Do Millennials appreciate Classic Vintage Biker Jackets?

[nick123]

It’s a wacky place!

I love it though. Maybe my favorite place in SoCal. I work there too. If you run into me I refuse to allow you to call me a millenial.

 

[handymike]

Santa Monica would be fantastic if it weren't for all the Westsiders and those darn electric scooters littering the streets and boardwalk.....

 

[miglan30]

Leather jackets have never been particularly mainstream as everyday wear, at least not since the 40's and such. I don't think Millenials have anything to do with it in that sense. If anything, those things are more popular now as (I hate using this word) hipster trends go mainstream or seep into common fashions. Look at modern motorcycle jacket makers, almost all of them have heritage or classic lines now, didn't use to be that way.

 

[navetsea]

I think there are people who care and dont care about what they wear in every generation the differences tho the younger generation is very vocal about their passion made possible by social media and youtube.

I still dont get how many ruined 21+ oz jeans within a year wearing posted online... that is to me is as mind blowing as ancient aliens, and flat earthers.

 

[El Marro]

I was at the Peet’s coffee near my house a couple months ago in the morning and an attractive young barista complimented me on my leather jacket. That day I happened to be wearing my Langlitz Columbia and I was a bit surprised that she noticed and appreciated it because it is not particularly flashy or noteworthy to most people. The next day I went in there wearing my Langlitz Cascade and I was shocked and delighted when she said “oh wow, that’s a different really nice leather jacket you have on today”.
I think what miglan30 said is correct and there are not many people of any age group who appreciate or care much about leather jackets. That’s why it always is a nice surprise when we come across one of them.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

My dad is a baby boomer. Be couldn’t give a rats ass about leather jackets and vintage style.

Most people i work with are gen x’ers. They couldn’t give a rats ass about leather jackets and vintage style.

I don’t know any personally but i assume some millenials do care about leather jackets and vintage style. Dudewhattheheck takes the time to maintain a blog about it.

Generalizing about people based on their age is boring.

Agreed. From what I have observed, this interest is fairly age-independent.

 

[Big J]

My first response to this question was 'who cares?'
Then I thought a little longer.
I guess we're talking about US millenials and not the same age group in say, sub-Saharan Africa or something.
I guess that you have to have some disposable income to feed this interest meaning that if you haven't got a trust fund, you're either living with your parents, or around 40.
I think that any 'recent' interest by 'hipsters' has largely passed as they've all moved on to the next 'big thing' already.
Even the chain stores riding on the coat tails of that trend have moved on, and their customers couldn't afford 'real vintage anyway, but rather impressions of it. Which doesn't really matter since their customers were never after the 'vintage look' because they liked vintage, their customers wanted it because the stars of instagram (or whatever) were sporting the image in the real thing.
I don't believe that there was ever a mass appreciation of genuine vintage.
It's just the fashion 'machine' latching onto something and exploiting it before moving onto the next thing.
It's unfair to lump all millenials together, but insofar as I don't care what most people think or do, I'm not sure millenials deserve any special consideration.
All generations go through the same phase of finding 'looks' that they feel 'define' them, and when they get a little older and have more responsibilities they start to conform more to wider social norms and expectations. It's been studied a lot, it's called Maturation Effect.
However cool they think they are now, they vast majority will be indistinguishable from their parents by the time they hit 40.
It's why expectations that successive generations of young people will 'change the world' because 'they are different' have never come true.

 

[zebedee]

I think we mostly end up being fiscally conservative and socially liberal (which may, in itself, be the most conformist statement ever). I tend to like clothing that lasts and that I don't need to replace, and I am also getting toward a stage where I just want one or two examples of those things to bowl around in.

I think age means different things to different people: I'm certain that the media - social, mainstream and fringe - has had a huge effect on accelerating the speed of changes that actually matter and making us all hesitant and anxious about the pace of changes that don't. Knowing the difference can be a real test.

To me, the obscure danger has been the assumption of expertise in things. It used to be people becoming 'expert' in things they'd read a chapter on; now it's expertise because people have seen a meme.

I am 40 and don't much like the Brando-esque biker jacket (too many zips). I wish I fit my cafe racer jacket better, but I'm a half-belt man.

 

[jonesy86]

My daughter liked Zara well enough until I got her a 80s Schott 118 Perfecto.
No one wears leather jackets around here but me.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Downunder G Man]

My first response to this question was 'who cares?'
To quote Big J..I hear ya and had EXACTLY the same first response !!
After a bit of further thought I STILL FEEL THE SAME..

I have had leather jackets since my early 20's ( now 60 !) and have NEVER been a "fashion" type of guy.
To quote from Nicholas cage in Wild at Heart :

"This is a snakeskin jacket! And for me it's a symbol of my individuality, and my belief in personal freedom."

I would quote that exact line to any babes who questioned my "leather jacket" wearing.
That was my first Eastman Luftwaffe nearly 30 years ago....

 

[Downunder G Man]

It seems to meme that leather jackets are worn by a lot of actors and in a lot of movies, mainly. It's a cliché item of clothing to create The Look.

Hey , I resemble that remark haha...

( NOT resent !)

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[gzmavian]

I hope I'm correct in saying that the leather biker jacket is an American icon made most popular by the Brando, McQueen, and James Dean imagery. It was associated with counterculture and misfits potentially looking for trouble (biker gangs of the 60's and '70's). The look will always be to popular to many, trendy to others, and unnoticed by some. Nothing is more flattering than someone complimenting you on your style or noting the great vintage jacket your wearing.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I hope I'm correct in saying that the leather biker jacket is an American icon made most popular by the Brando, McQueen, and James Dean imagery. It was associated with counterculture and misfits potentially looking for trouble (biker gangs of the 60's and '70's). The look will always be to popular to many, trendy to others, and unnoticed by some. Nothing is more flattering than someone complimenting you on your style or noting the great vintage jacket your wearing.

