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AERO x LVC Thunderbird Bird of Prey horsehide leather jacket (RARE prototype)

RollerC

New in Town
Messages
8
Hello, this is the prototype of the famous Aero x LVC horsehide jacket, the rarest & only coloured version you can find. This very limited edition masterpiece maybe well-known among you collectors, but the whole story with exact timeline(and versions out there) remains a mystery. I spent years researching on this jacket and got official reply from the founder of Aero Leather, Mr. Ken Calder to complete all missing pieces of puzzle. Here is the story:
dscf8263-copy-2.jpg
dscf8258-copy.jpg

Aero Leather produced this jacket for Levis Vintage Clothing in 2000, at that time they focused on quality more than cost and made this horse leather jacket in UK (instead of the lampskin and Turkish/Italian made LVC nowaday). The whole production took place inside UK, even the screen-print process was took place in Harrogate so you can imagine why the retail price was set around £600 back in 2001(but still sold out within days).
5536193022-02a14203a6-b-copy.jpg

And it was named ‘50s...’ because they were actually reproducing the 1950’s Levis jacket that is still in Levis’ archive in San Francisco that you may see in Levis Vault Exhibition.
tumblr-inline-n1zljqdcn91qfex1b.jpg
tumblr-inline-n1zlk0jvp71qfex1b_orig.jpg

And the most fascinating part is they tried to reproduce a vintage print from a 1950’s BUCO j-82 biker(see image from history book ‘Motorcycle Jakcets: A Century of Leather Design’) to put on the back design. So the thunderbird print was supposed in full colour(but at the end they produced in white)so only the early version/design prototype has this feature and that’s THE ONE you are looking at.
dscf8263-copy-2.jpg
dscf8258-copy.jpg

mg-1304_1_orig.jpg

I purchased this stunning piece from a British collector who bought straight from Aero more than 10 years ago and he kept it packed very well(only wore a few times, almost brand new). Then i only took it for a shooting and the condition is still very good. If you are looking for the Aero x LVC jacket, this is the rarest one(probably one and only) as this is an early design version/prototype made.
dscf8295.jpg

dscf8278.jpg
dscf8291.jpg

Beside the full colour print, the red lining & antique levis tag is also different from those on street(all copies you found on ebay are in green lining and text-only tag). And there are 2 kinds of horsehide mixing together in this jacket which made it beautifully unique. The Aero Leather artisan Julie Leith signed her name inside the pocket tag(see the ‘JL’ ). This is a true collector piece that you can’t find anywhere else.
mg-1153-2_2_orig.jpg

Above is a sum-up of my research, feel free to ask question if you want to know more. It is a size small with 21.5’ back length, 16’ shoulder and 36’ chest. I have finished my research and shooting so now I am selling it for $900USD which is the same price i bought it. Thank you for your time.
 

Mich486

One Too Many
Messages
1,690
Great jacket you put your hands on but I don’t get the passage where you say that today LVC focuses more on cost cutting than quality by producing jackets in Italy and Turkey. ehm if you want to save money you certainly don’t move production to Italy trust me ;) (might be partially true for Turkey) maybe in Italy there are a lot of tanneries? Maybe the most famous fashion houses still produce many of their clothes in Italy? Just saying...

Good luck with the sale!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

RollerC

New in Town
Messages
8
Great jacket you put your hands on but I don’t get the passage where you say that today LVC focuses more on cost cutting than quality by producing jackets in Italy and Turkey. ehm if you want to save money you certainly don’t move production to Italy trust me ;) (might be partially true for Turkey) maybe in Italy there are a lot of tanneries? Maybe the most famous fashion houses still produce many of their clothes in Italy? Just saying...

Good luck with the sale!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks Mich486! The situation is there’re many cheap leather goods factories in Italy and many chinese factories actually moved the entire factory with workers to Italy because they want the ‘made in Italy’ label. That’s why no matter high or low end brands can easily ‘made in Italy’.(Randomly check a shopping mall, they are all over the market). But Made In UK is still rare, especially for British-family-own-business like Aero they’d certainly not emply low-paid craftsman from mainland china(not even able to communicate).

But for Tanneries it another story. Leather made in Italy is still very good and the price make sense.
Cheers Bro!
 

Kuro

Practically Family
Messages
716
I really like that jacket. Thank you for sharing it here for us to enjoy!

One of these without the painting on the back may be my next jacket I look for, and preferably with minimal wear and tear like this one. I believe I have seen them without the painting on the back? Either way, a small does not fit me.

I suppose this is a round about way to say if anyone has one in my 42 size, feel free to let me know.
 
