Photos of cool jackets owned by others (non-brand specific)

[Monitor]

I don't think that's Horween anyway. Probably that UK hide. Either way, it can be yours!

https://www.springfellows.de/epages/78079940.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/78079940/Products/05757

 

[Superfluous]

That is because people here own too many leather jackets and never really put serious wear on any one jacket.

 

[Peter Bowden]

Someday my Highwayman... will never look like this.

That looks like the definition of patina to me-gorgeous!

 

[Seb Lucas]

It really gets me how many original WW2 A-2s turn up splattered or speckled with white paint. My gawd did so many vets really return home and paint their houses while wearing their issue A-2s. Guess so...jeeze

It's curious isn't it? My dad is 95 this year. He tells me that army gear was given and sold cheaply to tradesmen in the forties during the post war housing construction boom. I'm sure many uniforms ended up being used as workwear by carpenters and painters right into the 1950's.

 

[handymike]

I don't think that's Horween anyway. Probably that UK hide. Either way, it can be yours!

https://www.springfellows.de/epages/78079940.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/78079940/Products/05757

Yep, Connolly.
Too bad they don't use it anymore...
Some nice colors:

 

[ProteinNerd]

Yep, Connolly.
Too bad they don't use it anymore...
Some nice colors:
View attachment 111117

Do we know why they stopped using Connelly leather?

 

[dubpynchon]

The company went bust as far as I know. They used to supply the leather for Rolls Royce car seats as well apparently, very high end.

 

[handymike]

Story goes it got too expensive.

 

[A-1]

It's curious isn't it? My dad is 95 this year. He tells me that army gear was given and sold cheaply to tradesmen in the forties during the post war housing construction boom. I'm sure many uniforms ended up being used as workwear by carpenters and painters right into the 1950's.

Well, I think that a lot of them weren’t that nostalgic and romantic about the war. Some of them would rather like to leave it behind and forget about it, I could imagine. I also think these old photos look superb and I love them, but the people in there mostly were leading a very hard-working life unlike many of us probably. They probably had two sets of clothes. One for work and the other for church and going out. That’s it. I don’t think they’d be having a thread about perfect sleeve length or discussion pages about the right amount of patina...

 

[Monitor]

Well, turns out that the HWM I posted above is in fact NOT Connolly but something called Alaskan Steerhide which for all intents and purposes doesn't make any difference since none of the hides are being used anymore but... Good to know!

 

[dannyk]

Well, turns out that the HWM I posted above is in fact NOT Connolly but something called Alaskan Steerhide which for all intents and purposes doesn't make any difference since none of the hides are being used anymore but... Good to know!

On Aeros sales page they have under the used on the second last row all the way to the right they have a highwayman made in whatever Alaskan steeehide is. Unless of course that’s where you got the pictures from haha. But unfortunately the description doesn’t really give away much other than it’s not available anymore and that it is apparently a heavy hide.

 

[rocketeer]

I don't think that's Horween anyway. Probably that UK hide. Either way, it can be yours!

https://www.springfellows.de/epages/78079940.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/78079940/Products/05757

Thats a great site, stacks of things I would like but some of the pricing is wayyyyyyy off especially this 1990s made in Pakistan. Just who are they selling to, the Trendies?
Looks a great shop to visit but there is no address

https://www.springfellows.de/epages/78079940.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/78079940/Products/05182&ViewAction=ViewProduct&SearchParams={"Stil":"UK+Rocker"}

You can tell this is a modern jacket, still produced today for the budget conscious by the centre panel. This way the jacket can be made for a male style jacket with a right hand off set zip or a female left hand offset zip.

 

[rocketeer]

That is because people here own too many leather jackets and never really put serious wear on any one jacket.

Easy, just wear it a lot doing ordinary things, don't abuse it but don't baby it either which a lot of people do. Hence so many high end jackets described as 'Hardly worn 10 year old jacket', 'Like new' etc appear on various sales sites

 

[Edward]

It's curious isn't it? My dad is 95 this year. He tells me that army gear was given and sold cheaply to tradesmen in the forties during the post war housing construction boom. I'm sure many uniforms ended up being used as workwear by carpenters and painters right into the 1950's.

Same over here. My paternal grandfather did some relief driving at the airport during the war (nobody in my direct family line was actually involved in the fighting - conscription didn't extend to Northern Ireland for obvious reasons). At the end of the war, he bought a bunch of pilots' bits as surplus; somewhere I have the gauntlets and the RAF goggles he wore as motorcycle gear. No idea if he ever owned an Irvin - if it did, I've never seen any photos, and it was long gone before I knew anything of it.

Well, I think that a lot of them weren’t that nostalgic and romantic about the war. Some of them would rather like to leave it behind and forget about it, I could imagine.

Completely. We've all largely grown up in a popular culture that has heavily, heavily romanticised the war. Heck, here in London they're forever going on about the "Blitz Spirit", all holding together to stick it to Jerry and all that. Nobody talks about the extensive looting or even the rapes that went on undercover of the blackout. I'd imagine it's similar as to how - the occasional flying jacket aside, maybe - most of the veterans on this site aren't in a hurry to wear or recreate the gear they wore into combat in Nam, Iraq, and such - and yet there are already reenactor communities already doing not only Nam but the first Gulf War conflict. I suppose we're further away now from that first Gulf War of 90/91 (Desert Shield / Desert Storm) than we were in time from Vietnam when the wave of Hollywood films about it first hit.

