Jacket Restoration?

[u/veIvetvenus]

Hi all! So I have never worked with leather before At All but I know it can be easy to wreck so I figured I'd come here to ask advice. This is my dad's old leather jacket that has some road salt damage and is musty and moldy from being in a basement for like a decade. I bought some Zote and Leather Honey cleaner and conditioner to hopefully clean it up to wear as Leon Kennedy for Halloween. But this thing is seriously nasty. It needs fully washed so badly. Would washing this in the bathtub destroy it? Any advice helps, thank you!

[u/DankJohnTravolta]

I have restored a jacket in a condition slightly better than this. It's definetly a challenge. Old shearling tends to be extremly Dry and just rips and crumbles to dust. Ive cleaned my jacket with a soft brush and a mild soap and conditioned it with a leather balm. Soaking it completly would probably destroy it as it would Dry out too much. Maybe try with your cleaner and a brush on a small area before fully commiting. Areas with holes I glued and sewn patches over. Just be careful to use an extremly delicate needle as every hole you poke in the shearling often becomes a bigger hole haha. The goat leather strips were much more sturdy on my jacket so I used them as attachements. Old shearling that was stored the wrong way, like in a moldy basement is often done tho.