Fit: Japanese vs North America, and the 70's

In case it isn't obvious, I started this blog to share my passion for vintage leather. I also decided it was a great way to share my rather isolated tale of 20 years in the vintage clothing business and my dream to get back into "making clothing". I started in design selling street fashions of my own creation in the early 90s to support my "art habit". Since then I traveled down an awkward road retracing the steps of both my grandfathers: one an artist and one a "Schmata Man".
Back when I was a kid clothing was all made in North America by people like my Grandfather. If you were Jewish, either your parents or your grandparents were most likely in the clothing business. It was a past marked by a secretive love-hate relationship. In the 1920s there was no where else for Jew's to work..I hear the stories over and over. But that's not what this post is about..its about the 70s to now. Part of the reality of the clothing business back in the day was the off shore production of North American companies. Long before China, Japan was the "go to" place to save money and move your manufacture. I remember my adolescence and the strange effect of this shift to Asia for clothing production. All of a sudden shirts and pants started to fit "funny". My 6 foot 2 180 lb frame would wear clothing and the sleeves would be too short or the neck was too narrow. I attributed this to puberty, where as in reality it was about fit. Japanese people are skinny, fit and smaller then 1970s North Americans. Since that time..the Japanese are still skinny and fit...and "fatness" has boomed here. With the fat boom has come the "bag boom" and clothing is made like giant sacks. It would seem that the average North American has not only lost their shape but lost the ability to even understand the concept of "fit".
I am amazed how in developing my leather jackets how difficult fit is. I am also amazed at the difference my Japanese friends who try on my jackets and my Canadian friends. Canadians try them on and marvel at the apparent quality of the materials and the look of the jacket. My Japanese friends instantaneously understand not just the materials, but the stitching, zippers and the language of fit. My anonymous friend in the photos explained so eloquently to me about my jacket "this is a one t-shirt jacket, not a two t-shirt jacket, the fit is excellent!". He of course gave me some advice with which to tweak the fit. My hope is that one day everybody understands the beauty of fit, cut, material and quality!

Quadrophenia, "Ton Up" and the Cafe Racer

When I was fourteen I remember feeling super cool and rebellious secretly watching Quadrophenia about the trials and exploits of youthful English mods and their exploits and clashes with Rockers. I had no idea who these subcultures represented yet I was drawn so much to the film that I went out and bought a fishtail parka. I could not see the connection. Later in life I started to listen to every genre of music I could get my hands on, including punk, ska, reggae, rockabilly, old soul, rock, funk jazz. I was continually exposed to these massive cultural productions and still I had no idea about the cultural context, politics and subculture that spawned all this energetic music.

Recently I started moderating on my friends motorcycle club site "Dotheton.com" and never even asked what this term "the ton" meant? I was selling "cafe racer" leather jackets and had no clue what the origins of "cafe culture" implied. I was sent on a research mission!

Post WW2 was an interesting time in England. Like the U.S. and Canada, soldiers returned from the stresses and dangers of post war Europe to a quiet life and an shattered economy. The work of rebuilding Britain included a rapid new transportation system and a baby boom. With the massive surplus of cheap available military surplus motorcycles, post war riders would buy up these clunkers and customize them for civilian life. The roadways in the English countryside were winding and often in bad shape. Many of the routes traversed original roman roads that weaved through the English countryside avoiding ancient topographic obstacles long gone. Motorcycle enthusiasts would chop down their heavy military bikes into racing machines capable of handling the bad roads with their winding turns and poor conditions. With the paving and creation of asphalt Ring Arterial s around the larger cities, and the building of Cafes to service this new transportation network, the cafe race was born. Hungry for adventure, motorcyclists would customize their bikes (ranging from bobbers to "cafe racers") for handling and speed, and then race each other from cafe to cafe, roadside stop and back. Often the race was timed by playing Rock and Roll on the Juke box and if the speeds hit 100 mph..the rider was said to have done "The Ton" or reached the 100 mph mark. These were referred to as "record races" as in the time to play a song on a 45 vinyl record. Needless to say the culture of customization, bike culture, clothing and location are all what are referred to in "rocker" or "greaser" culture.

The cafe racer jacket is one of the many offshoots of this post war motorcycle culture. Cafe racers refer to a British or European style of simple sleek leather jacket particularly functional for racing. Minimal pockets and impediments were left off, and tight fitting military style cuts, with a mandarin collar were the norm. This type of jacket appears very early in Canada and Britain. I have many examples of simple mandarin collared jackets from the 1920s and 1930s. But that final racing style became common in the 1960s and 1970s made by such great companies as Lewis Leathers, Beck, Brimaco, Score and Buco.

Plastics: Miracle of the Future and Buttons

I have spent the last few weeks touring the last vestiges of the garment industry looking for parts. Toronto was a hub of garment manufacture. Fortunes were made in the garment industry in Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, New York and the entire great lakes basin. The clothing industry paralleled the industrial boom. For every new plane, train or automobile, new technologies in clothing had to follow. And where clothing is produced buttons and findings are needed. When the great "schmata" producers retired or went out of business because of competition overseas, the findings and buttons manufacturers followed suit. There were many many companies producing buttons right nearby where I live. Now I tour the few remaining companies that are like button archives mostly selling to the few specialty manufacturers left or providing various sundries to home sewers.

The period between 1870 and 1910 led to the discovery and manufacture of buttons made from new man made materials. First was nitrate cellulose discovered by the Hyatt brothers (looking for a pool ball replacement). Then cellulose acetate quickly replaced nitrate cellulose for industrial applications. The cellulose was too flammable to be moulded safely. In 1907, Leo Baekeland invented bakelite and the plastics revolution was born. Bakelite turned out to be an excellent material for making components with the exception that it darkened easily so light colored plastics could not be made. In the 1920s urea replaced bakelite as a preferred material. Part of my search for the perfect buttons has led me to caches of left over buttons made of urea compounds and melamine. These buttons mostly have the classic "cat eye" configuration (which in the button industry is referred to as the "fisheye" button). Modern plastic buttons can be dyed using specialty dyes depending on the material of the button. Nylon dye for nylon buttons and such. I have searched and found the best most original parts for my jackets. Some are purely stylistic, and most are absolutely original parts from the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Check out the dyed buttons on the table.

Profiles: Amato Roberto Tranquilli

It is my belief that the amazing clothing of the past was born out of necessity, but also the interaction of the stylish. These style makers were not always the average joe but unique characters with incredible sense of design and bravado. Part of my love of clothing is the wonder of who wore the vintage that I discover every day. I've asked people I meet along the way to send me stories and photos of these past style masters. You can trust me not everybody was cool back in the day. I go through hundreds of thousands of pounds of clothing every year and it is the rare man or woman who dared to live in the exceptional garments and leather that I love so well!!
"He was born Amato Roberto Tranquilli in 1902 in Porto San Giorgio, a resort town on the east coast of Italy.
He came to the United States in the 1920s. Evidently there was confusion about his paperwork which caused him to spend a few months in the immigration jail in Bellingham Washington, before being put on an Italian ship and deported from the US. Right away he got in trouble. Mussolini had come to power in Italy--he caught hell for not giving the fascist salute. Because he was a deportee, they wanted to chain him to his bunk, but somehow he talked his way out of it. The ship's first mate had it in for him, though---always picking on him for the slightest thing. Finally, my dad reached his boiling point and challenged him to a fight. They came to blows, and the fight was broken up by people who were alerted by a metallic banging...This banging was caused by my dad repeatedly knocking the first mate's head into the deck of the ship. Amato was in trouble again. Fortunately the captain (who had taken a shine to my dad) ruled that when the first mate removed his jacket and cap, that he no longer represented the Italian navy!!!

