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Washing A Cheap H&M Leather Jacket - Before and after Pics

post #1 of 27
11/19/09 at 3:51am
Thread Starter 
So I had this H&M jacket that I wasn't totally happy with in terms of overall fit and look, but the style was good and it still had some life left. I tried to sell it on B&S but after a couple of price drops, I figured I may as well try my luck washing it a la this Blackbird post. It ended up turning out way better than I expected, so I'm posting the before and after pics - hopefully I captured the change, the fit and texture really do look noticeably better up close. BEFORE: AFTER: The wash took about 15 minutes of underwater time (I used a plastic storage bin, $5 from Target). I dried it overnight on a hanger to give it a little drape, then transferred it to a towel on a tarp to dry for another day, then hung it up again for one final day to get it really dry. Then I sponged Lexol all over to condition it. Jury is still out on durability, but the leather feels healthy to me so far. Wore it for the first time today.
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post #2 of 27
11/19/09 at 4:01am
looks good.. is it just the lighting or has the jacket really lightened up?
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post #3 of 27
11/19/09 at 4:08am
Thread Starter 
The jacket is the same color, but it has gotten less reflective which means that I can take good pictures in lots of light/with some flash
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post #4 of 27
11/19/09 at 5:04am
Good Job.
Did the fit of the jacket change?
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post #5 of 27
11/19/09 at 5:05am
^Edit beat me How much did the jacket change in fit length or width? approx measurements even would be helpful.. thnx
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post #6 of 27
11/19/09 at 5:24am
way cool.
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post #7 of 27
11/19/09 at 5:41am
I used that exact same method and washed my geller cadet leather I love how it turned out, shrunk it just enough in width and stayed pretty much the same in length.
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post #8 of 27
11/19/09 at 7:59am
Yea I was thinking of washing my black scissors jacket also. I want to get rid of some of the artificial distressing they did on the jacket.
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post #9 of 27
11/19/09 at 10:39am
You didn't do any damage. Good job. There is some risk in doing this, especially with lightweight, cheap leather like the kind H&M (or especially Black Scissors) uses in that it can shrink unpredictably, but 15 minutes of underwater time in a bucket is pretty much nothing, and you dried it properly (ie slowly).
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post #10 of 27
11/19/09 at 10:58am
if the jacket is durable enough, ie, calfskn, you can even throw it into a big washing machine, sans suds, maybe warmer water, and knock gloss off that way. You'll have to iron it at the end with an ironing board and sleeve ironing board but it would look cool. A lot of the gloss on leather is just accumulated oils and waxes from the tanning and finishing process. Something to think about regarding pre-distressed leather jackets: Most of us hate pre-distressed indigo jeans with fake whiskers, fake thigh and butt fades, and likewise, everybody likes really nice honeycombs and strong, clear lap fades... why accept a pre-distressed leather jawn? There's mild washes, like I do with my TOJ lambskins, which would be the equivalent of a raw denim to one-wash transition, but then there's full-on chemical distressing in some of these contemporary leather jackets (no names) and that are the equivalent of like, Diesel and True Religion.
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post #11 of 27
11/19/09 at 12:53pm
Sure, but there's also full on chemical distressing like Belstaff and RRL that looks really fucking good.
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post #12 of 27
11/19/09 at 2:29pm
true, and somebody will counter with the fact that a leather jacket doesn't begin to look really worn-in for like 10 years or more, but you gotta put the work in sometimes man....
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post #13 of 27
11/19/09 at 2:31pm
Hey, cut me an undistressed New Cougar-alike and I'll go to.
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post #14 of 27
11/19/09 at 2:31pm
I did this with a Uniqlo leather jacket and was very happy with the result.

Impolyt One: I happen to like faded jeans (and it seems like you do to a la Dior) as long as they are done well. So I have no problem with a distressed jacket if it looks good.
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post #15 of 27
11/19/09 at 2:37pm
I think the difference is like with treated leather shoes as well. Sometimes you get an effect with a factory wash/treatment you couldn't get via just wearing it. I think people mainly object to jeans being made to try and look like natural fades but just looking off with combs and whiskers in the wrong spots or the fading being too exagerrated or a little off.
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