When costume designer Rachel Walsh began dressing the next chapter of the BBC's SAS: Rogue Heroes, the clothes had to look as though they had really been through the war. Leather is hard to fake on screen. New jackets look new, and the camera notices. So the production came to Revive & Restore Vintage for the real thing.

Several original WWII-era and 1940s leather pieces were chosen from the workshop in the Calder Valley: belted horsehide trench coats, German officer leathers, and field jackets that had seen genuine use. Every one of them already carried the marks of service, the creases, scuffs and faded edges that come from years of being worn.

Each piece was cleaned, conditioned and repaired by hand, with the aim of making it sound and wearable again without taking any of that history away. The patina and the original finish were left as they were. Nothing was distressed or aged artificially, because nothing needed to be.

It feels right that these jackets are back in front of a camera. They were made to be worn hard, they lasted, and now they're helping tell the story of the men who wore leather like them.

Craftsmanship Meets Authenticity

The approach in the workshop has always been simple: respect the garment and the period it came from. Every jacket is cleaned, conditioned and repaired to last, and the work takes as long as it takes. It's especially rewarding to work with a production that cares about authenticity as much as this one does.

The pieces chosen for SAS: Rogue Heroes were restored so they could be worn again, with the creases and marks of their past left alone. The leather you see on screen isn't made to look old. It is old, and it earned every line.

A Continuing Legacy

SAS: Rogue Heroes tells one of the most remarkable stories of the Second World War, and it's a real privilege to have played a small part in bringing it to the screen.

The work at Revive & Restore Vintage carries on as it always has: finding the jackets that lived through that history, and making sure they last for whoever wears them next.