Dad had many adventures---South Africa made quite an impression on him. He recalled one time he gave a little boy a pair of his old shorts....the boy was as proud as anything of his new garment.....Later, my dad and the boys on the ship went to the black part of town to drink.....They stayed past curfew, and started getting some VERY hostile looks from the natives. It didn't look very good. Whites who stayed in the black township after dark had a habit of coming to a very bad end. But then who should appear but the boy to whom my dad had given shorts. He guided them to safety...
Other memories of Capetown include seeing a plantation where blacks toiled as far as the eye could see, and their overseers poised over them with bullwhips.
Another story he told was of giving loaves of bread to the crowds on the dock....Not a single person ate until everyone had a share. " As told by Bob his son.

Roberto was clearly a stylemaster. He worked as a fisherman, a miner, and he was ultimately and utmost a terrazzo mechanic. Bob told me his dad said of mining..."I'd rather work a mile in the air than 10 feet underground" . What amazes me about Bobs dad is the dignity that is apparent in every picture of him, and that as a working class immigrant that his sense of fashion was impeccable. What an adventurer he was!

1930's Jackets: The Perfect Horsehide

Part of making perfect jackets is learning about the materials that make up he bricks and mortar of vintage jackets. Another part is about learning the techniques used to put these unique materials together. These are not the same techniques that are used today in mass produced garments. The great challenges of the last two years have been about both the materials and the unique requirements necessary to put them together in an excellent jacket. Finding the perfect leather has been a global search. I have looked on my local doorstep and overseas searching high and low for the perfect horsehide and goatskin. The requirement was simple
: find tanneries that produced an ethical quality product that was made the way leather was produced pre-1940 and also did the least amount of "harm" to mother earth. My search was paid in spades. The horsehide I have is bark tanned in a solution for months, recreating a tough tear resistant leather that is a near perfect match for early horsehide. It is super strong and yet it is supple. It is hand staked and shrunk to create a perfect hide top grain. The horses are deadstock and therefore the hides are unblemished by mistreatment or transportation. My tanneries are subject to strict 1st world regulations that produce the finest quality leather with the least amount of impact. Interestingly this leather emulates early 30s leather so well that the leather had to be spray finished, the same as in the 30s. Early vegetable tanned leather did not take black dyes well as I learned speaking with my friend Wolfgang, the Chief chemist at Dominion Tanning throughout the 1950s and 1960s. On early jackets scuffs and scrapes often revealed the underlying natural color of the leather. Check out my latest versions of early 20s and 30s jackets!

Halloween: Death and Flying with my Co-pilot

I love Halloween...being in the vintage clothing business I have access to the best stuff! Costumes become super fun and a great way to express your inner being during Halloween. My greatest joy is to go out to a rockin party and see what fantasies my friends and associates express in their garb and makeup. Halloween is a time for abandon where adults often release their inner scary stuff on the outer beautiful selves. It's just great...wife said Amelia Earhart and navigator...guess who gets to navigate, lol! Awesome that I have my early Swedish flight coat!

Sharing the First One!

So being a chronic oversharer I am proud to show off my first model. Its a size 38 1920s style goatskin jacket. The design is super primitive with a rare large one piece back panel and side gussets with D rings. The shawl collar is complimented by the 1920s cotton taped grommet zipper. The leather is 1.2 mm (3 oz) vegetable tanned goatskin identical in weight, tannage and character to original 20s-30s leather, with cotton topstiching. I tracked down original 30s buttons and have a small supply that I will be using until they run out. The liner is 100% cotton flannel Saskatchewan tartan. This is the very first, I will be making more this week tweaking style versions, design and techniques. I will say that I am very proud of the result!

Amelia: My Work in the Movies

Just a little over a year ago I was contacted through my blog by Kasia Walicka Maimone looking for some consulting regarding a film project she was working on. That project turned out to be Amelia, starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor. I hadn't worked on films before however the circumstances regarding this movie were different. It was set in the 30s, and Amelia Earhart actually lived and worked up the street from me. I immediately began to research the archives at Purdue University...browsing through their extensive collection donated by Earhart. After our first consultation I became acutely aware of Kasia's commitment to historical accuracy. The leather jackets that they had made to that date had not struck as historically accurate. I ended up both renting some of my collections to the production of the movie and even selling an early european trench coat that was recut into Amelia's long coat. I was excited to go to the premier of the film on Friday..not so much for the story, I barely paid attention, but for the beauty of the costumes (of course looking out for some of my pieces, lol). The wardrobe was fantastic..except for a few awkward jackets (notably a Belstaff jacket that appears somewhat plastic like with a logo on the arm) the movie authentically replicates the look and feel of 1920s-30s America (and Canada). I was most excited to see Fred Noonan played by Christopher Eccleston (Dr. Who Fame) wearing one of my jackets...Nice!

Halle Bros...and Halle Berry ...Thats Hot!

Oh..I will state the obvious..Halle Berry is one of the most beautiful women alive today without question. From a nerdy teenage actress she blossomed into a sensual talented goddess. Now according to my cursory google research...which we all know as potentially flawed she received her nomenclature from the famed retailer Halle Bros. of Cleveland.

Halle Bros was one of America's earliest grand retailers. Founded by the sons of recent immigrant Moses Halle in 1891, this store and later chain became one of the great landmarks in downtown Cleveland. Samuel Horatio Halle and Salmon Potland Chase Halle typified young Jewish entrepreneurs of the day. They bought a hat and furrier store and quickly turned it into a premier retailer of ready to wear.

This coat I have pictured (for sale on ebay) is one of their early mens overcoats. It has the classic early century primitive design..with a small tucked collar, oversized cellulose buttons and a cool reversible feature. One side is leather for inclement conditions and the other side is gabardine for fairer cold weather. How amazing is that...holding a piece of early American history!

These are a Few of my Favorite Things!

