A 1940s Steerhide Motorcycle Jacket

The husband-to-be's vintage clothing obsession started long before I even knew what 'vintage' was.  Back in 1994, he visited a thrift store in Big Bear Lake, California, and bought this amazing leather jacket for $5.  The zip was missing, but the leather was in fairly good condition and the lining was intact.  He had to buy a vintage suitcase to transport the jacket, along with lots of shirts and t-shirts, back to Wales.  After replacing the zip for £18, the jacket gave a good 20 years of wear but more recently had started to look a bit shabby.  Leather dries out as it ages, and it can become brittle and cracked, with splits and tears appearing.  Thankfully, this jacket was another vintage item that we were able to rescue thanks to some good leathercare products.

1940s motorcycle jacket: Thrifted, California

Cap: Christy's, via car boot sale

The only other alteration that was done to the jacket was to snip the elastic at the sides, something that the husband-to-be now regrets and will look at returning to the original state.

The photos above all show how the jacket looks now.  For 'before' photos have a look at my post on How To Care For Vintage Leather.

Over the years we've done a lot of research on the jacket, and although it's a style that was popular for quite a few decades, we believe this is a 1940s' version of a motorcycle jacket.  There's a really fantastic website that has many pictures of vintage coats and jackets, Vintage-Haberdashers, that I recommend as a resource.

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