Brooks CR jacket dating?

[lina]

Looking around at Brooks jackets hoping for a deal and came across this one, with a less common back, but with the older tag. Just out of curiosity, wondering if anyone can place this style in relation to the more well known versions of the jacket.

 

[tmitchell59]

Here is a link to the 1973 Brooks catalog.

 

[lina]

Here is a link to the 1973 Brooks catalog.

Thanks Terry..

 

[Seb Lucas]

Brooks began in 1959. I have read that the 511 was Brook's first available jacket - I'm not sure if the center seam was there at the start or was a phase in the early 1970's. I'd be keen to learn how you identify the earliest versions and I suspect that most of the ones you see on eBay are from the 1970's. Their redesigned label went to black and white in 1979.

 

[ElMasChangon]

Here is a link to the 1973 Brooks catalog.

Hi Terry,

I've watched your YouTube videos and was wondering since you had a lot of experience with these Brooks jackets, if you knew how to best wash them? I have one with a slight smell.

I do not mind any shrinking as I think a snugger fit would be a good thing as well as a worn look with nice creases in the arms. But anyway, I look forward to any advice that have. Thanks

 

[jonesy86]

I washed my most recent one in the bathtub with regular laundry detergent, and warm water, then hung it to dry on a rack. I wore it a bit when it was still a little damp saw no shrinkage.

 

[Monitor]

Looking around at Brooks jackets hoping for a deal and came across this one, with a less common back, but with the older tag. Just out of curiosity, wondering if anyone can place this style in relation to the more well known versions of the jacket.

View attachment 209606 View attachment 209607 View attachment 209608

Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong but in my research, I've discovered that the earliest models had a black & gold Brooks label, a back panel seam and inside facing sleeve zippers, like on @tmitchell59's jacket in the catalog link.
That's the one I got, too.

Soon after, they merged the sleeve zippers with the back sleeve seam but haven't changed anything else on the jacket.

Little bit later on at some point, back panel seam disappeared as well and the gold lettering on the label got replaced with the yellow logo.
Another thing that disappeared from the yellow/black label is the "Made in USA". Brooks at some point began outsourcing production and many Brooks jackets we see online were probably made in Korea. Korea would later on re-use the Brooks patterns for different companies (like Gap!) but that's another story altogether.

The only significant change the jacket saw since was the removable furry liner and the new red and black label. And, most importantly, perhaps, the return of the "Made in USA"! This was sewn onto the label this time and remained there since.

There's a lot more info on Brooks on their current website. Supposedly, the Brooks cafe racer or the 511 Road Warrior as they call it, was first released in 1959...

https://www.brooksleather.com/about-us

 

[Seb Lucas]

I think the Korean Brooks have a pattern on the snaps instead of 'Brooks'. I did read somewhere that it was only a small percentage of them for a period in the 1970's.

I'd love to see a Gap version of it.

The new Brooks jackets are different in the details to the old ones - even using a much thicker hide, having an inside pocket and a slightly altered collar, YKK hardware.

Vanson's Mohawk model is pretty close to a modern recreation of the 511 Brooks pattern.

 

[Monitor]

I'd love to see a Gap version of it.

They're identical, except for the snaps. Even the leather seems similar on the ones I've seen. They're hard to find, though as the seller doesn't really list them either as Brooks or cafe racer leather jacket. It's usually either Gap leather jacket or just the generic leather jacket for those that aren't even branded.

I have read somewhere that any Brooks without the "Made in USA" sewn onto the main label or at least as an additional tag, is most probably made in Korea. But that bit of info could be wrong.

Here's my ancient Brooks. Yeah, practically unwearable but perfect for that worn out cafe racer jacket look that we think chicks dig but actually don't.

 

[Will Zach]

Practically unwearable but perfect for that worn out cafe racer jacket look that we think chicks dig but actually don't.

This quote needs to get framed somewhere... A lot of us (myself included) think this is a cool look and the chicks dig it, but they probably think it is just a beat-up, dirty jacket. Which it is, lol...

 

[zebedee]

This quote needs to get framed somewhere... A lot of us (myself included) think this is a cool look and the chicks dig it, but they probably think it is just a beat-up, dirty jacket. Which it is, lol...

A lot of women who don't wear leather don't like it on men. A lot of women who do wear leather see it as daft on men. There are subcultural exceptions. I think that all women (-1% or -2%) see a man owning more than one leather jacket as having additional problems.

But does that worry (or break through the delusion) of the male leather jacket-wearer? Nope. Denial is bliss.

I had a female colleague who often wore a lamb jacket to work. Naturally, it fit perfectly, suited her other clothing well and cost a third of what our jackets cost. I doubt she went on a forum to ask about fit. When she asked me about the LHB I was wearing at the time, I sincerely, desperately, consumingly wished I'd been wearing a Carhartt or something - anything - other than a leather jacket. 'Who cares what a woman thinks?' You may ask. Everyone. Especially you.