Ok, so not every post is about jackets. Fall has come and Canadian thanksgiving and Simcha Torah came on the weekend. I celebrated of course by going up to my sisters place on the Bruce Trail and eating copious amounts of local foods. Sis's neighbour is an Italian trained chef and his house sits right on the headwaters of the Boyne river, a spring fed brook trout river. I awoke stuffed full of turkey and listened to the gurgles of the river running right by the back door, looked out and watched the brookies waiting for flotsam to eat flowing down the river. My wife packed us up to go for a 10 k walk down the Bruce...where I put on my new boots (vintage Herman's) and my vintage Carhartts and trekked down the hillsides. It was cold and I was amazed how incredible my vintage duck canvass pants and Survivor boots performed. My feet were cushioned and warm. Even the burrs and thistles didn't stick to my 80 year old pants, they were incredible.
The Carhartts are from the 1940s...Hamilton Carhartt opened the company in 1889. This guy went from a small 5 sewer shop to an empire. He was a trade unionist to his core...I once sold a deadstock 1930's Carhartt chore jacket and the flasher had 3 paragraphs celebrating the unionized employees of the Carhartt plant. And the best part...there was a plant right here in Toronto...proudly emblazoned on the hardware of his amazing overalls!

The Perfect Skin: Harvest Time

Fall has come and my labours have born fruit. As the leaves change I took a nice long drive up to the tannery and finally worked out the perfect skin. My horsehide and goatskin are finished, and they are perfect. The leather is an absolutely perfect recreation of 1930s horsehide and goatskin. The leather is soaked and shrunk for 3 months in a bark solution and cured and finished with an absolutely grainy perfect patina..and its strong. Wow we pulled on some of the belly skin and could not tear it..smooth and character ridden, flexible and soft with just a little stretch. This is absolutely the most perfect leather ever made, even my 1950 cafe racer blends in perfectly with the hide.

Advertising, Clubs and Outrageousness.....

Check out this rare S.T.P. cotton jacket by Artex that I have listed on ebay. I often wonder what makes for "cool" clothing..and I'm speaking to clothing made back in the day before branding, advertising and Ed Hardy designs took ordinary men and turned them into extraordinary cockatoos. Back in the day, clothing was more or less a uniform. A man's job was to represent his job and his family in the socially sanctioned uniform, it was the woman that would dress in an extravagant manner. There is an amazing tension that exists between clothing created within the convention of the uniform and the sanctioned violation of those codes by various "subversive" groups and their custom clothing. These groups countermanded social convention to "customize" and or rebel in various forms, and subverted mainstream fashion both for economic and social recognition. There is a definite postwar development of this kind of subversion that eventual develops into Kustom Kulture. You can see it in Biker culture...which often stemmed from military culture, you see it in Gay and Tourist culture in the artful themes of early gabardine shirts and silk Hawaiian shirts, and you see it in corporate advertising prints which mimic and intertwine with the culture of customization.

These STP jackets and outfits were given to staff, sponsored racers and employees. While I was wearing this STP jacket I was stopped on the street by a woman who's dad worked for the company...they gave him an entire closet full of jackets, t-shirts and coveralls to wear and give out...how cool is that!!!

Designers...Cabaals and Canada....Nafta

What does a rag dealer in Canada, a rag market in Tanzania, and a rag market in Pasadena have in common?

Ever wonder where and why and how all these marvelous items of clothing end up here on my blog. I often take for granted the weird magical world that I have been living in for the last 20 years. Basically a confluence of events led to my interest in vintage clothing. Besides the vintage wearing professors in my department of Film Studies (Thanks Will Straw) and a bizarre obsession with film noir, I had classic bad Gen X timing. I should note that I have some how modeled my life after Desperately Seeking Susan. I live in a loft in Chinatown with my own movie theatre and with my gorgeous vintage wearing wife. When I graduated from university Canada and the U.S. were in the biggest recession since well...now. Job options were few and I was left to my own resources to survive. A little known fact but Toronto is the centre of the vintage universe. In an intersection of seemingly impossibly happenstances as intricate as that which led to life forming on Earth, the creation of vast oxygen atmospheres and oceans and the perfect distance from the sun...all the factors of my sad state of employment came together at once.
Here in Toronto we have the highest immigrant population in North America. One particular group of Ismail's arrived here from East Africa fleeing the regime of Amin in Uganda. These intrepid newcomers were looking for business' to buy, simultaneous to the retirement wave of elder Jewish rag dealers whose children had no interest in the rag business...and bamn Toronto became the rag centre of the universe. Needless to say cut off from the centre of rag dealing in Los Angeles...Toronto rag dealers used cutting edge tools to flog their massive stock of unique historical clothing pieces to the really important guys in L.A. Slowly a complex network of clothing historians, vintage dealers, fashion buyers/designers and stylists developed a web of stock and trade that has shaped almost all of the fashion style trends of the last 20 years. And people thought it was The Sartorialist or something...Hah! I will not reveal who these style makers are of course for fear I may end up dead...but I can tell you that it is the beautiful admirers and wearers of original vintage that ultimately fuel the fire of design.

Immigration, England and Canada...

One of the greatest and oldest leather jacket manufacturers was Lewis Leathers in England. I had never been exposed to Lewis' jackets because of the high cost of quality and the fact that few North Americans owned British jackets. I bought my first Lewis jacket ten years ago and immediately fell in love. In Rin Tanaka's first motorcycle book there was a healthy chapter on British jackets and of course a tiny section of Canadian makers. Once I held a Lewis jacket in my hands I was an instant convert. Thick European hides and tight fitting manly designs and that unique square map pocket differentiate Lewis' jackets from the competition. Lewis' jackets are highly revered in Japan, making it pratically unaffordable to purchase one on Ebay.
Recently I spent some time interviewing the owner of British Manufacturing Company or Brimaco...possibly Canada's oldest leather jacket maker. Jerry gave me a long history of his company going back to his Great Uncle who emigrated from Germany to London and from London to Montreal to open Brimaco around 1895. British society and the empire was exceptionally tollerant toward Jews in the period. The British were the first to elect a Prime Minister of Jewish heritage in 1874, Benjamin Disraeli. Because of the horrid living conditions elsewhere in Europe the finest tailors of the day dispersed amongst England and the colonies bringing their expertise with them. During this time early industrialization and the invention of the sewing machine gave rise to the boom of the "Schmata" business.
Jerry told me that he would visit motorcycle competitions in England and California to see what designs were popular. He was directly influenced by Lewis Leathers and Bates of California. Obviously there was cross fertilization between English designs and North American makers. These are pictures of a classic Lewis Leather Jacket and a very early Brimaco jacket from the 1940s. See how the Brimaco is a hybrid of a Harley Davidson jacket cross combined with some details that are clearly European in inflection. Canadian jacket makers were not boring, nor were they copiests. Each maker had their own unique styles. Jerry who ran Brimaco clearly brought inflections of design details back to Canada from his Hebrew "cousins" in England.







ヴィンテージレザージャケット、特に硬式野球のボール、北米では長い歴史があります。ヨーロッパからの移民とそのスキルの歴史に翻訳自分仕立てのスキルや北米に知識を持って構築Leathertogs、Langlitzと、すべての他の偉大な企業

Gen X...The Glory and the Pain....

