The Armour Archive

Like many Westerners, I have a leather coat. I was looking at it recently and I couldn't help but notice that its constructions seems to be comprised of a thin layer or two of bonded leather sown to a polyester lining probably by some poor and underpaid worker in India, China, or likewise.

I'm wondering how a real, genuine leather coat is made by someone who knows the ins and outs of their craft. There are different cuts and types of leather. Too thick could be bulky, inflexible, and heavy, but would a real leather coat made from solid leather; be thicker than our modern counterparts? Or possibly made from thiner layers sown together?

I would imagine it would be certainly higher quality than anything mass produced and very useful in the winter cold. I would interested in a look at the real thing.

This probably belongs in off topics but a good leather coat can easily be made of one layer of leather. The reason the cheap ones are made out of several layers is they're using crap leather.

Good quality garment leather is very supple and durable. It is not much good in the cold. That is why it ususally lined with wool, shearling, fur or some such thing.

My expensive leather pea coat is 2 layers of kip skin that are about 2oz leather. It is not always because they are cheap it might be the leather is high quality thin leather.

For analysis of some 16th-century leather garments (doublets, jerkins, and/or breeches), you could look at "Patterns of Fashion" by Janet Arnold and "Before the Mast: Life and Death Aboard the Mary Rose." The Mary Rose book analyzes jerkins only, but tells you about the type of leather, the weight of the leather, and the construction techniques.

I hope someone else can recommend more books on medieval leather clothing.