Struss Leather Dredd Jacket Mods

Art Andrews

Community Owner
Community Staff
This is a pretty simple one, but thought I'd share anyway.

When I got my jacket, there was a very heavy crease, right through the shield on the left shoulder. It was so harsh is folded up the whole shoulder when I am not wearing it.

Looked at several tutorials online for removing creases from leather and the general consensus is you will NEVER fully remove them but you can lessen them.

I did it using a doubled over piece of brown craft paper and an iron set to 5 (out of 7). Took about 15 minute of ironing... letting cool, and ironing again. I ironed the area from the inside and outside of the jacket, always using the craft paper as a barrier. While it surely isn't perfect, the piece now lays fairly flat and the crease is somewhat diminished. Going to go for round three tomorrow and let that be it unless anyone has further thoughts.

Original crease... very harsh.

dredd-jacket-shield-crease-01.jpg

After the first round of ironing at a low temp.
dredd-jacket-shield-crease-02.jpg

After the second round at a higher temp. Crease is still clearly visible, but it is no longer causing the whole shoulder to fold on itself.
dredd-jacket-shield-crease-03.jpg
 
My preferred way to remove (or create) a crease in leather is to spray it down with alcohol on both sides, then put a heavy weight on it for a while. That might not be possible with yours though as it may mess up the badge embossing.

Looks like you've done a very good job with your particular circumstances. That little bit of crease you have left might be impossible to get out because of the way it's trapped within all of that detail you want to preserve. I'd call it done.
 
Ugh, that is very unfortunate and I would be pissed if I had bought a leather jacket and it was shipped like that.

Looks like you have done a great job of working out the crease. Would treating it with some leather softener or waterproofer creame, and wearing it for a while help???

Anyway, good job on making good a bad situation. Call it weathering and head out to dispense justice!
 
Ugh, that is very unfortunate and I would be pissed if I had bought a leather jacket and it was shipped like that.

Looks like you have done a great job of working out the crease. Would treating it with some leather softener or waterproofer creame, and wearing it for a while help???

Anyway, good job on making good a bad situation. Call it weathering and head out to dispense justice!

I thought about using leather softener, but was afraid to use it in that particular area because I didn't know how it would effect the embossing. If it had been any other area, I would think you would be dead on.
 
Brian, that is why I posted this up. Every photo I have seen of one, shows that same nasty crease. Guess it is just how the factor folded them for shipping.
 
On to the next step. Been working on breaking in the jacket a bit. There are a million ways this can be done, but here is what I have done so far.

Put in the dryer, no heat, with tennis balls for hours and hours and hours. I don't really think that did anything. I think you need to use something heavier, like softballs.

I have also wet down the jacket twice now and then crumbled it all up, then worn it until it dries. This seems to be the most effective thing I have done so far.

I have also hit a lot of the edges with 320 grit sandpaper, but I am not sure that has done very much aside from take away just a bit of the sheen. The leather used on the replica jackets seems to be a bit softer than the originals and when you hit it with sandpaper, it doesn't wear in the same way that it appears to have done on the original jackets.

Here is where we are at, as of today. Not completely where I want it (and I still have to get it tailored), but I can see it starting to break in a little and conform to me a bit more.

As you can see... the area by the armpits is just cut oddly... this is what I am hoping can be corrected with tailoring.

dredd-jacket-breakin-01.jpg dredd-jacket-breakin-02.jpg
 
Shouldn't do. Didn't change the groves or any of the cuts in the leather. I made the watch strap from an old magazine pouch so I wanted it to keep its character. The leather was washed and scrubbed then dried, then the leather food gave it it's suppleness back and brought back it's colour. I've used it on embossed leather on my Barbour and millican bags and it hasn't affected them in any way apart from feeding the leather.

Sent from my ME173X using Tapatalk
 
Glad to see someone working on leather tweaks for these suits!

My leathers all had to be taken in to get a proper fit, but that is to be expected.

Outside of that there are a few little oddities I've been noting for correction. Some obvious ones like the material being swapped for the stretch kevlar, and I think adding the zipper to the waist to attach to the jacket will be worthwhile.

The big modification that really needs to be done for screen accuracy is to the knees. Here is a side by side showing what I mean.

dscf1469_zps3362cbdf.jpg

By my reckoning, the whole knee area needs to be rebuilt. The sides of screen accurate knees are only ~3.5", so the vented panels are nearly twice as long as they should be and rectangular rather than trapezoidal.

The perils of going with the "Velcro knee" option early on.

I look forward to seeing how yours shape up, Art!
 
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Here are my updates on the jacket. Started with 320 sandpaper, but that was doing nothing so moved to 220. That actually did a pretty good job. The only issue is I was using sandpaper by itself and while that does good, I want to use a sanding block the next time to hit all the edges. Also, wet the jacket down again and after wetting it, crumbled up the sleeves as much as possible.

I feel like it is starting to get there, although it is never going to be perfect since the jacket is simply not the same type of leather and isn't brown underneath. :(

dredd-jacket-breakin-03.jpg dredd-jacket-breakin-04.jpg dredd-jacket-breakin-05.jpg
 
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