One of the curses and benefits of being of "my generation" was the great social confusion and privileged that was the bounty of GenXers. What I mean to say is that I grew up with all the ideological lessons of the sixties combined with the boom in marketing of the seventies combined with the economic vacuum created by the Yuppies (read post Hippies). The forces at work created an incredible melange of youth cultures in the eighties influenced by lots of esoteric education, real social discord and a rich tapestry of aesthetics and hyper-post-cynicism. More or less I come from a generation that knew too much and has been politically emasculated by playing social and economic catch-up. That aside what I really want to write about is one of the great fashion and social influences of my childhood, psychedelic art!
I grew up reading Mad Magazine, being exposed to hot wheels, build Revell models of monster cars...winning black light posters at the Exhibition (the local fair in Toronto) and watching tripped out television like Batman and H.R. Puffinstuff. I had no idea that all this consumption was secretly programming my brain with an absolute love of trippy design. When I was in my twenties I was so influence by comic art that I actually applied for and was offered work drawing comics for a small company in the city I went to university. Doodle Art (a Canadian invention) was one of the earliest creative influences I had. They were 3 posters of psychedelic line art with markers inside a tube and the goal was to colour the huge poster in until your brain burst with acid infused exhilaration. One of my many ventures in my later life lead me to Salt Spring Island where I met one of the many artists who contributed to the Doodle Art Pantheon..Bob Masse Bob met me on his motorcycle and took me back to his beautiful studio and gave me a personal tour of years of rock poster designs and stories. Sadly my dream of reviving Doodle Art ended when I realized the originators had sold the international rights to a mega-publisher, however they are still trying to sell the old sets in Canada...Doodle Art
These genius' have inspired an entire generation of clothing designers...guys like Peter Max, Crumb, Rick Griffen, Stanley Mouse, Rat Fink, Bob Masse and so on!!!

Simplicity of Design; Back to the Earth!

The real beauty of design today can be found in the simplicity of the past. The new counter culture of design contrasts sharply against the overwrought Ed Hardy styles of Los Angeles. There is a counter culture bubbling in the fashion world of brave designer/producers that are willing to look past the easy path of Chinese production and corporate reification for a hands on craftsman's approach to fashion. This counter movement often captures the imagination of the big fashion producers like Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie who seek to imitate and create mini lines of clothing trying to capture this authenticity without the process required to actually have the character of the "craftsman". There are no shortcuts, and branding does not make up for small batch production and passion for fashion. These pictures may seem to have little in common but many of the features of these very unique items are being recreated by craftspeople across the globe. The simple 1930's triangular expansion gusset, which shows up on the sides of early jackets or in the neck and armpits of early sweatshirts is both a beautiful and practical feature. It was replaced by lycra banding and bi-swing backs which were more efficient in the 1940s and 1950s. See how the sole of a work boot was simply a "nail delivery system" with some nice "Branding" for traction! Between single stitching and simple graphics these have become the new characteristics of the "new craftsman"!

Mr. Chapman..Mentors and the Web

One of the most amazing effects of blogging is that I continue to meet people who are both incredibly interesting, talented and just awesome human beings. I find it renews my faith in the business that I am in. After years and years dealing with the same people and knowing all the players in the vintage clothing business my world has been opened up globally to a whole new field of international vintage enthusiasts who bring their bits of knowledge and experience to the fore. I find myself communicating and sharing with knowledgeable people on a global scale!
One of those people is John Chapman. John has grown to be both friend and mentor to me. He started a leather jacket production company in 2006 abandoning his other career to bring into the world the most authentic replicas of a-2s available on the market today. His company Good Wear Leather is a small one man operation where John's commitment to detail and authentic materials and design are reflected by the fact that he makes each jacket himself for his clients. He sources out his leather globally for the most authentic veg tanned horsehide, and even uses original war era zippers and produces authentic reproductions of the tiny tiny paper lot tags that used to be sewn under the label. I am thankful for the internet because it has allowed me to meet such fantastic genius' like John and pushes me forward to completing my own project to design and produce perfect small batch slow food leather jackets!

WW2, Militarism and Development

As I am a student of fashion I am amazed how little pure history there is about the clothing industry. Often clothing is a cursory tale attached to other histories about industrial innovation, advertising, military history, immigration or other such stories. The internet is rife with silly ideas about French fashion houses and hem lines. Often implying that fashion styles were plucked from the "spirit" of depressionary economies, austere fashions reflecting economic realities of the day, or sensible hemlines as a result of rising feminism. This kind of stuff is sophomoric in my opinion.
By the 1940s and the beginning of WW2 the fashion industry in North America was maturing at an incredible rate. After the depression a natural thinning out of badly managed and run companies resulted in lean, mean companies poised to take on the challenges of huge government contracts available because of WW2. Small and large producers lined up for this economic boon. With all this potential wealth available combined with money for research and design, the military demanded quality garments with more practical designs. WW2 set the tone with many manufacturers, building in quality design through researching pattern architecture that improved and invented modern clothing. Bi swing backs, zippers, standardized production techniques and sizing were just a few of the innovations that resulted from the war. Advances in fabrics and synthetics also blossomed, leaving us with outdoor fleece gear and any number of flame retardant, tear resistant, quick drying fashion miracles.

Urbanity, Technology and Primitives

Primitivism by its nature connotes a naivete, or lack of skills or knowledge as compared to a modern norm. Today's modernity is tomorrows primitive, simplistic childishness. The truth is modernity can only really go so far. The human body doesn't change its shape. Paradigms are altered by technologies and advancing materials. The great leap forward in leather came fast on the heals of the invention of the sewing machine. Before the collaborative efforts of the sewing machine, individuals had to make their own clothing. Sitting at home copying some European model of a dress or jacket, or inventing a pattern that fell nicely on the human physique the designs were intuitive and often involved practicality and issues like saving materials and keeping seams simple for ease of sewing.
With the 19th century spike of Jewish immigration to North America, people with tailoring as their skill set powered a drive that created the new technology of the zipper, sewing machine and other such innovations. This powered the engine of a commercial "schemata" business. A man or woman with many languages, a small apartment and a couple of machines could start designing and producing small lines of clothing for the waves of new immigrants and industry growing in North America. This was a golden time of innovation, where designs and ideas were discovered and helped create and standardize the roots of modern clothing. Just check out these primitive designs, there almost seems to be design progression in the clothing and its complexities.

The Mysterious D-Pocket: Myths and Legends

The most amazing jackets I have seen over the years have a d shaped pocket on the front. This pocket configuration almost never shoes up on European jackets. I makes me wonder who came up with this design feature first? It shows up on the earliest jackets of the 30s. I asked the founder of a motorcycle jacket company about the "d pocket" and he referred to a jacket that he produced in the forties as having a curved patch pocket with a zipper, lol. Legend and common terms for this pocket often refer to it as a map pocket or a gun pocket. It often looks to have the perfect shape to hold a pistol, with a surface pocket to hold ammo. Others use map pocket implying that navigational papers might be stored there. The canvass jacket in the pictures is an actual WW 2 Japanese flight jacket with what was referred to as a "map" pocket. Patch pockets typically appeared on early jackets as a simple external pouch or wallet like device. Perhaps unique to North America the instinct to attach an external money pouch translated into the simple d pocket. What ever its origins, it is one of the coolest features of the North American Leather Jackets!

