The Best Leather for a Jacket: Cow vs Horse vs Heavy vs Light vs Goat vs Lamb vs Suede

I'm enormously privileged to have visited Schott NYC's New Jersey factory to get the ULTIMATE GUIDE to picking a leather for your jacket. Should you go with heavyweight, midweight, or lightweight? Cow or horse? Lamb or sheep? We break it all down here.

Basically, horse is the densest, sheepskin with the wool is warmest, calfskin and lambskin are soft and easier to break in and more consistent looking, goat is as strong as cow but less consistent in appearance, suede and nubuck are less tough and need something applied for water resistance, and cowhide reigns supreme: heavyweight is tougher, lightweight is more comfortable from the get go, but remember you're probably not wearing them on motorbikes so the 'durability' aspect of thickness probably doesn't have much practical significance for most guys.

Lastly, the way leather is processed can be just as important for comfort/durability/appearance as what animal it comes from, so talk to your leather jacket manufacturer for tips.

00:00 Intro
00:57 Hides vs skins
01:19 Leather jacket weight: Heavyweight vs Midweight vs Lightweight
02:40 How leather processing affects the comfort
04:01 Pros and cons of heavyweight jackets
6:44 Calfskin leather jackets: pros and cons
7:47 Lambskin leather jackets: pros and cons
09:01 Goatskin leather jackets: pros and cons
10:22 Sheepskin leather jackets: pros and cons
12:08 Horsehide leather jackets: pros and cons
14:16 Nubuck vs Suede leather jackets
15:44 What's the best leather for jackets?
16:45 Wrapping Up

[lonniesharp]

I know it's for the benefit of viewers who may not know, but it's hilarious seeing Dude explain to Nick that Horween is a "Very special tannery from Chicago.". 😎

[albertmanuel]

I have a Shinki horsehide jacket from Schott. It’s a gorgeous jacket but an absolute beast. Two years in and it has barely begun to get worn in.

[DudsByDel]

While I’m generally familiar with these qualities, it was cool to see the interview and hear about some of the specific things like the drying process creating a difference

[Ian-bqgp]

I bought a aero leather jacket in the heaviest weight horsehide available. It is taking some breaking in but I've never seen a better jacket for protection. £750 and built like a tank with a belt. Aero Leathers in Scotland are the best bike jackets I've seen and I've had top Lewis leathers in the 1980s and I looked at Simmonds Bilt. They were good too but Aero Leathers stitching and it's pitch and quality, antique brass zips and tartan wool lining is bespoke and made to measure. I'm glad I never bought schott even if they're good I prefer aero.

[javierdiazsantana]

In my experience (Here in Mexico with generic tanned hides)
Cowhide is used as the standard for motorcycle jackets, cow tends to be softer and steer, considerably heavier and stiffer. It's personally my favorite type of leather from the country production, almost at CXL resistance.

Horsehide can sometimes be seen but the ones i have tried here are rather cheap and not as shiny. The best way to describe them would be pretty much similar to calfskin, around 2.5oz thick and soft, considerably more resistant than lambskin with a pretty tight grain.

Lambskin is not worth it here in Mexico in my opinion. The leather is so softly treated, so thin (2oz or less) and so spongy that you can tear it apart barehands. Unless you want a jacket that will be easily damaged or you treat them very carefully, i don't advice it at all. Bear in mind the lamb Schott uses is way better, veg tanned and thicker, firmer.

Goatskin i have seen used, and i would prefer it a thousand times above any lambskin. While being extremely thin, it holds a far tighter grain and a much denser, firmer structure than the lamb.

And finally, what i consider the best price - value leather in the mexican production: Calfskin. Calf, while being thin, less than 2.5oz (Pretty much at around the thickness of the Mission) is very tightly packed (Not as much as horsehide though) and very shiny overall, more than pretty much any other type of leather from the market. It can be almost as soft as lambskin but also as firm and stiff as horsehide far thicker. That last one doesn't break in as easily but it's a monster and will resist anything since the grain is so tight and strong.

Finally, there are a couple of options that i am interested in trying out, even though the cost of a jacket made out of them will jump up a lot with those materials: Veg tanned goatskin from Lefarc and some waxed cowhides from Lefarc as well that i guess would be pretty much an equivalent to CXL. That last one i wanna try out

[favidh]

Great video! You opened up a whole new conversation of animals (vs. tannages ) that needs to be addressed for leatherheads!

[zombisfisto]

You should go to Toronto Ontario, Canada to Himel Bros leather. Dave really makes some fine stuff.

[Crackers]

Another terrific and informative video Nick...!!! Schott a long time American company.... Have one of their wool CPO jackets.... Their Navy P coat is legendary...! 5 STARS as Greg

[StratCat]

VANSON, Competition weight leathers. I've had Schott, Hein Gerike, and many other
brands. Sold them all. Vanson leathers are the BEST out there!

[donclem]

Any plans to visit Thedi leathers in Greece for an interview? I own one of his jackets, truly a marvel of craftsmanship

[JimmyZhou]

You should take a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, the leather capital of the world. Leather jackets and belts everywhere. Also incredibly cheap.

[joeguzman]

I'm a schott jacket freak the only other leather jacket company I love too is eastman leather jackets, back in the 1960s I remember my grandpa used to wear my father's ww2 b3 jacket and other times he used to wear his ww1 jacket ( that jacket was not leather ) in the winter time it was very cold in south Texas I remember visiting my grandpa's family in a little town outside of del Rio Texas ( we used to live outside of Laredo) the older and more used those jackets were the better they looked.

[stiffmeisterhYeah]

I like that Mr. Schott guy "that was very impressive" with a slight smirk!!

[dcDreambuilder]

Do a video on how to care for lambskin!

[JohnnyTaxonomy]

Nick! Thursday has a new bomber jacket, now in a few colors (black, espresso suede, and a gray). Please check it out and do a review! 🙏🏻

[M_u]

Stridewise, you knocked it out the park with this one. Outstanding content.

[talksalot]

I have their 618, need to send it in to a tailor for some alterations but massive upgrade to my $250 jacket.

[bullseyeb]

Perfect timing for this video. About to buy my first jacket from them. I have not decided on which one yet.

[illcodino]

Great info, order a HH jacket from Argentina and I already have a lambskin jacket from Argentina as well.

[anthonyhill]

Can anyone tell me what biker jacket that is in the thumbnail???