Warmth and protection, and cool visuals… they’re all important to motorcyclists! So for today’s V-Twins Sunday Run we’ll look at a little history of the biker’s Leather Jacket.
Without doubt, the leather jacket is a part of Harley-Davidson history too - a few years ago there was a huge jackets feature display at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.
Leather jackets remain arguably the most practical and safe item in a rider’s apparel wardrobe. The two reasons for the leather jacket’s origins are pretty obvious. Firstly, in the Northern hemisphere around the latitudes of middle-England and Europe and the Great Lakes States of the USA, where early motorcycles were invented and manufactured, winters are seriously cold. It’s icy, snowy, and windy, and no natural “fabric” is as windproof as leather.
Secondly, if you fall off the bike, no other natural material has the abrasion-resistance of deep-grain cow hide leather.
Things have changed now, of course, and some synthetics are proven effective in both warmth and abrasion control, and for summer riding are breathable and cooler. The heat factor inside a leather jacket can be a problem, but is mitigated in many styles by the addition of zip-open/close cooling vents and perforated leather.
But looking at the safety aspect, the abrasion resistance of quality leather is astonishing. Add some flexible shoulder, elbow and back armour, and we’re riding with confidence! After all, motorcycle racers – all the way up to MotoGP – still race in leather.
The perfect riding jacket first arrived in 1928, and it was called, in fact, Perfecto. Designed by Irving Schott and manufactured by American clothing company Schott NYC, it was the first jacket styled as shown in the photos here with crossover flaps for extra warmth, and the first with a zipper closure.
The Perfecto came to define the look of motorcycle jackets ever since, and H-D Motor Company introduced a similar style in 1947, called Cycle King, followed a little later by the Cycle Queen shaped and styled for women riders.
This crossover style of jacket - while remaining a riding essential to this day – has spread far and wide to become a styling and everyday fashion icon. It’s been worn by such famous folks as Marlon Brando in the 1953 movie The Wild One, James Dean, by punk rock pioneers The Ramones in the 1970s, Madonna, Harry Shearer in Spinal Tap, Rhianna, Daniel Craig, Cindy Crawford, Nick Jonas, The Terminator Arnie, and of course… Elvis.
Improvements over the decades include inner linings of fleece, or flannelette, or smooth polyester fabric or mesh, and sometimes removeable hoodies as an inner garment. The internal armour pockets or stitched-in armour are also relatively new additions, but the one learned from Airforce pilots in WW2… the “D-pocket”… came with the first Cycle King jackets in 1947.
“D-pockets” are one of the functional features, lowered and lengthened from the original Perfecto position, and angled so the “opposite” hand reached easily into the pocket.
Harley-Davidson continued the Cycle King and Cycle Queen styles amongst their range when the Genuine MotorClothes Division was launched in 1988. In addition to hugely expanding the rider-wear market and focusing on rider’s safety, the Company was awarded a Council of Fashion Designer's award, which recognized H-D MotorClothes for bringing the biker look to the ready-to-wear fashion market.
The crossover biker style has eased in popularity since the turn of the century as newer styling takes preference, and current jackets offer improved features and benefits for riders.
But in just one place in the world, we can still buy a Genuine Harley-Davidson Cycle King leather jacket. It’s on offer sometimes at the H-D Museum in Milwaukee, still called Cycle King, and still looking “right” for old-school riders. It’s a long way to go to get one though!