The Power of the New: To Design or to Copy

Over the last 8 weeks I have met with 20 or so elder statesmen of the schmata trade. These guys are serious old school players in the game of "cut and sew" Every single one was over the age of 65 and every single one was successful in the trade! These guys have more combined wisdom then all the jacket nerds like me combined. I meet with these wise old men to try and discover the secrets of how to make the perfect jacket. The more I meet, the more I am beginning to realize there is no one "right" way to make the perfect jacket. Every single company had their favorite tanneries, favorite seams, favorite threads and favorite designs. Many winged it based on deals on materials, or just hit the nail on the head when a finicky customer came in and demanded a particular design feature. Some just altered their designs to be different then Joe Schmoe down the road. We have the wind proof flap...he doesn't, lol. But when push comes to shove, old jackets were about functionality, fit and beautiful cuts. Look how shiny this dead stock Beck cafe racer is. You wouldn't think it would be that shiny when you found an old vintage one. And yet other finishes on jackets are matte or semi gloss. Wax finishes, aniline, oil...dye...urethane...choices, choices choices...oh and fear the jacket nerds!

Layers of History: Where we live!

The magic of where I live is Spadina. This is one of the earliest streets made and named in my city of Toronto. Many here do not realize how much history past and present lives on this street. The neighborhood went from a wealthy stately residential street to a working class factory street in the early days of Toronto. By the early 20th century stately houses were torn down to build multistory brick "Schmata" factories where scores of Jewish, Irish and Italian immigrants sewed many of the "ready wear" garments that clothed the Eastern Seaboard. My neighborhood became known as the Jewish Market, but today is now Chinatown. Many of the remnants of the heyday of the garment industry still linger under the signs and floorboards of mostly original buildings.

The name originates from the Ojibwa word ishpadinaa meaning "be a high hill or sudden rise in the land. This native history created a street which housed garment factories, booze cans, bookmakers, and underground economies. The famous Jewish American anarchist and feminist Emma Goldman died in a building across the street from me. Amelia Earhart discovered her love of flying on the south end of the street, and contracted her lifelong ear infection that eventually may have contributed to her death during WW1 working at the Spadina hospital for veterans of the war. My good friend at Grants Wholesale not only lent Mr. Kraft money to help start his famous farming and food business, but turned down Levis Strauss for exclusive rights to sell the famed denim in Canada back in the 50's. Sometimes I forget the history when I walk up and down my street, looking in on the Rotman's Haberdashery selling hats since before the war. And every once and a while a sign is ripped out revealing the generations of business' behind it. Moishe's tavern..or a famous theater or rooming house. This place bleeds history and schmata.

Curves, Bumps and Designs

One of the amazing things that happens as I progress through this project is a journey of self discovery. I am blessed here in Toronto with many many elderly Jewish folk who are still actively in the clothing business. With many many years in the "schmata" business these guys are treasure troves of parts, and more importantly, knowledge about the "real" story of fashion. There are so many people just waiting to bust open stories and secret vaults of old stuff to help me along the way to completing my project. I'm just shocked and amazed. Today I spoke with a fellow who used to do business with my Grandfather who died in 1966, the year I was born. He remembered him and his company from over 40 years ago. I am discovering my own lost past. These guys have real stories about the "real" business when clothing and more importantly workwear was growing and peaking in North America.

On a second note, one of the great difficulties I have encountered in making historically accurate jackets has been the patterns. Modern patterns are often modeled with generic dimensions with the aid of CAD software. This software intervenes with the organic nature of "original" designs. Part of the great and strange process of learning about old patterns was the way these patterns were so organically curvy and hand drawn. Each pattern was adjusted on real people and perfected year after year until the strange interlock of all the curved fitted pieces formed the perfect shape and body that would stand the test of time. Then that body was transformed and built with the organic curvy wrinkly skin of beautiful well-treated animals, adding protection for human beings to go out into the world. Part of creating a lost jacket is recreating the lost art of the curve! Beautiful natural organic curves!

Native Themes, Tradition and America

Indian themes and indeed Native cultural knowledge is essential order to understand the North American leather jacket. Culture is viral. Europeans arrived in North America and would have not established a foothold without the help and cross fertilization of Native cultural know how and European ingenuity. Sadly the payback was territorial stealing, disease and in some cases genocide. Natives influenced dress styles of the European settlers and blended technology and design into the mix. This influence stretches back to the roots of American settlement and its strong influence can be seen today in the idealization of "nativism" in the design of jackets, branding and labeling. I pointed out that it was the Indian wives of early fur traders that invented the Mackinaw, and certainly the ergonomic designs and beading of early traditional Native garb influenced the Europeans in the design of their own clothing for survival. By the time of the industrial age in the Americas, Nativism came to symbolize the warrior, the sportsman, and the athletic hero. That positive image was overshadowed by the dismal treament by settlers of their indigenous "enemies".

How I spend my Summer Vacations: The future

As part of my strange personality I often ponder how I've gotten to where am at. I try to perceive the future and am always considering where Im trying to go. Im old enough that I have seen many of my friends rise to the heights of power and money and some fall to the streets and the abyss. This kind of stuff never really was on my smorgasbord of consideration as a youth. My vision of my life was about spending time in the wilderness, being unconventional and trying to make beautiful things. Realizing this vision and melding it with real social forces is a long and hard task. While my photos seem rather unconnected, I would say that in fact they all are parts of a cohesive puzzle. The question is: where do you find satisfaction and self worth, get compensated and leave a world that is better off then when you started. Im a nouveau Luddite. I want wilderness that I can run around in and show my friends and family, that is the Canadian way. I want to make an impact on peoples lives and leave some sort of legacy. I want people to consume better and learn to appreciate and pay for things that will benefit their lives. One avenue is my hope to restore the knowledge and history behind North American apparel industry and its great history of quality, production and beauty. As I watch many of my friends become powerful members of society I hope that they have similar goals, not just the desire for constant and ever growing financial gain. We have already seen the disastrous results of the morally bankrupt on Wall Street and here is hoping for a new breed of men and women who will make our world a more healthy, beautiful, smart and equitable place.

Creating Beauty, Design and the Past

I spend a lot of time thinking about shapes and forms. Hours upon hours developing and trying to find out what the thin hair of difference is that creates genius vs mediocrity. With so much mediocre crap out in the world I am always terrified that I might step over the abyss and make or design something that is "mediocre" . Believe it or not as I was discussing with my friend John Chapman the other day, the difference between simple genius and today's fashion is often the concept of purpose. In the past every design, every line and every single cut seemed to be full of purpose. There was always a practical reason for each idea in a garment. The creativity was often the secondary thought. First you make a perfect garment, then you embellish it. Trying to understand that thinking in an age of computing and computer design is next to impossible. The task is daunting at best. I've spent the better part of the last 3 months trying to create new designs in the Zeitgeist of those long dead designers and it has been a fascinating process. We have had to unthink many of the ideas built into these jackets and unthink the way modern patterns are made. It is and will be a very scary process. I have been reticent to even share the results with my family. Hopefully I will have a jacket so beautiful that others will encourage me to bring it out into the world!