I also think these old photos look superb and I love them, but the people in there mostly were leading a very hard-working life unlike many of us probably. They probably had two sets of clothes. One for work and the other for church and going out. That’s it. I don’t think they’d be having a thread about perfect sleeve length or discussion pages about the right amount of patina...

Nail/head.

 

[rocketeer]

Same over here. My paternal grandfather did some relief driving at the airport during the war (nobody in my direct family line was actually involved in the fighting - conscription didn't extend to Northern Ireland for obvious reasons). At the end of the war, he bought a bunch of pilots' bits as surplus; somewhere I have the gauntlets and the RAF goggles he wore as motorcycle gear. No idea if he ever owned an Irvin - if it did, I've never seen any photos, and it was long gone before I knew anything of it.



Completely. We've all largely grown up in a popular culture that has heavily, heavily romanticised the war. Heck, here in London they're forever going on about the "Blitz Spirit", all holding together to stick it to Jerry and all that. Nobody talks about the extensive looting or even the rapes that went on undercover of the blackout. I'd imagine it's similar as to how - the occasional flying jacket aside, maybe - most of the veterans on this site aren't in a hurry to wear or recreate the gear they wore into combat in Nam, Iraq, and such - and yet there are already reenactor communities already doing not only Nam but the first Gulf War conflict. I suppose we're further away now from that first Gulf War of 90/91 (Desert Shield / Desert Storm) than we were in time from Vietnam when the wave of Hollywood films about it first hit.



Nail/head.

A bit off topic Edward but here goes.
Yes we tend to romanticise the war and all through the era's we call 'Golden Era's. We love our leather jackets but forget people died wearing them, some had great experiences during the conflicts, others terrible loosing friends and family.
Crime amongst the good guys (the allies) is one of the few subject that compared to heroism is rarely found in print, not impossible to find but has anyone published a book solely about serious crime that may have affected moral on the home front?
I read this in one of those Sunday supplements, may have been the News of the World a paper not scared to dig up a saucy tale to entertain the readers. Included was the well known tale of the US serviceman and his girlfriend whom murdered a taxi driver but were caught. The Main evidence being the taxi was found parked on the right hand side of the road, indication it may have been an American from the local airbase who parked it rather than the taxi driver.
It may seem morbid but one of my favourite stories was about a serving soldier granted a home leave to which he suspected his wife was in a relationship with another man. He came home found out it was true and killed the woman by battering her then dumped the body on a bomb site. He would have probably got away with it but for the fact the murderer in question went back a short time later, fearing the woman was not dead the stabbed her a few times. A body found in a bombed out house I don't suppose would have aroused to much suspicion immediately, but with stab wounds?
Another funny story was about a sailor who went AWOL because he didn't want his mother to find his stash of pornographic material. In his haste to pack on his last day of leave the sailor forgot to pack these things(magazines/dirty postcards or photo's) and went back for them. Filth safely retrieved he then had to explain to his c/o why he was late back for duty.
Yes like many things we remember fondly, we tend to cherry pick the good bits and leave the bad behind. Someone on here once wrote that from all the old folk he had spoken to about the war, both the good and the bad times, no one wanted to really live through them again.

 

[Big J]

@Edward, interesting post. I always find re-enactment/living history of things within living memory to be somewhat in poor taste. WWI living history without the trench foot and rats, just for one night? WWII living history; well no one wants to reenact the people interned in concentration camps.
It's all just a big excuse for dressing up really, and then creating systems to rationalize that IMHO. By contrast, we have good Roman records of how the Roman Army was equipped and operated on the march, so reenacting that could have value since we could learn something that wasn't recorded and no one is alive to tell us.
But our records of modern conflicts are complete enough with first hand accounts that I doubt there is anything to be learned by trying to 'live' the less dangerous parts of it for 48 hours or so.

@rocketeer, that's also a good post. A few years ago I researched crimes reported during the first six months of the US occupation, and compared them to crimes in Kobe after the massive earthquake there, and found that the corresponding increase in reported rapes was staggering. It didn't seem to be so much about race or culture or winning the war, but opportunity. When the lights go out, the veneer of civilization vanishes, and your neighbors will do terrible things to you. AND society will deny your experience and create 'we all stuck together myths' so they don't have to look the problem in the face.

Speaking of the U.K. in WWII, there was that serial rapist/murderer. Tim Roth played him in a TV Mini-series, he was really nasty.

 

[handymike]

 

[rocketeer]

@Edward

Speaking of the U.K. in WWII, there was that serial rapist/murderer. Tim Roth played him in a TV Mini-series, he was really nasty.

That was John Christie. He was a bit more notorious for what he did after the war. His case was put forward as one of the reasons to abolish execution in England due to the wrongful conviction of Timothy Evans for what Christie had done.

 

[Big J]

@Edward, yes! That's the guy! Watched it on demand here a couple of months back, scared the hell out of me! Roth was creepy as hell!
As an aside, a Japanese friend once told me that Halloween would never really catch on in Japan because Japan has 'real monsters'. The amount of body parts that turn up in suitcases, women in rivers, and parts of children in garbage sacks that turn up in the news make me think he might be right.

 

[rocketeer]

And now.......Back to the jackets