Vintage german leather jackets on ebay.de

[Flat Foot Floey]

300€ each from the seller who sold a bunch of suits a few months back. The collected since the 90s and got much stuff in east germany after the wall was down.
The leather jackets have just been added. Many of them are of the doublebreasted kind that is sometimes called "Thälmann Jacke" or "Kutscherjacke". But there are other versions too.


DB Leatherjacket

Leatherjacket with belt
Letherjacket with zipper

There are more but the forum rules say one should only post single auctions and not sellers. Have a look for yourself

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Nice. €300 is a lot, though. Pity they're all huge, too!

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

I am not really a leather jacket fan but considering the fact that repros are pretty pricey to I would rather go for a vintage original. The seller was aiming at movie companies first since they need a selection in different sizes. I wouldn't call them "huge". Some of them are my size (40/42) Usually you have to wait a long time until a bigger size comes along.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Those leather jackets would look great with slim fit selvedge jeans!!!

 

[Metatron]

Is the mandarin collared jacket really 1930s?
That sleeve cigarette pocket looks very 1950s, I always assumed it was a feature derived from airforce jackets such as the B-15.
Of course it is just a pocket, so no real reason why someone wouldn't have put one there earlier.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The Gusum zips which seem to be original would certainly suggest a post-war date. As would the general look and "feel" of the jacket.

One of the problems of dating German leather jackets: they used exactly the same designs (mostly) pre- and post-war. I have a Kombi that you would swear was 20s/30s - very Rocketeer - but was bought in 1948 or '49 (the original owner couldn't remember exactly).

 

[Fastuni]

One of the problems of dating German leather jackets: they used exactly the same designs (mostly) pre- and post-war.

Yes.
The double breasted leather "Stutzer" (or often called "Thälmann" or "Kutscher" coat as Floey said) turn up very often on ebay and are usually post-war.
They were made well into the 60's (also the belted zipper jackets or the long wrap-around coats)... dating them can be tricky.

Rather interesting is the Scandinavian buttoned and belted SB jacket... too bad it is way too large.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

This fact may be a problem for the hobby historian but it is a gain for the vintage wearer. They would totally work with a 30s outfit.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yes certainly. My only issue with newer ones is less stylish and lower quality manufacture zippers. When no zippers are present, it's not an issue. I usually change out the buttons, though, for older ones.

Same goes with French workwear. Same styles and fabrics used for generations.

 

[Metatron]

I don't know if this is a correct assumption, but is it that Britain and especially Germany were postwar economically in dire straights compared to the US, which might account for the generally static situation in menswear design?

 

[Metatron]

would be an edit: Also you see the severe short back and sides haircut in footage and photos from Britain and Germany up to the late 1950s were in the US it seems it had become unfashionable.

 

[Fastuni]

@Metatron

Certainly the post-war situation in Europe resulted in a "slower evolution" of fashion as compared to the US.
However it shouldn't be neglected that the European (i.e. British and German) costumers were certainly more conservative in their fashion taste.
The contemporary sources confirm this... one can find articles from the post-war era in which the "Bold Look" and "Yankee fashion" is ridiculed and deemed largely a failure for the German market.
However by ca. 1950 Bold-Look influences were steadily creeping in...

@Floey

Yes, it is very good for the vintage wearer that 1930's designs were used for decades.
After all I also wear 1950's shirts and ties that easily pass as 30's.

BTW I have no doubt that most of the DB short-coats you linked are indeed pre-1950's.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

yes certainly. The two small-ish ones that I have sitting in my watch list are definitely early ones.