England, Punk Rock and Cate Blanchett

Part of my longtime passion with leather jackets has lead me to meet the global cabal of aficionados who share my obsession. Admittedly I was a bit late to the game of leather jacket collecting. I did not get serious about it until 2000. The jacket that inspired me was an Endura cafe racer made in California. That jacket was so cool with clean lines and a yellow racing stripe. I wore it and it reinvigorated my love of clothing. My first leather jacket was a gift, a loan from a friend really. It was a punk jacket and in Canada the only source of punk jackets was Brimaco. The standard copy of a Harley Cycle Champ D-pocket jacket was hacked and painted, safety pinned and studded. My friend Brendan lent me his jacket in 1986...it was his band jacket from the early 80s. I loved that jacket and found myself wandering the streets of Ottawa getting into all sorts of trouble in it.
The real catalyst for vintage leather was the publication of Rin Tanaka's books on motorcycle jackets in 2001. Many of the jackets in the book were sold by me and other friends of mine here in Toronto. It was so exciting to see jackets that I owned or held in my hands in a book! Rin seemed to connect a world of dealers and traders and other obsessive compulsives that had never even met each other except on the world of ebay and the internet. One of the key contributors to the books English side is my new friend Peter Makarski. Pete's London collections of English motorcycle stuff is legendary. Pete kindly lent me some pics of one of my most favorite women in the world wearing one of his jackets. Cate is as inspiring to me in her beauty as the jackets are inspiring in their design and authenticity. I listened to punk in the late 1970s as a 13 year old here in Toronto, and am always fascinated at the global network of music that connected us long before the internet via analogue vinyl.

J.P. Sartre...The New Age and the Overcoat

Since I turned 40 I have lived with a strange sense of regret and nostalgia. Apart from the obvious which is that I dive through dead peoples clothing for a living there are many things about this new age that bother my core. Many of the best people that shaped my life have died, and many of the new ideas I thought might change the world in the end corrupted it. I grew up reading everything I could find in non fiction and science fiction. By the time I was 14 I was one messed up well read punk. J.P. was one of my greatest influences. I often wonder what Sartre would have thought of the corporate bastards on Wall Street and their philosophical inner selves. Does a trader ever suffer existential inner angst and nausea...or does his limited existence free him up from any responsibility that those who fear god live in...hopefully some will find out in jail! J.P. was a cool dresser and loved his old things. Look at these beautiful ancient canvass coats he used to wear. They used to bind you up like a canvass and sheepskin cocoon against the harshness of reality and reflect the zeitgeist of the period when they were made...that is what they were for. I have this European number on Ebay as we speak and it is unbelievable..it reminds me of a time when at least people questioned their reason for existence and feared for it!

Langlitz, Color, and Aging.....Customize

Like the Peacock and the Mandrill, colors are a way of warning off predators. When you wear bright colors your not just saying look at me..I'm beautiful, you are also saying "Look at me...I might kick your ass!!". In the world of custom jackets this is also true, like a peacock this beautiful Langlitz custom Cascade jacket is just stunning and would have been worn to protect and attract attention, and like the Mandrill, the Chimayo jacket didn't just say I'm cool..it said I'm so tough that you might think I'm freaky but if you say anything...I will wipe the floor with you! Thus manhood and customization go hand in hand!

Raw Denim, Raw Leather and Aging

A lot of questions pop into the head when trying to create the perfect leather jacket. In my observations around reproduced clothing I spend a lot of time thinking about Raw versus Worn versus Aged. I love worn out clothing. I sell vintage clothing, and what I am really selling is character. Character is what happens when someone possesses something, lives in it wears it out, imparts and imbues their experiences upon the existence of the thing and gives it new life! We can build outward from our face and bodies to our things. We live in the world and the farmer gets deep creases relaying his years in the field, the comic gets deep laugh lines and the proper lady remains pale and wrinkle free. Clothing is very similar. For years since the late seventies pre-aging was being sold and progressively scaled up. In the 1950s you would buy a pair of raw denim Levis, shrink them, not take them off and bam after a month or two, those cardboard like iron denim pants would start to soften, with faint lines appearing beneath the dark blue indigo ringspun denim. Stone washing, preshrinking, bleaching hacking, faking patching and destroying, volcano washing and all other forms of nonsense have created today's silly jean. Now you can buy a jean that will last one year with its prehacked wear before your package falls out of the blown out crotch and onto the stool. I believe in raw denim. I'm sitting in deadstock 646 1970s indigo bell bottoms that are just getting soft now after wearing them for 2 months. I sell vintage ones for the lazy and under worked who cant find the time to wear out their own jeans and leathers.

Why pictures of leather and the tannery? Well, the big question is how new should leather look before it is made into a jacket. How hard was the leather in a 1940s leather jacket when it was new. And how much character should a skin have before it is sewn into a jacket. Look at these skins they already tell such a great story from birth, life and sadly to death, just like me...

Partisans, Chiam and Leather

I have lived in the same place for 20 years..right in the heart of the "Schmata" district in Toronto. While I came and went from my home base, one of my constants was Chaim. 16 years day in and day out Chaim would greet me with a growl and an insult in Yiddish, Azerbaijani, Serbo-Croatian, Polish or one of a gazillion languages he spoke. He called me "Reb Kalef" or Rabbi Dog in English. Chaim came from a village in Poland near to my Grandfather..when the Nazis moved in and started slaughtering Jews, 16 year old Chaim grabbed his father's gun with two of his brothers and fled into the forest. He joined a desperate group of Jewish partisans grabbing food where they could and slowly made his way through Poland, Belorussia, Uzbekistan, eventually ending up in Cyprus, Israel and then Canada. Chaim was one cranky tough little bastard.
Chaim taught me a lot about the clothing business. I learned things I didn't get a chance to learn from my Grandfather who died the year I was born. I was thinking of Chiam when I went to see Defiance starring my wife's favorite actor Daniel Craig. I enjoyed the film in spite of its "classic Hollywood" foibles and obvious sentimentality, but as per usual was much disappointed with the leather. This was a 50-50 split as Craig's jacket while aged to look super old was designed completely off kilter for a period jacket, from the zippers, to the collar, back yolk, and other bits (I think I saw stretchy banding and leather on the back typical of a 1950s jacket). Liev's jacket on the other hand was very authentic for the period. Partisans would have been wearing Russian or German leather from the prewar period basically 1915 to about 1940. I did some research and came up with some actual pictures some of the troop in the movie. In actuality there were over 1200 people living in a makeshift village in the Polish forest, they even had their own leather shop and tannery, imagine that! I miss being yelled at by Chaim everyday...

Joshua Jackson's One Week and Brimaco!

