Mens Vintage Cut Brown Leather Biker Jacket

A vintage cut biker jacket follows the original 1950s motorcycle pattern, with a wide asymmetric zip, a snap down lapel, a belted waist and rib cuffs. This one is brown genuine hide, fully lined, in sizes S to 3XL.

The pattern that every other biker jacket copies

The 1950s motorcycle jacket is the original, and almost every brown leather jacket made since is a modified version of it. Understanding the original tells you what has been changed on everything else. The defining features are a wide asymmetric zip, a lapel that snaps down flat rather than folding freely, a belt at the waist, and heavy hardware throughout. Modern bikers usually slim the shape, shrink the lapel, drop the belt and lighten the hardware. Each of those changes makes the jacket easier to wear and less like the original.

The snap down lapel is the detail people miss

On a modern biker the lapel folds back and hangs open. On the vintage pattern it snaps flat against the chest, which closes the jacket completely across the collarbone. That was the point. A jacket that seals at the neck keeps wind out at speed. It also means this jacket has a genuinely different closed silhouette to a modern biker, reading much more solid across the chest. Worn open the lapel folds back wide and it becomes considerably more relaxed than the closed version suggests.

Vintage cut means roomier than you expect

The original pattern was drafted to go over a sweater and to allow movement on a bike, so it is fuller through the body and shorter in the sleeve than a modern slim biker. People used to contemporary leather jackets sometimes read that as oversized. It is not. If you want a modern close fit, one of our other bikers is a better match. This one is meant to have room in it, and forcing it into a slim fit by sizing down puts strain on the shoulder and the underarm.

Hardware weight

A vintage cut jacket carries noticeably more metal than a modern one, in the main zip, the pocket zips, the cuff zips and the belt. That weight is part of why these jackets feel substantial and it is also why the shoulder needs to fit properly. On a jacket this heavy, a shoulder that is even slightly too wide will drag and the whole thing will hang badly.

Care

Condition twice a year. Work conditioner around the zip tapes as well as the panels, because the leather immediately alongside a zip is thin, takes constant flexing and is the first place a biker jacket cracks. Keep the hardware dry. Zips left wet corrode and a corroded zip on a leather jacket is an expensive repair, since replacing a main zip means opening the front facing.

Specification table

Specification	Detail
Outer material	Genuine leather
Lining	Quilted polyester, full body and sleeves
Closure	Front zip
Collar	Shirt collar
Cuffs	Rib-Knitted
External pockets	Two pockets at the waist
Internal pockets	Two inside
Back detail	Solid
Colour	Brown
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