Last edited:

Thebuzzard

One of the Regulars
Messages
138
Hello, this is the prototype of the famous Aero x LVC horsehide jacket, the rarest & only coloured version you can find. This very limited edition masterpiece maybe well-known among you collectors, but the whole story with exact timeline(and versions out there) remains a mystery. I spent years researching on this jacket and got official reply from the founder of Aero Leather, Mr. Ken Calder to complete all missing pieces of puzzle. Here is the story:
dscf8263-copy-2.jpg
dscf8258-copy.jpg

Aero Leather produced this jacket for Levis Vintage Clothing in 2000, at that time they focused on quality more than cost and made this horse leather jacket in UK (instead of the lampskin and Turkish/Italian made LVC nowaday). The whole production took place inside UK, even the screen-print process was took place in Harrogate so you can imagine why the retail price was set around £600 back in 2001(but still sold out within days).
5536193022-02a14203a6-b-copy.jpg

And it was named ‘50s...’ because they were actually reproducing the 1950’s Levis jacket that is still in Levis’ archive in San Francisco that you may see in Levis Vault Exhibition.
tumblr-inline-n1zljqdcn91qfex1b.jpg
tumblr-inline-n1zlk0jvp71qfex1b_orig.jpg

And the most fascinating part is they tried to reproduce a vintage print from a 1950’s BUCO j-82 biker(see image from history book ‘Motorcycle Jakcets: A Century of Leather Design’) to put on the back design. So the thunderbird print was supposed in full colour(but at the end they produced in white)so only the early version/design prototype has this feature and that’s THE ONE you are looking at.
dscf8263-copy-2.jpg
dscf8258-copy.jpg

mg-1304_1_orig.jpg

I purchased this stunning piece from a British collector who bought straight from Aero more than 10 years ago and he kept it packed very well(only wore a few times, almost brand new). Then i only took it for a shooting and the condition is still very good. If you are looking for the Aero x LVC jacket, this is the rarest one(probably one and only) as this is an early design version/prototype made.
dscf8295.jpg

dscf8278.jpg
dscf8291.jpg

Beside the full colour print, the red lining & antique levis tag is also different from those on street(all copies you found on ebay are in green lining and text-only tag). And there are 2 kinds of horsehide mixing together in this jacket which made it beautifully unique. The Aero Leather artisan Julie Leith signed her name inside the pocket tag(see the ‘JL’ ). This is a true collector piece that you can’t find anywhere else.
mg-1153-2_2_orig.jpg

Above is a sum-up of my research, feel free to ask question if you want to know more. It is a size small with 21.5’ back length, 16’ shoulder and 36’ chest. I have finished my research and shooting so now I am selling it for $900USD which is the same price i bought it. Thank you for your time.
Wow man, love this! If it were a large I'd rob a bank to get my hands on it!

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk
 
Messages
16,795
One of the coolest, most badass jackets I've ever seen. 10/10 piece. Kinda thing you don't haggle for. I'd consider it if it was my size. Good luck with the sale!
 

RollerC

New in Town
Messages
8
I really like that jacket. Thank you for sharing it here for us to enjoy!

One of these without the painting on the back may be my next jacket I look for, and preferably with minimal wear and tear like this one. I believe I have seen them without the painting on the back? Either way, a small does not fit me.

I suppose this is a round about way to say if anyone has one in my 42 size, feel free to let me know.

As i once met a Italian-American dealer in tradeshow, he got a few pieces without the back painting(he said those are also design samples from LVC/AERO). So it does exist, you may keep an eye on eBay. Good luck & Thanks!
 

RollerC

New in Town
Messages
8
Wow man, love this! If it were a large I'd rob a bank to get my hands on it!

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

Haha ya, medium(Tag: Regular) is the most common on eBay. And both small and large are hard to find.
bank robbery gotta be involved when the perfect jacket shows up haha
 

RollerC

New in Town
Messages
8
One of the coolest, most badass jackets I've ever seen. 10/10 piece. Kinda thing you don't haggle for. I'd consider it if it was my size. Good luck with the sale!

thanks!! ya the leather jackets before 2000's are much badass than those produced these days. Horsehide/cowhide is quite the key. Especially for collectors like us
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,074
Location
London, UK
One of these without the painting on the back may be my next jacket I look for, and preferably with minimal wear and tear like this one. I believe I have seen them without the painting on the back? Either way, a small does not fit me.

I suppose this is a round about way to say if anyone has one in my 42 size, feel free to let me know.

Keep an eye out for an Aero Bootlegger, which is basically the same jacket shape and cut (though the standard Bootlegger, if memory serves, is an Engineer cuff. I special -ordered mine as a button cuff).
 

Kuro

Practically Family
Messages
716
Thank you. I prefer the cut of the collar on this jacket vs the bootlegger. Basically I would like this jacket because it is a little different vs a bootlegger.


Keep an eye out for an Aero Bootlegger, which is basically the same jacket shape and cut (though the standard Bootlegger, if memory serves, is an Engineer cuff. I special -ordered mine as a button cuff).
 

Kuro

Practically Family
Messages
716
The collar is split from the lapel, there is an open "V" that separates them. On the bootlegger, and seemingly most of Aero jackets in the double rider style, the collar and the lapel meet. I could be wrong. But this collar and lapel style is interesting to me.

Lookin again, you're right - the collar is just a little wider / bigger on this, like the Rockefeller collar, I think .
 

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