Machine washing and drying a leather jacket.

[michael_kard]

What do you guys think about letting it dry on a hanger? Wouldn't gravity allow it to gain back its length? As long as the hanger is as wide as the shoulders I don't see any problems with that.

[pseudonym]

In my experience, it has tendancy to shrink so much in the length (a few inches), that you have to physically pull it to get anywhere close to the original length back. Gravity alone would not have neary the same inpact. You will notice that the lining will hang out of the bottom of the jacket slightly as that material will usually not shrink at all.

Also, I would be leary of the hanger molding permanent buldges into the shoulders while the leather is wet. I would certainly not hang it for any portion of the drying process, then again, I do not hang any of my leathers dry either!

[comedyzen]

OK, finally had some time to do this. So I zipped up the jacket and flipped it inside out. Threw it in my washing machine (front loader) and added about a teaspoon of Tide. Water was set to WARM WASH/COLD RINSE and set on DELICATE. It is in the washer as I write this. Will take follow up pics and post new measurements.

Jacket:



PRE-WASH

Pit-Pit: 21"
Top of front collar to bottom: 27"
Pit-End of Sleeve: 19.25"
Shoulder-Shoulder: 19.25"

Close up of luster pre-wash:



I wanted to wash this to tighten the area under the armpit and all around. Also since it was bought used, I wanted to wash out all the cooties. Here is the area of question (hard to see, but it is quite loose between my armpit and jacket):

[mrbeuys]

Thinking out loud....Wonder what RO oiled calf would do if hand soaked and air dried. Anyone try it?

I once got caught in the mad London rain in oiled calf (winter weight) and ended up soaked. Took forever to dry but made absolutely no difference to the leather. Of course that's different from washing it.
I have washed a thin lamb jacket before and it came out beautifully. I was actually more worried about the silk lining than the leather. Leather was dull when it had dried and started to get its sheen back as I wore it. Wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

[comedyzen]

OH GOD, what have I done?!



JK, just pulled it out of dryer. Looks OK. Will give it a few days to air dry and I will take measurements.

[comedyzen]

I am pleased about the outcome. The fit is slightly more snug than before and the jacket is clean. Not a significant amount of shrinkage.



POST-WASH

Pit-Pit: 20.85" (most noticeable change).
Top of front collar to bottom: 27" (no change)
Pit-End of Sleeve: 19.25" (no change, but I did pull on the sleeves while wet).
Shoulder-Shoulder: 19.10" (slight change)



Leather got a little wrinkled but I'm not worried. The shine dulled down a bit too. Another change was the collar. Before it was quite buttery, and would flop down if the collar was flipped up and jacket unzipped. Now it will jut up on its own. Overall, the leather got stiffer, but I imagine it will be a quick break in.

[mw000]

That turned out pretty good!

I tried the same on some older calf jackets and I got the same type of result.

It definitely makes the leather more matte but I found that using some moisturizer brings some of the softness back.

Now I want to shrink a Neil Barrett washed buffalo leather that I have. I am a bit on the fence about this one as I quite like the sheen and don't really want to make it more matte. Ideally it would shrink 1 size

[Wiggles]

ok, didn't want to entirely hijack eton's thread, so i'll post it all here. i forgot to take pictures of a lot of this, which is unfortunate. oh well.

anyway, i have a size large white blistered lamb intarsia jacket that's always been a bit too big one me, so i decided i'd wash it. i did a hot water hand wash last night, let it lay out to dry overnight, and now i've thrown it in the dryer for a few minutes because it wasn't shrinking like i'd wanted. hopefully i didn't just fuck everything up beyond reconciliation.

[CHRIS]

really appreciate all the tips here! I purchased an allesandro del acqua leather from century 21 last year, size 48... normally I'm a 44 but this fit like a slim 48 and it was super cheap so I grabbed it anyway. decided to throw it in the washer / dryer yesterday, since its been bored in my closet and I figured I couldn't resell it for much profit anyway.

glad I did! fits more like a 44-46 now, and the original sheen is gone, leaving more of a matte, grainy finish. definitely recommend giving your oversized leather(s) a wash.

note: I live in an apartment building where the washer / dryers have very basic settings (lacking any sort of nuanced preference). so if you're worried about particular settings, I wouldn't give it too much thought...

[the breaks]

this and etons thread inspired me to finally do something about a leather jacket i haven't worn for ages because it's a size too big

so far everything looks to have gone better than expected :) some shrinkage, a duller (nicer) color and some of the "crumpled" treatment on the jacket has evened out which is good because I wasn't that crazy about it in the first place.

[sCrAtChy]

Julius leather jackets can never be washed! I tried washing my black rider and it turned out in ruins.

[eton97]

this and etons thread inspired me to finally do something about a leather jacket i haven't worn for ages because it's a size too big

so far everything looks to have gone better than expected :) some shrinkage, a duller (nicer) color and some of the "crumpled" treatment on the jacket has evened out which is good because I wasn't that crazy about it in the first place.

nice one buddy - same process as me?

before and after pics?

[eton97]

hopefully i didn't just fuck everything up beyond reconciliation.

and the conclusion to the story is?

[casem]

The real question here is, why do so many people have very expensive leather jackets that are too big for them?

[the breaks]

The real question here is, why do so many people have very expensive leather jackets that are too big for them?

Forgot to take pics in all the excitement

The real question here is, why do so many people have very expensive leather jackets that are too big for them?

It's called losing weight.