How the hide changes the jacket: horse, cow, goat, sheep and deer

革の種類でどう変わるか：ホースハイド・カウハイド・ゴートスキン・シープスキン・ディアスキン

The same jacket in another hide is another jacket: the weight, the softness, the way it shines, how it takes rain. Here are the five we use, compared from the wearer's side.

Horsehide - heavy, and the one that ages best

Thick and dense. The pores are open, so it takes up water and oil and changes with the person wearing it. It is hard-wearing, holds its colour, and builds shine and depth the more you wear it. Nearly all tea-core leather is horsehide.
It is heavy. This is the hide you choose when you intend to wear a jacket in.

Goatskin - light, and comfortable from day one

Light and supple, easy on the shoulders over a long day, with a fine grain and more strength than it looks. It will not develop the heft of horsehide, but it is wearable the day you buy it.

Cowhide and calf - tight-grained, and it holds its shape

Cowhide is thick with an even surface; finished in oil wax it takes a deep shine and develops grain. Calf is finer again and keeps a crisp silhouette. Both take a vintage finish well, with mottling and shadow.

Sheepskin - the softest of them

Soft, and it follows the body from the moment you put it on. It is also the hide used when the fleece is left on for a mouton collar, and for cold-weather pieces. Not the hide you pick for toughness - but nothing beats it for comfort.

Deerskin - dense, quiet, unusual

Usually water-dyed and left uncoated, which gives it a soft, clinging hand you do not get elsewhere. There is not much of it about, and it asks for care.

If you are undecided

  • To wear in over ten years - horsehide
  • To wear every day, lightness first - goatskin
  • To keep a clean silhouette - cowhide or calf
  • For softness above all - sheepskin
  • For a soft, clinging hand, and something less common - deerskin

The closer a hide is to uncoated, the less it likes rain. Wipe it dry, let it air in the shade, and add oil only once it starts to feel dry.