How to Take Care of Our Vintage Leather Jackets

We’ve all been there: you open your closet door in your garage on a sunny day to grab a jacket for a motorcycle ride and you notice a bad smell. What should we do?

Initially, I recommend using the jacket for a week or two, since leather is like a living thing and it adapts to the surrounding environment, including surrounding smells. If after a few weeks you are still unhappy, follow the steps below:

TO GET RID OF A BAD ODOR, just mix some fresh lemon juice or white vinegar with warm water and apply it to the jacket with a clean microfiber cloth. Then let the jacket dry naturally.

TO CLEAN, create a cleaning solution by mixing equal parts of water and white vinegar. Alternatively, you can mix a few drops of commercial leather cleaner in water. Dip a soft cloth (preferably a microfiber cloth) in this solution and wring it out so that the cloth is damp, not completely wet.

Wipe the entire jacket with this cloth while rinsing the cloth in the cleaning solution when necessary. It is best to start cleaning from the top and work your way down.

Dry the jacket with a clean towel. Do not use a blow dryer for this purpose as it is likely to dehydrate the leather.

TO CONDITION, mix one part of white vinegar and two parts of linseed oil or flax seed oil. Using a soft, clean cloth, apply this mixture on the jacket in broad, circular motions. Leave on overnight.

The above methods are the easiest and safest ways to take care of any leather item. Still, you should always test a small amount of each solution on a small, hidden area of the item to ensure it never causes any discoloration. Once you have a positive result on the small area, you can follow the process on the entire item.

I hope that my recommendations above will help you take care of your leather jacket for many years and for many fun rides.