 

[handymike]

So true! My wife mentioned that she’d like to get some sort of leather jacket...but not like those “heavy” “awful” ones that I have.

 

[zebedee]

So true! My wife mentioned that she’d like to get some sort of leather jacket...but not like those “heavy” “awful” ones that I have.

I was talking to a bloke in my local bar and we were both wearing leather jackets. Both of us are in our early forties. "Hey," said a woman in her mid-thirties, "Can you pass my umbrella over here? It's on the back of that seat. Thanks. Sorry to interrupt your conversation- was it about your jackets?" She didn't even mean it rudely. But it wasn't a compliment, either. Leather jackets are awkward things.

 

[tmitchell59]

Hi Terry,

I've watched your YouTube videos and was wondering since you had a lot of experience with these Brooks jackets, if you knew how to best wash them? I have one with a slight smell.

I do not mind any shrinking as I think a snugger fit would be a good thing as well as a worn look with nice creases in the arms. But anyway, I look forward to any advice that have. Thanks

Thanks for thinking of me. I have no experience with washing leather jackets. I knew others do and would offer their knowledge.

The earliest Brooks have the two piece back as far as I know.

 

[Monitor]

I was talking to a bloke in my local bar and we were both wearing leather jackets. Both of us are in our early forties. "Hey," said a woman in her mid-thirties, "Can you pass my umbrella over here? It's on the back of that seat. Thanks. Sorry to interrupt your conversation- was it about your jackets?" She didn't even mean it rudely. But it wasn't a compliment, either. Leather jackets are awkward things.

Ouch..!

 

[zebedee]

Pain is just weakness leaving the body. Only it's not.

I've been on a drive to wear leather less often. Bit more Carhartt, more blue French chore jacket. I reckon that Brooks CR is wearable, and definitely so with appropriately-pale other clothing. I also think that a CR-style jacket bashed up and work looks a heck of a lot better than the cross-zip types (although they are also oddly impressive when thrashed to hell).

 

[Seb Lucas]

I was talking to a bloke in my local bar and we were both wearing leather jackets. Both of us are in our early forties. "Hey," said a woman in her mid-thirties, "Can you pass my umbrella over here? It's on the back of that seat. Thanks. Sorry to interrupt your conversation- was it about your jackets?" She didn't even mean it rudely. But it wasn't a compliment, either. Leather jackets are awkward things.

That's perfect and kind of says it all. The older guy who collects leathers is in the same questionable status as the guy of 40 who collects Star Wars action figures. Probably not someone a woman wants to get to know. As I've said before, the young women I know here call leather 'old man jackets.' They do seem to respond better to the Brooks cafe racer. The only thing sadder is a middle aged guy with a Porsche.

 

[zebedee]

That's perfect and kind of says it all. The older guy who collects leathers is in the same questionable status as the guy of 40 who collects Star Wars action figures. Probably not someone a woman wants to get to know. As I've said before, the young women I know here call leather 'old man jackets.' They do seem to respond better to the Brooks cafe racer. The only thing sadder is a middle aged guy with a Porsche.

Rotating what you wear is important to an extent. I try not to be the guy that always wears a leather jacket socially, but equally I wouldn't want to not wear something I like just because of what someone else might think. I'm lucky in that I don't collect leather jackets (I once owned several Aeros but I either sold them to friends who could afford them or gave them to friends who couldn't) and occasionally find it daft that I even own one! Most people like the style of CR jackets because they've been popularised recently, so I might accidentally convey the impression that I am somehow fashionable.

 

[Monitor]

The CR is definitely an essential piece nowadays. I wear it whenever I go out on a date to absolutely no effect whatsoever but it does make me feel better. As much as I love cross zips, I feel sometimes I'm overdoing it. Like Bloomberg.

That's perfect and kind of says it all. The older guy who collects leathers is in the same questionable status as the guy of 40 who collects Star Wars action figures. Probably not someone a woman wants to get to know. As I've said before, the young women I know here call leather 'old man jackets.' They do seem to respond better to the Brooks cafe racer. The only thing sadder is a middle aged guy with a Porsche.

I... Don't know about that. I mean, having a several, nice looking (meaning pricier) pieces of clothing in the wardrobe ought to be a big plus over a pile of crumpled, stretched out sweat pants, three hoodies and a dozen T-shirts. I think no woman'd see this as a negative thing. Star Wars figures are pretty dodgy but clothes only means you care, leather or not.

And I'm not talking about young girls. They'd be walking around naked if there wasn't for the fashion industry telling them what to wear so it's difficult to take any advice on clothes from someone whose style solely depends on what currently on the Z-day menu.

 

[jonesy86]

That's perfect and kind of says it all. The older guy who collects leathers is in the same questionable status as the guy of 40 who collects Star Wars action figures. Probably not someone a woman wants to get to know. As I've said before, the young women I know here call leather 'old man jackets.' They do seem to respond better to the Brooks cafe racer. The only thing sadder is a middle aged guy with a Porsche.

But, but, I like Star Wars action figures..I mean leather jackets.