Lewis Leathers Dominator Navy Horsehide

[konadog]

This thread inspired me to look at Lewis Leather. I live in Los Angeles and The Stronghold here is a US distributor of Lewis. I went into the shop today thinking the Dominator was the jacket for me. I ended up ordering a Corsair in the light brown sheepskin. The simplicity of the jacket is just beautiful. Re sizing, I went up a full size with planned alterations to slim the back and waist.

And fwiw, I really do not like logos on my clothes. For some reason the LL patch didn't bother me in any of the jackets I tried on. Will post pics in a few months when the jacket arrives.

 

[handymike]

I've been meaning to get over there for some time. Congrats! can't wait to see pictures once it arrives.

 

[Deleted member 16736]

FYI, you can request the pre-1970 square LL label, if you prefer that.

 

[Edgar Laurel]

FYI, you can request the pre-1970 square LL label, if you prefer that.

That seems good to me.

 

[red devil]

FYI, you can request the pre-1970 square LL label, if you prefer that.

Thanks for the info! I have been thinking about the lightning for some time

 

[rocketeer]

I've always wodnered if so many of us see a hint of the Luftwaffe look because we're remembering Battle of Britain and similar films made at the height of Lewis' sixties heyday, when they were often used as a stand-in for WW2 era pp leather jackets!

I saw this film, Battle of Britain in 1969 at the Dominion Theatre Tottenham Court Road, just a few hundred yards fro the old Lewis shop at Great Portland Street. Back then no one was jumping up and down identifying wrong era jackets or probably did not care either unless something was glaringly obvious(I'm thinking wristwatch on a Roman Soldier here)

I've never been able to put an exact year on it, but best as I can figure out, Aviakit were putting a 'Lewis Leathers' label on the chest of these jackets at least by 1968, so it's certainly not a 'new' feature in the way Barbour or Belstsaff suddenly became very blatant with a lot of their branding during the last decade.

Interesting to note about the Lewis patch. I see bike jacket wearers are not as pedantic as A2 wearers in the fact that Lewis will not make a historically correct jacket without labels on the front. I had an Aviakit jacket with no chest pockets, just the hand warmers but with zip sleeves that was not badged on the front. But alas he won't do that now.

Don't know if this has been quoted but 'sail cloth' as a clothing lining is just a heavy duty cotton lining and not actual cloth they make sails from. Most other jacket makers used something a little lighter weight or quilted.

 

[Edward]

My guess is Derek got fed up with competing with copy jackets, hence the non-negotiable branding. I know they had trouble with those 'Leather Monkey' guys that started off dealing in second hand Lewises, then shifted to also making their own copies, which they sold on eBay using the Lewis tags in the titling and such. As I recall, they had to ban them from the Lewis FB page too.

 

[Mich486]

There are Japanese copies that possibly look better than the originals (and cost also more). Would never buy though personally... that’s plain wrong.


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[Blackadder]

There are Japanese copies that possibly look better than the originals (and cost also more). Would never buy though personally... that’s plain wrong.


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Some of the Japanese "copies" were made in fact in England. For example, 666 leather jackets were made in England. They just have them made in Japanese fitting and re-sell them in Japan. IMHO they are copies as in copies of classic British motorcycle jacket design. For example, in the US the CHP jackets, the Brando one star jackets they are all classic designs that are produced and reproduced by various manufacturers.

 

[Fanch]

This thread inspired me to look at Lewis Leather. I live in Los Angeles and The Stronghold here is a US distributor of Lewis. I went into the shop today thinking the Dominator was the jacket for me. I ended up ordering a Corsair in the light brown sheepskin. The simplicity of the jacket is just beautiful. Re sizing, I went up a full size with planned alterations to slim the back and waist.

I think the Dominator and Corsair patterns are virtually identical; either model can be ordered with one, two, or no chest pockets. Had I ordered one, I would have ordered a Dominator with only one chest pocket on the left side with the LL patch just above it. The only essential difference between the Dominator and Corsair is the orientation of the handwarmer pockets, with those of the Dominator being more vertically orientated than those of the Corsair. When I tried on both jackets, I found the more vertically oriented handwarmer pockets of the Dominator suited me better. A small point perhaps. You can look at pictures on their website to see what I am saying.