It is not often that as a Canadian I get to brag about vintage leather jackets and Canada. This week Joshua Jackson of Dawsons Creek fame is premiering in a movie called "One Week" in which he discovers that he has terminal cancer and decides to take a one week road trip on his motorcycle across Canada. I can't tell you how excited I was to see a life size cut out of Joshua in his Brimaco, British Cycle Riders jacket from Montreal. It is often believed that all of the early great motorcycle jacket companies and creative original designs came from the U.S.A. but this is not true. Brimaco was one of the earliest leather jacket companies in North America. I had the pleasure to interview the owner about his company 4 years ago. The man was 76 years old. He stated Brimaco opened before 1900 by his "grandfather". Brimaco's stock and trade was the clearly "British" style cafe racer, which they manufactured very early on. Though I cannot claim they invented the style, when I asked if he was aware of the other motorcycle jacket companies he claimed that there was fair trade on design and technique. Where it is clear that Brimaco copied the Harley Cycle Champ...it is possible that others copied the style and fit of their cafe racer...I'm just going to show a comparison of a Beck early cafe that I have on ebay with a similar Brimaco cafe racer in profile. Go Joshua I hope this movie does well and explodes on screens everywhere!

Beautiful Jackets Just Because.....

In upcoming blogs Im going to write about the history of zippers, hopefully interview two old time bikers from the 1950s, and if I am lucky I will have an interview with one of the descendants of Archie's Riders. In the meantime there were some absolutely beautiful jackets that were traded this week and I cant help myself but post some images on my blog!!




If any of my faithful readers have old family photos, or a family member who bought, sold or made leather or have any other great images or stories, I am always looking for new information, material and images to publish. Send em my way!!!

Post War Biker Clubs, Couple Culture!

To wear or not to wear? This is not necessarily the question! I own a bazillion jackets and people often wonder "where do they come from" . Apart from the obvious which is I buy them, I too ask the same question. I recognize the history of post war American culture and I know all to well its artifacts, but with each new jacket I acquire, the life of the person in the jacket is a mystery.

Ok, so we know vintage things come from estates which brings up sooo many questions. Look at this lovely set of jackets, and believe me their were photos, club patches, hats, boots, belts, other biker jackets, cloth jackets, a scrapbook and many other memories in this estate. I saw these items auctioned off and sold as pieces. There was this strange sense of sadness. Think about it, a man or woman, predeceased by their spouse, lovelingly held on to their club outfits and memories for their duration of life. They died and no relative was interested in claiming their past, no friend was left and these beautiful items of clothing were thrown on to the open market. All those memories of him and her, all those scratches and wrinkles in the jackets sold off to new riders and collectors. Should these pieces have stayed together, or be sold and used by new enthusiasts who will love and care for them as much as this couple who built them did?

It makes me happy that people care enough to want to buy these pieces of the past, and yet it makes me sad that in some way they didnt go as one lot to a museum commemorating the love and consideration that these two had for each other!

Canmexirica, Cross Border Business, and Obama!

Ok, this is a bit of a cryptic post and will require stretching your ear a lot! I was listening to the radio today excited for Obama's first foreign trip, to Canada!!! It has always been tradition for the U.S. President to make his first trip to Canada, until that jerk Bush decided he didn't like Canada because it was too far away from Texas or something or other. Well, we here in Canada we love Obama, almost as much as we dislike Bush. Im personally hoping this guy can work out some miraculous solution to this mess George Jr created. Ok, so whats all this about Canada, the US and Mexico. A lot of people don't realize that workers used to travel pretty freely between borders in North America. It was not only routine for cattle from Texas to be run up to Canada but that the borders were barely even defined in the early 1900s. Mexican workers, American workers and Canadian workers would go to where ever there was work. Companies would open factories where ever there were customers. So Carhartt for example would have a factory in Detroit, Toronto and many other cities. If you were ever interested in how beautifully and respectfully our countries got along just read the John Dos Passos Triology. Dos Passos was a Portuguese American journalist who captured in his novels the most vivid pictures of early North America and our economies. It is a lesson for the stupid protectionists and xenophobes on all sides of the border.

What is unknown is that the U.S. and Canada are the world's oldest biggest longest sexiest trading partner on the planet. Im going to tell the story of the Mackinaw. Mackinaws are those cool wool jackets that keep everyone warm and dry. Ever wonder where they came from. Early leather jackets were always marketed with Mackinaw liners. They were advertised as the coats with a durable leather shell and warm wool liner that precursed the quality blanket liners of the 1940s !

Mackinaws were invented by a Canadian in Canada when Canada was America! How about that. Mackinac is a derivation of a Menomini or Ojibwe word "Michilimackinac". The c is silent. Legend has it the Mackinaw was made by Metis sewers commissioned by Loyalist "Canadian" John Askin. Askin was a merchant and fur trader in the the area where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. He ran successful business in the fur trade and moved in and around the floating U.S. British border in the period. He was said to have commissioned the first Mackinaws for the military but ran out of blue wool and created the classic red and black check jacket out of necessity. This invention around 1800 was created when the Detroit area was Canada then America then Canada (after the treaty of Ghent) and on and on. It was the standard cold weather coat by 1910. In a short 100 years borders were decided and business was booming setting up the stage for all the great small companies and innovators of the early 20th century leather making. It is amazing to imagine all this style resulted from the cross fertilization of Irish and Native necessity. That is how long and lovely our countries have intertwined. Think that this very area of trade between natives, British and early Americans became the area of the automobile, and the "Mac" jacket became the motorcycle jacket of the future in the same spot!

Durabil, Duck Canvas and Brand Identity

A while back I wrote about Durabil jackets and this beautiful 1918 model leather jacket with its incredible primitive design. I often ask myself why I blog, and more and more I'm realizing it is about my interest even obsession with history. The history of 20th century fashion is completely misrepresented by the media and even the people who often love it best. The story of 20th century clothing is the very story of Canadian and American immigration and the rise of North America as global superpower. Not just that story but the story of developing industrialism, and the secret kabals of Jewish immigrants and their rise in the formerly British and American dominated clothing trade.

Grant, Holden, Graham Ltd was an early transcontinental company based in Vancouver and Ottawa, that traversed the railroad servicing adventurers on both sides of North America. Like an early Colemans, the company specialized in Duck Canvas. Their catalog included everything from tents and early tent car conversions, to sails, awnings, hot air balloons, bags, and any other need or item manufactured from duck canvass. And following the theme of the adventurer, they added to their line camp stoves, sleeping bags, outdoor adventure gear, and the Durabil leather jacket. These were software added to their main line. It is amazing to see how early industrial brands defined themselves!

Art, Mechanical Reproduction...reality

Ok so what the hell does that title mean? Well one of my devoted customers sent me an article from Newsweek which explored the link between authentic American clothing and the obsession in Japan which allows Americans to purchase "real" clothes in the U.S.



