What was your first leather jacket?

[Dredgen Yor]

Very cool to hear and see your stories! My wife showed me an old picture with the first leather jacket I can remember that wasn’t from the gap or hollister, it was when we first started dating and it is still her favorite, tho long moved on, it was a schott 626 collaboration with lucky.

 

[cbez]

oh wait I did find it I think this was my first. I forgot they all had the split back seam.

 

[MrProper]

The first leather jacket I remember was a black bomber/baseball jacket in 1985 or 1986 with knitted cuffs and hem.
Someone had given it to me as a present and it didn't fit him anymore (it didn't fit me perfectly either). I then sold it to buy an M-65

 

[Peter Mackin]

Mascot cross zip ,red quilted lining,1974,absolutely loved it. Wore it non stop for years before I grew out of it. £29,00.i think it was size 34

 

[Al 916]

Kett Leather

It had fringes, I had hair

 

[AeroFan_07]

My first was a black version of this "JC-Pennys" monstrosity. This is "close" but not exactly it:

For all I know it might have been pigskin. Like many other Wilsons/Pennys/Sears/Mall jacket of the time, it was trying to be about 14 things at once. But hey - at least there were a lot of folks actually wearing some type of leather jacket, although most of there were cheaply made.

My first jacket I "loved" was a buddy in college's Excelled Crosszip, his actually had chains at both shoulders and an eagle hand-painted on the back. For sure something like this caused my life-long love of motorcycle jackets.

---And I have never recovered since.

 

[AeroFan_07]

Thanks, your post prompted me to search and I found one on the bay...

View attachment 621568

Did you pick this one up? Looks really good...

 

[rogueclimber]

Did you pick this one up? Looks really good...

No Harley in the garage anymore, and I won't wear a Harley jacket unless I have the Harley

I was seriously (still am) tempted!

 

[Buick]

The first I had was bought by my parents in the mid 80s and was a cheap a2 inspired black jacket from a mall. It didn’t last very well and ended up covered in mould after getting wet in the rain and me not knowing enough to care for it appropriately.

The first leather jacket I bought myself was a Lewis Leathers Monza

 

[Doctor Strange]

In 1981, inspired by Raiders, I got my first leather jacket at age 26. I don't have a picture, but it was an undistinguished, imported-from-Argentina black cowhide from a department store. Thin, smelly cowhide, A-2 style collar, basic brass zip with no windflap, slash pockets, side-waist straps. I paid around $50.

In 1983 I got my first serious leather jacket, a Schott 674, on sale at a downtown boutique for $99. At the time, there were four variants of this model: brown or black, both with either a faux-fur collar and lining or plain collar and quilted lining. I went for the brown fur version:



I wore the hell out of that jacket through several NY winters, and it eventually looked it. After it had hung unworn for years, I donated it to goodwill around 2001.

My next jacket, circa 1988, was a black Cooper cafe racer (also bought on sale for around $99) that never quite fit me right, and my ex ended up wearing it more than I did. There were no other leathers in the 90s.

After 9/11, my already longstanding interest in military jackets (e.g., I'd worn a couple of N3-Bs throughout high school and college) got pushed to eleven, and I joined the new online communities like this one and began seriously researching.

Both of my parents had served in WWII, Mom in the Marines and Dad in the Air Corps (as a photographer, not a flyer, but: "I always envied those snazzy leather jackets my flyboy buddies had!") To honor that, my sister and I got Dad a Bradley Associates A-2 replica. Anybody recall those? In those days, it was a pretty good, not entirely inaccurate cowhide jacket for $199. (And he pronounced it "exactly" like the jackets he'd handled in the war, which was a valuable lesson in not trusting distant memory.)



A few months later, I got my first "legit" repro. A Gibson & Barnes (stlll called "Flight Suits" then) Civil A-2 in black goatskin that cost $225.



This one has remained my most frequently worn leather jacket, despite the others that have come and gone over the last 23 years. And it's held up splendidly, the zip, knits, lining are all solid. I mean, I love my Good Wear too, but sometimes you just need more pockets!

 

[Yango]

This was in the early 80’s. A squeaky, quilt lined horsehide with snaps to do it up. Not the best for keeping the wind out on my motorcycle.

Some lowlife stole it a few years later.

 

[jchance]

$30 lamb A2 jacket from Goodwill. It was two sizes too big for me. I wore it for quite some time but I kept yearning for one that fits well. I later sold it for $70.

 

[handymike]

Something my dad bought me in the 80s after I stole his suede Members Only:

 

[handymike]

But…if you mean “first”, I guess this trucker in ‘73 is it.

…I’m still the same: white hair, aviators, Clark’s desert boots, and 70s jackets!

 

[TLW '90]

I only have a few leather jackets at the moment because I'm into wool a bit more.

This was my 1st leather jacket, an unissued 1990 dated Taylor's leather wear Chicago PD surplus jacket that I bought from Sportsmans guide for $250 about 4 years ago now.

As far as I'm concerned it's a great jacket, and I'm extremely happy with the fit which seems just right to me.
It's a quite utilitarian jacket in a bland dark brown color, but it's also very practical.

 

[morrison2951]

Vanson reddish tan HH Enfield.