 

[ProteinNerd]

Very cool jacket but the label kills it for me, it just bugs me.

 

[Edward]

Some of the Japanese "copies" were made in fact in England. For example, 666 leather jackets were made in England. They just have them made in Japanese fitting and re-sell them in Japan. IMHO they are copies as in copies of classic British motorcycle jacket design. For example, in the US the CHP jackets, the Brando one star jackets they are all classic designs that are produced and reproduced by various manufacturers.

It's a lot like Schott, really. It's sort of funny now that it seems so odd to see Lewis / Aviakit copies in that back at their peak in the 60s, there was a huge leather jacket industry in the UK, much of which thrived on designs very close to Lewis' classics. The Highwayman branded jackets by Rivett's of Leytonstone (which Lewis later bought, though I can't figure out exactly when, I think maybe early 70s; the name certainly disappeared around then) were a range that was almost identical to Lewis for a long time (from what I've seen, depending on the design it was not always one or the other than came up with it first). On some scenes, especially London speedway, Lewis and Rivetts were the two big names, and you had one or the other....

Of the contemporary copyist labels, one of the cutest I saw was a Japanese one that copied the original font for the Highwayman, but was style 'Mywayman', this label being on a copy of Sid Vicious' Dominator. Posthumously Sid is known for the Perfecto style, a la his hero Dee Dee Ramone, but he only got that jacket in early 78 when he first went to the US; much more of his life was spent in the old Lewis.

I'd love to know where in England the likes of 666 are made; I often wondered if some of them were made by Lewis themselves, given how much of the British leather jacket industry collapsed around ten years after the British motorcycle industry largely died off. I guess they're mostly seen as "Lewis copies" these days because Lewis were the first to resurrect those classic designs from the sixties heyday, and they established the cool factor of so many of them. I don't know where the LM jackets are made, though they do look nice. I'd be tempted by one, especially if they started doing them with pockets for armour, but for the sour taste of their playing fast and loose with the Lewis name in their own marketing. (I have no issue with the design copies, which has always been perfectly legal). I've been intrigued by Lewis' collaboration with Urban Rider on the armoured jackets; one day, I'd love to have an armoured Lightning, preferably without the extraneous zip-pocket on the sleeve. I know it's something of a Lewis TM and it was introduced across the range in the mid-Sixties, but I much prefer the original look of the Lightning without it, as released in 58.

I think the Dominator and Corsair patterns are virtually identical; either model can be ordered with one, two, or no chest pockets. Had I ordered one, I would have ordered a Dominator with only one chest pocket on the left side with the LL patch just above it. The only essential difference between the Dominator and Corsair is the orientation of the handwarmer pockets, with those of the Dominator being more vertically orientated than those of the Corsair. When I tried on both jackets, I found the more vertically oriented handwarmer pockets of the Dominator suited me better. A small point perhaps. You can look at pictures on their website to see what I am saying.

The differences between the Corsair and the Dominator are the pocket placements exactly, and the lack of chest pockets on the Corsair. I'm pretty certain that at one point in time the Corsair also had epaulettes, but I may be misremembering. The Plainsman is also on the same pattern, distinguished from the other two by having a straight yoke front and back in order to accommodate fringing. Not something I'd wear on a jacket generally, through money no object I'd have one to replicate the Tim Curry Dr Frank'n'furter jacket.

Very cool jacket but the label kills it for me, it just bugs me.

I'm sort of indifferent to it. They've been around since 68 (the older, rectangular label, later replaced by the current oval one); branding on bike gear seems to have become more common earlier than other leathers. Were it a choice I'd go without, but it's not a dealbreakers for me. I imagine it could be rendered vastly less visible in a few minutes with a cloth and a touch of nail varnish remover. I remember my dad doing that for an old work briefcase that my mother used years ago.