils I like pure Neatsfoot oil or Obeauf's leather oil. I don't have much experience with Mink oil but would probably avoid it as it may be heavier duty than you need.

Regular olive oil is also an option. I know many tradition leather workers and saddlemakers will use it exclusively and I have never heard of it going rancid or damaging the leather. Having said that, with oils you need to apply in very small amounts at first as too much will darken the leather or over-saturate it. If you post a picture of the jacket I can probably recommend something more specific though.

And don't rely entirely on products to soften the leather completely. They will protect it and make it more pliable but leather really needs physical movement and wear to soften the fibers up to where you'd like it.

Hope that help a bit.