Two European leather jackets on auction just now.

[jack aranda]

Both from the same seller. One is listed as a "Luftwaffe flying jacket". (I don't know from Luftwaffe. Last I saw, they were going down in flames over the Channel, with a bunch of red hot Spitfires closing on their 'six'.) Regardless of provenance, this jacket reminds me a little of John Lever's resurrected German moto jacket.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-WW2-Luftwa ... 0309776088

The other is a French fireman's jacket:
http://cgi.ebay.com/30s-Leather-Jacket- ... 0309853409

 

[nicholas]

I saw this Luftwaffe jacket auction on ebay too. It won't fit me, but I would dearly love a jacket like this for riding. I know it's not a motorcycle jacket, but I don't want a jacket like everyone else has. Something like this would be awesome.


p.s. I'm a newbie here, so hello all. Anyone know who could make a jacket like this? I guess a custom made vintage jacket. Kind of an oxymoron! I live in southern california, so any ideas or suggestions of a company local perhaps?

 

[deeb7]

... I'm a newbie here, so hello all. Anyone know who could make a jacket like this? I guess a custom made vintage jacket. Kind of an oxymoron! I live in southern california, so any ideas or suggestions of a company local perhaps?

Hello Nicholas, as jack aranda notes, this jacket is similar to one of John Lever's. He had it copied by Aero Leather in Scotland, so they now have a pattern, and could make others.

The thread is here ...

viewtopic.php?p=26380#p26380

Finding someone local to create one from pictures would be difficult ... it might be better to go with Aero, and be certain of a good result.

 

[nicholas]

Hey David. Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I checked that thread out. The thing is, to me at least, is that the jacket John wound up with doesn't look like the inspiration for the jacket. I know he made some changes, but I love the two rows of buttons, and the beat up distressed vintage vibe of the Spanish Civil war one. I don't want a new looking one ... if it looks like it went through Armageddon that's fine by me. My quest keeps leading me to vintage european, and specifically german jackets. I swear every cool german jacket I've seen is small ... was every german 5'8?? The Luftwaffe one would be ideal ... I love how it tapers in, and the large buttons, zippers and straps are unique to jackets seen on bikers. I'm tall and slender with broad shoulders( six foot four, 220 ). I don't know if this ebay seller has been discussed on here, but his name is 1971gartenbiggi, and here is one of his finished auctions. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0341273143
He has lots of German motorcycle, U boat, and police jackets, and how authentic they are, you experts would know, but some of them are really cool. He had 12 new jackets up, and as of today, they are all taken down

 

[John Lever]

Hey David. Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I checked that thread out. The thing is, to me at least, is that the jacket John wound up with doesn't look like the inspiration for the jacket. I know he made some changes, but I love the two rows of buttons, and the beat up distressed vintage vibe of the Spanish Civil war one. I don't want a new looking one ... if it looks like it went through Armageddon that's fine by me. My quest keeps leading me to vintage european, and specifically german jackets. I swear every cool german jacket I've seen is small ... was every german 5'8?? The Luftwaffe one would be ideal ... I love how it tapers in, and the large buttons, zippers and straps are unique to jackets seen on bikers. I'm tall and slender with broad shoulders( six foot four, 220 ). I don't know if this ebay seller has been discussed on here, but his name is 1971gartenbiggi, and here is one of his finished auctions. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0341273143
He has lots of German motorcycle, U boat, and police jackets, and how authentic they are, you experts would know, but some of them are really cool. He had 12 new jackets up, and as of today, they are all taken down

Nicholas,
I did make changes to the jacket used as a copy, but the result is a jacket very similar to others I have seen and/or own.
The old jacket is very short and was probably designed to be worn with very high waisted trousers like those worn for horse riding. A jacket of this length would leave a very wide gap around the waist. The double buttons I left off because they are too ostentatious for me.
Aero could easily provide a extra row of leather or metal buttons if asked to do so. Similarly they could change the pocket flaps for zips. I had been looking for a jacket like this with out success for about 10 years and decided that in the end the only solution was to have one made.
Hein Gericke make an exact copy of the version you like at auction. I recently sold mine for £50 ! They are out there all you need to do is search on German ebay.
Here's the one I sold -

Here's another you might like -

I can't remember the maker, but they come up occasionally on ebay

 

[nicholas]

Thanks John for the reply. I'm not into brown at all ... it's all about black for me. I doubt having one made will really be feasable for what I want, as I want it to be distressed. I have seen a couple that interest me on the net, so we'll see.


by the way ... did you guys check out what the Luftwaffe jacket went for? 898 bucks ... thank the Lord it wouldn't have fit me. I would have hated to lost this jacket. Anyone here get it?