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Authentic Indian Motorcycles Jacket?

M.I.K.E

New Member
Hi everyone,

it's my first post here and as you can probably guess I know next to nothing about leather jackets. I was wondering if some of you guys who know a lot more than me could give your thoughts on if this jacket is a genuine Indian Motorcycles jacket or not.

For some context, I bought this jacket for roughly $200 off a third party reseller site. The seller said it was a repro of a popular 40s-50s square pocket style jacket. I only got suspicious when the name which popped up on the shipping tracking website was listed as 'ace exports', which is coincidentally the name of a leather garment maker in India. I got even more suspicious when the jacket arrived and it was in really good nick for a supposedly pre-owned jacket, it felt practically brand new aside from some very minor scuffing.

I've attached some images of the jacket and close-ups of the tags and zips, tell me what you think.

Thanks for your time :)

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Stravaiger

Well-Known Member
Irrespective of whether it is a genuine Indian Motorcycles product I think it looks braw. I own some Indian gear I purchased in America and their origins are many, as in places of manufacture.Baseball type cap , T Shirts and a Sweatshirt I have.They are all well made , enjoy your jacket if like me you ride motorcycles a Knox Armour vest goes well with un armoured bike jackets.
 

asiamiles

Well-Known Member
Toyo Enterprises (of Sugar Cane and Buzz Rickson's note) also make Indian Motorcycle wear. Have a look inside the jacket (even inside the pockets) and see if there's a small label that might indicate type of leather, the maker and country of origin.
The zips look like vintage Talons to me, but I wonder if the label is original to the jacket?
 

Silver Surfer

Well-Known Member
looks like a new [newer] jacket made with 1950s zippers. btw: original late1940s-50s Indian mc jackets were most likely made by fidelity sportswear with an Indian label. Indian did not have a jacket making facility, but were in close proximity to fidelity. if you have pix or own a fidelity mc jacket you will immediately see the distinct similarities, with the Indian mc jacket having a few more details than the same designed fidelity mc jacket. the jackets made today with a Indian label have nothing to do with Indian motorcycles, or fidelity for that matter, as both companies have closed long ago.
 

M.I.K.E

New Member
Toyo Enterprises (of Sugar Cane and Buzz Rickson's note) also make Indian Motorcycle wear. Have a look inside the jacket (even inside the pockets) and see if there's a small label that might indicate type of leather, the maker and country of origin.
The zips look like vintage Talons to me, but I wonder if the label is original to the jacket?
Looks like it was made in Springfield Massachusetts from the tags (which seems to check out according to this website https://lostnewengland.com/2015/04/indian-motocycle-factory-springfield-mass/ ), I couldn't find anything about the type of leather apart from the horsehide front quarters tag I already posted. I agree with stravaiger, it's a pretty nice jacket so I should probably just enjoy it ;)
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B-Man2

Well-Known Member
MIKE
Welcome to VLJ. Great first post BTW.
The jacket looks like it’s in great shape. The Springfield Mass label lends a little more credibility to it being a period piece but as you’ve learned zippers and labels can be reproduced with amazing period accuracy. FYI Indian motorcycle are back in production after about a 40 year hiatus and being bought and sold by about three different companies.
Polaris the snowmobile company now owns Indian Motors . Recently due to the current state of awareness and sensitivity the company dropped the Indian Head Logo in favor of just “ Indian”
 

Marc mndt

Well-Known Member
This jacket was made in Japan by Toyo enterprises.

This particular design was originally never sold with an 'Indian' label. It was sold by Sears and had a Hercules label. See this one :


Toyo doesn't care about that. They just had these Indian labels laying around because they made a reproduction of the motorcycle jacket that had an Indian label (which was probably made by fidelity). Toyo chose to use the label on this jacket even though it's totally unrelated to Indian motorcycle.



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M.I.K.E

New Member
wThis jacket was made in Japan by Toyo enterprises.

This particular design was originally never sold with an 'Indian' label. It was sold by Sears and had a Hercules label. See this one :


Toyo doesn't care about that. They just had these Indian labels laying around because they made a reproduction of the motorcycle jacket that had an Indian label (which was probably made by fidelity). Toyo chose to use the label on this jacket even though it's totally unrelated to Indian motorcycle.



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Damn Marc thanks for doing that research that's fascinating! The only difference I can spot between my Jacket and the image in the catalogue is that the breast pocket runs diagonal along the front rather than horizontally... maybe this was just a minor variation in the way they produced it?
 

asiamiles

Well-Known Member
This jacket was made in Japan by Toyo enterprises.

This particular design was originally never sold with an 'Indian' label. It was sold by Sears and had a Hercules label. See this one :


Toyo doesn't care about that. They just had these Indian labels laying around because they made a reproduction of the motorcycle jacket that had an Indian label (which was probably made by fidelity). Toyo chose to use the label on this jacket even though it's totally unrelated to Indian motorcycle.
Yes, Toyo make all sorts of garments with Indian labels that have nothing to do with anything.

If M.I.K.E's jacket is a Toyo one there should be a label similar to this, which is why I asked him to check. The other thing that might make me doubt whether it was from Toyo is that the lining is not like what one would usually find on their leather jackets. I guess it could be a Toyo that has been relined, which would explain the label not looking straight.

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asiamiles

Well-Known Member
I remember having a Toyo leather jacket - I think it may have been an Indian Motorcycle one, or it might have been a Sugar Cane - and the leather had worn by the zipper in exactly the same way as M.I.K.E's.
 

cashcheck

New Member
Seller here - this is definitely a Toyo repro. I got it off 2nd street JP. Hope you enjoy the jacket, it's probably the nicest leather I've seen. Nicer than a Real Mccoy I currently have. Pretty hard to find these in brown too, they're mostly black.
 
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