I think that first bit is a simplification. Leather jackets have been a hugely popular costume item in movies and people imitate actors. Jackets have been used to suggest the wearer is cool or tough. It has become a visual cliché. Someone should write a thesis on the overuse of leather jackets in action movies.

I think that's why people may laugh when older men put on leather jackets. It can look a bit gauche and try hard. Our former Prime Minister wore a leather jacket on a TV interview show and people joked about it for years.

As for millennials - not sure they are much different to any other age group. The times just change the modes of expression. Some small groups are into leather jackets or vespas or knives in the manner of most post-war subcultures. It's just that we couldn't Instagram the shit out of everything.

 

[dannyk]

What’s funny to me is the icons of the look the young Dean, and Brando, in music The Ramones and Springsteen. Not that Bruce or the surviving Ramones are young now but the classic photos of them they were all young guys. Throw a young Joan Jett in the mix as well for the female look. Again young and rebellious. But getting a custom made or really nice vintage score is super expensive for a lot of people, let alone the young. For as much as it’s become an icon for the young and rebellious a real not some “cheap mall” jacket is really unattainable for 90% of the young people. So To piggyback on a lot of comments here I don’t know if it’s necessarily a generational thing, or culture change thing as much as it is a cost thing. Some people under 40 can afford it but overwhelming majority can’t. And as time marches on there are less and less surviving thrift or unknowledgable folks cleaning out dads closet and throwing up the leather jacket on eBay for next to nothing. So that Avenue shrinks all the time. Which is why TFL has a lot of over 40 members I imagine, guys who couldn’t when they were young and now have good jobs or are retired and can buy all the things they couldn’t when younger.

 

[nick123]

What’s funny to me is the icons of the look the young Dean, and Brando, in music The Ramones and Springsteen. Not that Bruce or the surviving Ramones are young now but the classic photos of them they were all going guys. Throw a young Joan Jett in the mix as well for the female look. Again young and rebellious. But getting a custom made or really nice vintage score is super expensive for a lot of people, let alone the young. For as much as it’s become an icon for the young and rebellious a real not some “cheap mall” jacket is really unattainable for 90% of the young people. So To piggyback on a lot of comments here I don’t know if it’s necessarily a generational thing, or culture change thing as much as it is a cost thing. Some people under 40 can afford it but overwhelming majority can’t. And as time marches on there are less and less surviving thrift or unknowledgable folks cleaning out dads closet and throwing up the leather jacket on eBay for next to nothing. So that Avenue shrinks all the time. Which is why TFL has a lot of over 40 members I imagine, guys who couldn’t when they were young and now have good jobs or are retired and can buy all the things they couldn’t when younger.

Or you can be foolish and spend money that should go to important things on jackets. *looks in mirror.

 

[Bfd70]

I was at the Peet’s coffee near my house a couple months ago in the morning and an attractive young barista complimented me on my leather jacket. That day I happened to be wearing my Langlitz Columbia and I was a bit surprised that she noticed and appreciated it because it is not particularly flashy or noteworthy to most people. The next day I went in there wearing my Langlitz Cascade and I was shocked and delighted when she said “oh wow, that’s a different really nice leather jacket you have on today”.
I think what miglan30 said is correct and there are not many people of any age group who appreciate or care much about leather jackets. That’s why it always is a nice surprise when we come across one of them.

The jacket hobby is about to get REAL expensive. 9,000 cups of coffee later...

 

[breezer]

fashions change
fashions come back around
it all end up in landfill anyway
don't worry about it

 

[The Jackal]

I determined at some point that trying to follow a fashion trend is just something I'm unable to do.
I do one of two things: dress as comfortable as possible, or dress how I like regardless of what anyone thinks.

 

[ProteinNerd]

I think the thing we tend to forget is we are the outliers, we are "the weirdos" obsessed with leather jackets.
Most normal people from any age demographic don't give a seconds thought about them....ever!

I actually see more millennials in leather jackets (not necessarily good ones) than guys my age (Gen X), so I guess they are "in" to some degree at the moment but I'd assume 99% of them will stop wearing them as soon as something else is "in".

 

[Bushman]

I appreciate them, I just wish I could find one that didn't end at my navel with arms 4 inches too long. I was born in '93, and I'd have to say I see more people born in my age group generally MORE interested in vintage wear and leather (or leather-substitute) jackets than people born in the past two generations. For instance, most Gen Xers and late age Boomers (as my parents and their younger siblings were) that I know still are into dressing in their '80s and '70s wear. Lots of denim jackets, track jackets, and white gym shoes. I can find photos of my Dad (b. 1959) from the past 5 decades and he's wearing the same kind of white gym shoes in every one of them. I have only one family member outside my age range that I'd say has an actual interest in leather jackets and vintage wear and that's my uncle (Gen Xer). His son, my cousin, dresses similarly in vintage wear, though the last time I saw him he looked to be channeling a young Kenny Loggins.

Anyway, getting back to my main point, I notice a lot of my generation frequenting thrift shops for vintage wear. It's partly out of necessity. Frankly speaking, our generation is broke. Perhaps another reason we're moving towards leather substitutes is just because real leather is so damn expensive. We don't have $500 to drop on a single clothing item when there's bills to pay. Everything is already so ridiculously priced, we're not going to purposely buy something that costs us a quarter of our monthly rent.