Summers are on the curb. If you are thinking to buy a leather jacket or suit but hesitating to do so because of the hot weather, then we have a solution for you. There are two ways leather jacket can be made breathable i.e. by VENTILATION ZIPPERS or by PERFORATION or BOTH. This blog encompasses all the information you need about ventilation zippers if you 1. Live in a hot place and 2. Want to simultaneously carry and style your leather gear.
VENTILATION ZIPPERS
Ventilating zippers or air vents are just like regular zippers that are open and closed to allow a certain amount of air to reach the rider. Jackets with ventilation zipper offer effective ventilation. It maintains airflow throughout the jacket. This is to prevent perspiration and lower body temperature.
A good motorcycle gear acts as a wind stopper while, at the same time, also lets in sufficient air without constantly pounding the rider. The issue is that motorcycle riders believe in a MYTH that t-shirts and shorts (or denim jeans) are the only clothing suitable for riding at high temperatures and that a motorcycle jacket or pants will suffocate them and make them pass out from heat stroke. Unless you’re stopped on your bike, you will be far better off with properly-ventilated motorcycle gear than without it.
A leather jacket is unbreathable, holding your moisture and making it damp, hot and uncomfortable inside. Even though it was warm, waterproof, windproof, and protective in the morning, it can be too warm later in the day. If your jacket doesn’t have ventilation, it will work well in winter. But you will be drenched in sweat in the summer. You’ll be perspiring under that tough, massive, windproof, and waterproof jacket. But with air vents placed just right, it allows your moisture to escape, and lets the air rushing from the front while you are cruising to blow out of the vents. Also with no leather jacket vents your jacket acts like a big sail, with your back part of the jacket blown up like a balloon behind you that in turn hinders your speed.
For ventilating zippers to allow decent airflow, they need to be relatively long in the order of 2 inches (5 centimeters) or longer.
At the end of the day, the longer the zipper is, the more air it is going to catch to pass onto the rider to cool him or her off. Ventilating zippers must also follow the same allocating pattern for perforation, so these zippers must never be located on main impact areas of the body.
Advantages
- The main benefit that ventilating zippers offer to motorcycle riders is that they permit a rider to graduate the amount of air coming in via the zippers by keeping them completely or partially open. So, if it’s very hot in the afternoon and you’re riding your bike, you can leave the ventilating zippers open; then, as nighttime approaches and temperatures drop, you can close these zippers and you will be shielded against the wind and the cold.
- By having ventilating zippers, you can close them up (leaving a small gap open) so that the hot air doesn’t remove your sweat from your skin via evaporation. This is yet-another reason for you to gear up when riding in hot temperatures. Riding with a t-shirt when its 110 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) makes your sweat evaporate faster in turn harming your health.
- Because of its innate design, a venting zipper can only take so much space; sure, they may be long, but the width of venting zippers is usually one quarter of an inch to half an inch.
Disadvantages
- No matter how many ventilating zippers your jacket or pants may have, you will not obtain as much incoming airflow as you’d otherwise get with extensively-perforated panels.
- One more issue with ventilating zippers is that they distort the fit of motorcycle gear, especially of leather gear. You want your gear to fit you tightly and comfortably. However, when a ventilating zipper is open, it creates a sudden wide gap in the fabric it is on this is an expected effect which also slightly enlarges the surface of the panel that it is located on.
Leather Jackets with Sleeve Zippers
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Most leather jackets have ventilation zippers on the sleeves that work very similar to the cuff in dress shirts. It is there to make the arms of the jacket slimmer. Most people prefer to wear a fitted leather jacket compared to a baggy one. And these zippers, once you zip them up, make sure that the jacket stays snugly fitted to your body.
Furthermore, while driving a bike, many people prefer pushing up the sleeves of the jacket. The zipper also helps them in doing so. Because the forearm is much bigger than the wrist, if you pull the sleeves upwards and then zip them up, the sleeves will not fall down again.
