1940's ? German leather cycling jacket bought today !

[ukali1066]

yeah....don't worry lads...you won't see mine on ebay with shoulderboards, a breast eagle and a dubious history....

I've ruined the chances of that by posting here first

 

[boyorastroboy]

I'm visiting my parents and went into a vintage clothes shop today and snapped up a black leather jacket in JUST the style of the privately purchased civvie jackets Luftwaffe pilots used to wear, my size too.

It's heartening to hear a story like this. I sometimes feel like the thrift-store, vintage, and second hand clothes shopping of my youth is gone forever. In those days, a little patience and a good eye would be routinely rewarded. These days, less and less of the good stuff even makes it to the floor. I've heard on the news that Goodwill and Salvation Army specifically hire and train people to seek through the junk for the good stuff to put on ebay. It's probably much rarer to find gems like this today, but I'm glad to hear they're still out there once in a while.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I've heard on the news that Goodwill and Salvation Army specifically hire and train people to seek through the junk for the good stuff to put on ebay.

The tiny "good" person in me says this is a good thing - the stuff was donated to them so they could make money for their good works, right? Not for my pleasure (frankly the pleasure of a middle class professional who doesn't really need charity shop prices).

I do miss finding the deals like i used to 10 or 15 years ago, though.

bk

 

[Alan Eardley]

Most charity shops in the UK have volunteer experts who go through donations - books, collectable records, bric a brac and clothing etc. valuing it. I have done this myself from time to time. It ensures that the charitable cause receives the value of the item.

Alan

 

[birddog]

Nice jacket - Great Find!

I do not believe it's WW2. First, German leather from 1940 on got cheap, thin & ugly due to deteriorating industrial supplies for tanning & increased quantity requirements. Yours is too quality looking. There are no provisions for apulettes. Luftwaffe flight personal wore their rank on shoulder boards & apulettes, & I don't see any signs where they would have been sewn to the shoulders. If Luftwaffe wings were on the jacket, they would have been cloth, sewed on above the pocket.

I believe the jacket is late '50 through 60's, so go get a vintage Triumph, BSA, Norton, BMW or a Vincent Black Shadow bike, cool shades & head out to the Ace Cafe!

Ugarte

 

[boyorastroboy]

The tiny "good" person in me says this is a good thing - the stuff was donated to them so they could make money for their good works, right? Not for my pleasure (frankly the pleasure of a middle class professional who doesn't really need charity shop prices).

I do miss finding the deals like i used to 10 or 15 years ago, though.

bk

Most charity shops in the UK have volunteer experts who go through donations - books, collectable records, bric a brac and clothing etc. valuing it. I have done this myself from time to time. It ensures that the charitable cause receives the value of the item.

Alan

It is definitely a good point that charities should receive the proper value for donations they receive--I appreciate the reminder.
I do, however, really miss flipping through piles of different fabrics and colors to find something truly excellent, and then the exhilaration those rare times when the planets are aligned and it actually fits. Just finding something that isn't painful to look at these days feels like a score. I chalk some of it up to the days of quality clothing manufacture being further and further behind us, but I attribute a lot of it to the double edged sword of ebay. Now I'm reduced to taking a ruler and a calculator to bi-swing backs and trying to remember the german phrase for 'pit to pit', and praying that I've converted inches to centimeters correctly. For me, half the fun of clothes was the hunt, and I prefer it analog.

 

[ukali1066]

Here's the jacket after I got it home and gave it a good smear with Pecards antique slop...I love the brown areas of wear showing through...