This pertains to Navy G-1 flight jackets. Up until the late 70s, I believe, they had real mouton fur collars. The thing is, when perusing them, you will find some are dark brown, the same color as the leather, while others are almost honey blonde, with variations in between. The color is so uniform on each I assumed different colors were simply issued. But folks over at vintageleatherjackets.org are telling me it's an exposure issue (sun, salt air, etc.) I'm confused because A) I don't know what kind of exposure would so thoroughly and perfectly change the color, and B) I see plenty of well-worn jackets that still have very dark color fur. So I was wondering if you material gurus would know what would cause mouton fur to change like this, if anything at all (I'm still not 100% convinced it's exposure.) Thanks!
I have old mouton sheep skin coats, and you can clearly see that that the outside is much paler than the inside. So fade from sun exposure is certainly a thing. It may be that some simply got more sun than others.
Hmmm. I think your question is good one. The fact that the color is so even on them, not at all gradual, seems to make more sense that they were originally issued in different colors. I think also that sun would not fade a fur so completely, but perhaps salt air or the air while in storage caused it as air is more permeating than sunlight. Interesting.
My sun faded Mouton is more faded on the surface than closer to the hide, so if yours are even right down to the skin, that would suggest it was always that colour.
