Which leather for your jacket?
Lambskin, sheepskin, buffalo, goat suede: what each one gives
Two jackets of identical shape in two different leathers do not wear the same way. The leather decides the drape and how the piece ages over ten years. We work with four types of leather across the collections, each with its own reason to exist. The right one depends on what you are looking for.
|
You want |
The leather |
|
A clean, fitted line |
Lambskin |
|
Character and texture |
Sheepskin |
|
structure and strength |
Buffalo |
|
textured, matte, relaxed |
Goat suede |
Lambskin
Lambskin is the finest of the four, between 0.6 and 0.9 mm. That fineness is what allows a fitted cut: the leather sits close to the body and follows the line of the shoulder and arm without stiffness. It is supple from the first wear and softens further over time.
Fine does not mean fragile. Its fibres are tightly packed, which holds the shape without stretching. Over the years it develops a patina that each wearer shapes differently. This is the leather for precise, fluid cuts, and the one that ages best when it is looked after.
Sheepskin
Sheepskin comes from the adult sheep, while lambskin comes from the lamb. That more mature hide has a heavier, more irregular grain. Sheepskin keeps its variations and its shifts in tone from one centimetre to the next.
That is exactly what we want for our distressed and textured models. On these pieces, the irregularity of the hide makes the aesthetic. A leather that is too clean would give a smooth jacket, which would be at odds with what the design is saying. Sheepskin brings the raw character these cuts ask for.
Buffalo
Buffalo is the thickest and most structured leather in the range. It holds its shape and gives volume at the shoulder. It takes wear and it lasts.
We use it on a single model, the Rebel, built around the material. A leather of this weight needs a construction made for it. The Rebel is that construction. It is the piece to choose when you want strength and hold.
Goat suede
Goat suede is a leather sanded on the reverse of the hide, which gives it a matte, velvety surface. That surface absorbs light and gives the jacket depth.
It is the most relaxed of the four leathers in the range. Suede keeps the density and the longevity of a real hide, with a softer drape. It needs more care than smooth leathers: it marks with water and holds dust, and you clean with a brush rather than a cloth.
The best leather is the one you will wear most often. That is the only criterion that counts after ten years.
