Leather jackets have long been a fashion staple. Practical and stylish, they’re also the top choice for bikers.
But when did motorcyclists start wearing leather jackets, and why?
Before the bikers
Today, leather jackets and motorcycles are deeply intertwined in the public consciousness, but the first leather jackets—produced in the early 20th century—were actually made for the pilots who took to the skies during World War I.
Flying at high altitude in an open cockpit can get very cold indeed, so those wartime aviators needed some seriously heavy-duty outerwear. Leather was an obvious choice: it’s very durable, it offers a decent level of weather resistance, and because leather is so dense, it provides plenty of insulation.
These early leather jackets were belted and double-layered for warmth, with buttons rather than a zipper for fastening.
From the sky to the road
In the 1920s, the first leather jackets specifically intended for bikers started to materialise (first in the USA, and then in Europe).
Why was leather chosen for these garments? Well, protection from cold was still a key factor—but more importantly, leather is hard-wearing and resistant to tearing. These properties make leather ideal for withstanding the debris kicked up by cars on the road, and excellent for protection against abrasions and road rash if a rider comes off his bike.
At some point in the leather jacket’s transition from the sky to the road, the original button-closure design was replaced with a zipper. This new design, which combined practicality with style, was quickly adopted by individual bikers as well as by motorcycle clubs, and the leather jacket soon became synonymous with biker culture.
Our enormously popular Board Racer and Cafe Racer jackets do a great job of capturing the thrill-seeking attitude of those early motorcycle enthusiasts.
Leather-clad bikers on the silver screen
In 1953, a young Marlon Brando stared in The Wild One, a film that is now regarded as a cult classic. He played outlaw motorcyclist Johnny Strabler, a member of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club.
Brando’s character sported long sideburns and a leather motorcycle jacket, sparking a craze for both and permanently cementing the cultural connection between leather jackets and bad boys on bikes. In certain parts of both the USA and the UK, leather biker jackets were even banned from sale for a time because they had become emblematic of hoodlums and rebels.
In the 1980s, we at Aero were commissioned by London’s Madame Tussauds to recreate the iconic jacket worn by Brando in The Wild One. You can click the link below to order your very own replica of this classic jacket.
Aero Motorcycle Jacket
Just a couple of years after The Wild One was released, leather-clad movie star James Dean died in a car crash at the tragically young age of 24. This sad event only helped leather jackets to become even more symbolic of edgy, risk-taking youth.
Rock and roll
Thanks to its new association with cool counter-culture, the popularity of the leather jacket continued to rise even among non-bikers.
In particular, rock musicians now adopted the motorcycle jacket style for themselves. A stylish, practical and rebellious clothing item, leather jackets combined the best aspects of fashion with the kind of attitude that wild young rock stars were keen to portray to the world.
One such jacket was worn by the King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley. We’ve faithfully recreated the leather jacket that Elvis wore as he sat astride his Harley in this famous photo—get your own handmade replica of Elvis’s jacket at the link below.
Aero’s Elvis Jacket
Leather jackets today
Leather jackets have continued to gain popularity since the 1950s, and despite the shift in cultural attitudes over the decades, they remain a symbol of rebellion and youthfulness. Those early associations with motorcyclists have proved strong, and with bikers still donning the leather jacket to this day, they’ve remained the demographic most associated with it.
The iconic image of the leather-clad biker has also been a continued presence in cinema over the decades. Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Tom Cruise in Top Gun are just a few memorable examples of silver screen bikers who have contributed to our association of leather with motorcycles.
The design and construction of vintage leather jackets remains the gold standard—both in style and function, for bikers and non-bikers alike. Modern jackets simply don’t compare to the designs of the past.
Here at Aero, we offer a range of faithful recreations along with our own designs using the best elements of the era, made to order.
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