Mens Leather Driving Jacket

A driving jacket is a lightweight waist length leather jacket with a zip front, a soft flat collar and almost no bulk, designed originally for open top motoring. It sits between a bomber and a cafe racer: quieter than a bomber, warmer than a cafe racer. This one is genuine lambskin with a quilted lining and an adjustable toggle waist, in brown or black, sizes XXS to 3XL.

What a driving jacket actually is, and where the name comes from

Early cars had no roof. Driving in one meant sitting still in moving cold air for an hour at a time, which is a specific problem: you are not exerting yourself, so you generate no heat, but you are exposed to constant wind. The jacket that solved it had to be windproof at the front, close enough at the waist that air could not get up underneath, and slim enough through the arms that you could still steer. It did not need to be heavy, because you were sitting down, and it did not need a big collar, because a big collar beats against your neck at speed. That is the driving jacket, and every element of the modern version traces back to it. Zip front, low soft collar, adjustable waist, light lining, nothing hanging off it.

An honest note on the name

You will see this shape sold as a driving jacket, a blouson, a bomber and a cafe racer, sometimes by the same brand on the same website. Here is the plain version. Structurally this is a blouson: a waist length zip front jacket that gathers at the hem. It is a close relative of the bomber. The differences are that a bomber usually has ribbed knit cuffs and hem where this has an adjustable band, and a bomber sits fuller through the body where this is tailored. I am telling you this because the reference product I am working from calls it a driving jacket in the title and a bomber in its own feature list, and you deserve to know what you are buying rather than being sold a category name. The name is still the right one to use, for two reasons. The shape genuinely does descend from motoring rather than aviation. And driving jacket describes a specific silhouette that bomber has become too broad to describe.

The toggle waist is the best feature on it and nobody explains it

There is an adjustable tab at each hip. Pull them in and the jacket takes a defined shape at the waist, which sharpens the whole silhouette and makes the shoulders look broader. Let them out and it hangs straight and relaxed. This is genuinely useful in a way ribbed knit is not. A knit hem gives you one silhouette, decided at the factory, and it slackens over a couple of years until the jacket flares at the bottom. A toggle lets you change the shape of the jacket to suit what you are wearing under it and what you want to look like that evening. One thing to know. Leather creases where it is repeatedly cinched, so if you always wear it pulled tight you will get a soft permanent fold at each hip within a couple of years. Some people like this and it is part of how the jacket ages. If you do not want it, vary how you wear it and release the toggles before you hang it up.

The quilted lining does two jobs and only one is warmth

A quilted lining adds some warmth without adding thickness, which is the obvious part. The less obvious part is that it stops the leather sitting against your shirt. Unlined or thinly lined leather drags on cotton, which is why some jackets feel like a fight to put on over a shirt and ride up at the back all evening. A quilted lining slides. It is worth being clear about the limit. This is a three season jacket. It will carry you comfortably through spring, autumn and mild winter days with a knit under it. It is not a winter coat and no amount of quilting makes lambskin into one. If you want genuine cold weather from this jacket, layer a proper jumper underneath rather than expecting the lining to do it.

Lambskin suits this cut, which is the opposite of the trucker

Where a leather trucker wants cowhide for structure, a driving jacket wants lambskin for exactly the reason a trucker does not. The whole point of this shape is that it is light and close and moves with you. Lambskin is thin and supple and drapes, so it follows the body and the toggle waist can actually gather it. Cowhide in this cut would be stiff, would sit away from the body and would look like a much cheaper jacket pretending to be structured. The tradeoff is the usual one. Lambskin scratches more easily than cowhide and will not take heavy abuse indefinitely. If you carry a bag with hard hardware on the same shoulder every day, you will see it within a year.

Fit

Tailored through the chest and shoulder, so it fits closer than a bomber in the same size. Take your usual size over a shirt or a fine knit. If you are between sizes, go down rather than up: lambskin softens and gives a little with wear, and the toggle waist gives you adjustment that a knit hem would not. Only size up if you know you will wear a midweight jumper under it through winter, and accept that the proportions loosen when you do. It should sit at the top of your hip with the sleeves ending at your wrist bone. This jacket is meant to look neat. A driving jacket cut long stops reading as one.

Care

Condition every three to six months. Lambskin is thinner than cowhide and dries out faster, so do not stretch this interval. Wipe rain off with a dry cloth and dry at room temperature, never near heat. Release the toggles before you hang it up, and hang it on a broad hanger with air around it. A jacket stored cinched sets the crease permanently.

Specification table

Specification	Detail
Outer material	Genuine leather
Lining	Quilted polyester, full body and sleeves
Closure	Front zip
Collar	Shirt collar
Cuffs	Button
External pockets	Two fpockets at the waist
Internal pockets	Two inside
Back detail	Adjustable
Colour	Brown & Black
Fit	Regular, takes a mid weight layer
Sizes	XXS to 3XL, plus made to measure
Care	Condition twice yearly. No machine wash, no heat drying

Garment measurements by size. Measured flat, in inches. These cells stay empty until you send production figures. Publishing a measurement that is wrong causes returns, so I have not guessed.

Size	Chest across	Shoulder	Sleeve	Back length
XXS	40	18	25	25
XS	42	18	25	25
S	44	19	25	26
M	46	20	26	27
L	48	20	27	27
XL	50	20.5	27	27.5
2XL	52	21.5	27	28
3XL	54	23	28	29