Wetlook World Forum

Vinyl pants can usually be soaked and washed without any ill effects.

Real leather on the other hand, it depends on what you wet it with.  Pure clean water like in a mountain stream would probably be OK but might make them become stiff, especially if done more than once.  Salt water will cause the leather to stiffen and also leave white marks, it will take careful hand washing with fresh water to get them supple and un-marked again, and if worn in the sea more than a few times they will probably be ruined, though carefully flushing them with lots and lots of fresh water afterwards will help.

It will also depend on the kind of leather of course, some types and grades will handle being soaked and dried better than others.