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Help Dating Vintage Lightning Zip

Technonut2112

Well-Known Member
I've been researching a recently purchased vintage civilian capeskin flight jacket, and while I'm familiar with many period zippers manufactured in the USA, I could use some assistance in confirming the era of this Lightning zip. From what I've dug-up so far, I'm leaning towards somewhere between the mid to late 1930's, but there's not much info on vintage Lightning zips out there to confirm. Any help would be appreciated, Thanks!



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Technonut2112

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply... The jacket is not from the USA. It has a left-hand pull. The jacket was made in the Malung region of Sweden, which was well-known for it's production of leather jackets and other leather goods. I would imagine the zip was British sourced by the maker. It is original to the jacket. I've found limited info on the maker, but was able to turn up a 1936 catalog page showing a leather flight suit they offered. I'm just trying to confirm if the zipper fits within the mid-late 30's time period I suspect the jacket was made in.



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EDIT: I figured that since there's many members / vintage collectors from across the pond here, that someone may know roughly when Lightning produced that style of pull. I've found a couple pics from the 30's and 40's which are close, but not dead-on to mine. I'm fairly certain that I'm close in dating it, but would be nice to have confirmation from a UK-based (or any other country for that matter) vintage jacket enthusiast... ;)
 
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Technonut2112

Well-Known Member
FINALLY! After many days of scouring every nook & cranny of the internet, this looks like a close-enough match (if not exact) to place the zipper within the mid-late 1930's like I thought. This Lightning advert came out in July, 1936:

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EDIT: Here's another, from April, 1936:

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Hopefully, this info may be helpful to someone else in their research when trying to date a similar Lightning zipper...

I haven't gotten around to taking clear, detailed pics of the jacket I purchased yet, but this shows it well enough for now. The jacket has it's original knits, single-piece back, two-piece sleeves, and two small, raised-position patch pockets. The condition is quite good considering it's age (but expectantly has a few issues), with the capeskin still supple. Most importantly the jacket fits me very well, but understandably needs to be worn sparingly:

Vintage-Swedish-Leather-Flying-Jacket.jpg



EDIT: Off-topic to jackets / garments, but interesting nonetheless, Lightning zippers were also used in British aircraft construction. During my research, I found this info from 1939:

Lightning Fasteners Ltd., Kynoch Works, Witton, Birmingham (Birchfields 4848), supply " Lightning " zip fasteners for opening and closing inspection vents on aircraft. Two zips, of equal length (say 4 ft.), or one double length of the other, will form a triangular flap. Curved fasteners with a radius of 9 ins. are supplied to make a circle. One length of zip, partly curved and partly straight, will give a really large flap.
 
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Technonut2112

Well-Known Member
Yes, I'm VERY pleased... :) It's incredible to me that a capeskin jacket survived this many years in wearable condition. It's also a bit of a mystery to me on how it made it's way from Sweden to the USA. The seller picked it up recently himself, and can offer no further history on it. There are no labels other than the original maker's from Sweden, and the left-hand pull wouldn't be common for a men's jacket sold in USA stores.

I'm going to do some very light restoration, and enjoy carefully wearing it once in awhile.. ;)
 
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Ken at Aero Leather

Well-Known Member
Here's one of mine from the same era, Zipper is a replacement which was done before I acquired it.
We've had the knit replicated with a view to doing a run but that was several years ago and we are no nearer starting than we were back then. :(

Adastra Suede Jacket (1).JPG
 

Technonut2112

Well-Known Member
The identical zipper is pictured on a jacket here, and in close up.



Writer dates it to the 30s, I'd agree


Good find! Thanks for posting Ken.. Capeskin as well. The buttons on mine also closely resemble the corozo shown on that one. At first I thought that mine could have been from the latter 20's given the original long wrist knits and small raised patch pockets, but they are also seen in the 30's. The Swedish maker was also active in the late 20's, but from what I've seen, the Lightning zips of that era had quite different styled pulls. Given the info gathered, I'm confident to place the jacket in the mid-late 30's time period.

EDIT: Here's a catalog page from 1932 showing a jacket with the longer wrist knits, and another with small patch pockets:

32679727890_dce8ee0e14_b.jpg



EDIT: Hmmm... I'd like to luck-out and find an original like this one in good condition that would fit me someday.. Nice style IMO:

32679727890_dce8ee0e14_b.jpg
 
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