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Vintage British Brands?

newtojackets

Practically Family
Messages
986
There has been plenty of discussion her about vintage American brands (mainly referring to brands that no longer exist) e.g. Buco, Bates, Brooks, Walter Dyer etc.

Who are some historic vintage British brands to keep in mind?

Ones that spring to my mind are interstate, highwayman and TT. Are there any others?
 

Marc mndt

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,354
There were many. A few that come to mind: D lewis / Lewis leathers, Oakleaf, Belstaff, Mascot, Highwayman, TT leathers, Rivetts, Speedman leathers, Luda clothing, Kett, Waddington Pirate, Interstate leathers.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,082
Location
London, UK
There has been plenty of discussion her about vintage American brands (mainly referring to brands that no longer exist) e.g. Buco, Bates, Brooks, Walter Dyer etc.

Who are some historic vintage British brands to keep in mind?

Ones that spring to my mind are interstate, highwayman and TT. Are there any others?

Goldtop is another. Quite a lot of police style leathers floating about from them (especially boots) as they were a supplier to English police forces at at time, 60s/70s. (There are, of course, also the jackets available under the revived Goldtop brand, which are very nice, particularly if you ride, owing to the option to have ppe armour in them.)

I've seen some nice Wolf-brand jacket in my time, though they'd all be a bit modern in style for me these days (late 70s / 1980s).

GTH turned up some interesting bits here and there. These days it's a house brand for Silverman's government & military surplus store here in East London, though I think it had an earlier incarnation as well.

There really are dozens, if not hundreds, of brands out there. All the big retailers like M&S did their own leathers at a time (St Michael; in Ireland and Glasgow we had St Bernard branded clothes from Dunnes, who I think did a few fashion leathers at a time). The better British stuff, though, was always the bike jackets. Quite a lot of those even into the eighties, mostly all long gone now as the British motorcycle industry diminished in the wake of the private car supplanting the motorcycle as working man's personal transport from really the 60s onwards. Most of them can be picked up fairly cheaply on eBay if you want to experiment; the big money only really attaches to Lewis & Highwayman. Mascots seem to be rising in price now, especially larger sizes; I suspect this is people wanting a vintage jacket being priced out of Lewis and Highwayman. Though the price of a new Lewis has now significantly outstripped what a used example will sell for.

You've already mentioned most of the brands they cover, but some useful information on this website - http://www.ringbell.co.uk/museum/LEW01.htm
 

Bonasera

One of the Regulars
Messages
134
There has been plenty of discussion her about vintage American brands (mainly referring to brands that no longer exist) e.g. Buco, Bates, Brooks, Walter Dyer etc.

Who are some historic vintage British brands to keep in mind?

Ones that spring to my mind are interstate, highwayman and TT. Are there any others?
Not as popular as Lewis leathers, but I've seen these brands

Eagle, Pride&Clarke, Danpark, MW leathers, bobo, John Pollock, Mike Lewis, Zohar, Fieldsheer
 

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