The article is moderately intersting in so far as it surveys in the vaguest detail trends in Japan coming home to roost in America. Part of my business is to not only identify trends in vintage clothing but in fact to initiate those trends by selling to the boutique stores in Japan and designers here in N.A. Those designers "Double RL, Abercrombie..et al" come to guys like me to find clothing to "knock" off. The real trend over the last couple of years has been to recreate in varying degrees of authenticity, early North American work wear. This is rife with irony. Unionized Labourers (mostly Jewish and Italian) came from Europe to produce some of the finest clothing of the new industrial age in Canada and the U.S. and now American companies are copying it (mostly in Asia) and bringing it back to America. Im not going into the whys, whats, rights and wrongs of this process. What I find most intriguing is that all of this fertilization is inspired by and spawned by the Japanese (the first China..knockoff wise in the 1960s and 70s) and their obsession with American Authenticity. My Japanese customers know more about American clothing than Americans. Walter Benjamin, Literary critic who was murdered by the Germans in ww2 wrote the keystone article regarding authenticity "in the age of mechanical reproduction" which asked the question what is "authenticity" in a reiefed mass produced culture. This question of mass production, value and quality turns out to be the keystone of our current global economic meltdown. While centralised garbage is being pumped out of China, and bankers (like the pigs at Merrill who gave themselves 3.6 billion (revised to super pigs) in bonus' this year of U.S. tax payers money) suck the economy dry, a movement toward traditionalism of early "late capitalist production values" is on the move. Japan, a country of few natural resources and space has spearheaded this movement for many reasons that I will explore in coming months in my blog.

Ok enough of that. Why the pictures of the Buco jackets? Buco is one of the most revered motorcycle jacket brands in Japan. Buco produced some of the most iconic designs ever in Detroit Michigan. Nice Jewish immigrants the "Bugeleisen" family were masters of their trade for a generation. They eventually spawned multitudes of copiests, and were eventually like many of the great Schmata companies retired into oblivion unable to compete with the cheap knockoffs from Japan, and South America. These two jackets are recent acquisitions which I am going to put up for sale on ebay in the coming weeks. Both sz. 40 they come from an old time biker in California who is in his 70s. Every 15 years he bought himself a new jacket, notice the custom spot work on the belts. This is real Americana at its best!!!

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/modern/The-Work-of-Art-in-the-Age-of-Mechanical-Reproduction.html

http://www.newsweek.com/id/182573

Slow Food and Leather:

"The Slow Food movement was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy to combat fast food. It claims to preserve the cultural cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals, and farming within an ecoregion. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement. The movement has since expanded globally to over 83,000 members in 122 countries." from Wikipedia

Slow food for clothing is not a dissimilar concept. My politics are all about regionalism. That doesn't means I only consume production from the GTA, Ontario or Canada it means I love and respect regionally created goods made with care and tradition with a nice slow old school anti technology edge! This means...I love scotch, especially small batch scotch from Scotland. I love balsamic vinegar..especially from Modena..and I looooooove North American vintage leather jackets...city by city, maker by maker. I believe we need to consume less, I believe we need to know where the things we buy are made and by whom. Essentially I believe in craftsmanship not as a "brand concept made on the computers of an advertising agency", not as a "long past fantasy the exists in the ether of the past", but as reality of day to day existence. This concept is so foreign to today's commercial production that it is almost impossible to implement. I am working locally to come up with recipes for original veg. tanned leather from the pre 1940s. Wow, everything is stacked against these traditions, the chemistry, the quality of the skins everything. Philosophically we need to take this approach to consuming in order to save the world from the heaps of garbage and joblessness impending on the horizon. If we dont make better things, more traditionally and with the kind of quality that we used to we will exhaust our resources and our well being.

Just a thought.

Tanners; A Dying Art Form in North America

I spend a lot of time working in and around leather jackets. It seems to me that for most people the whole process of where jackets come from and how they are made is a bit of a mystery. I spend all my time concentrating on how to improve little tiny differences of the process. So I am going to spend some time sharing some of the basic mechanics of making leather. I can tell you that trying to recreate the way leather was made in 1900 is no easy task. The reality is that modern clothing is a reflection of modern processes, and modern processes are about automation, profits ahead of value and reification. Essentially the North American Tannery is an endangered species. Leather is made in China, South America and other places where labour, animals and environmental practices are seldom a concern and often unregulated. The "craft" of making leather is for the most part gone. I'm trying to rediscover that craft to bring authenticity back to the process, along with an intrepid bunch of intrested others who I connect with daily via the web, this blog and my business.

Cool, Vintage, Leather and Why I do it.

Cool was once an attitude fostered by rebels and underdogs, such as slaves, prisoners, bikers and political dissents, etc., for whom open rebellion invited punishment, so it hid its defiance behind a wall of ironic detachment, distancing itself from the source of authority rather than directly confronting it.

Cool is also an attitude widely adopted by artists and intellectuals, who thereby aided its infiltration into popular culture. Sought by product marketing firms, idealized by teenagers, a shield against racial oppression or political persecution and source of constant cultural innovation, cool has become a global phenomenon that has spread to every corner of the earth.[2] (Taken from wikipedia)

Key to this concept of cool is Leather. I became obssessed with leather when I purchased an Endura 1960s cafe racer with a yellow racing stripe. I was overwhelmed with an instantaneous, almost indigenous sense of cool and beauty in that jacket. I became suddenly aware that there are two streams of fashion in the world. Crap...which is what almost everybody wears, and pure cool genius. And just like John Wayne, Cockburn, McQueen, Newman...these guys were innately cool. You cant teach truthfullness, solidity and the desire to stray from what everybody else seems to think is normal. That is what leather jackets, real leather jackets are all about, sorry Belstaff.

Quality vs. Price: The Future of Consumption

One of the interesting trends over my 20 years in fashion is the rate of the cycle between the popularity of a particular vintage item within my customer group of designers and Japanese and the time lag before the same remade items become hugely popular in North American fashion markets. Vintage trends have always been 2 years ahead of the North American Street.
This year Red Wings et al have become the hot boot trend in new footwear. What is fascinating to me is the way that Red wings, bluntstones and other boot companies have produced a reasonably priced replica vintage boot. The irony is, they are replicating their own, better made higher quality original boots. This begs a question, what is the difference between a 140 dollar pair of boots and a 600 dollar pair of boots. I can tell you while slight, to get to the kind of sewing, hand cutting and leather in a 600 dollar or more pair of boots you need to have the care and respect that went into boot making 50 or more years ago. Hand made boots were made to last for years because one pair might be the only pair you owned. On that note, after watching Obama's opening notes on the new global era, isn't responsible shopping about buying one good thing (expensively) and keeping it for a long while. Isn't that why I love vintage, if you make it right once its good for a long, long, long time!

Belstaff, Movies and Leather

Every once and a while I am called upon by the film industry for some consultation. I really enjoy this work because they tap me for "expertise" on how to create authenticity for their historical period clothing. There is nothing that I enjoy more than a film that captures the verisimilitude of a period vis a vis correct and fabulous costuming. Last year I worked on Amelia Earhart staring Hillary Swank. The costumers needed authentic vintage jackets to recreate the look of the 1930's and I was happy to share my interest, knowledge and collections with the film makers. Many of my jackets were used in the movie. The other main contributor to the film was Belstaff. Belstaff and other companies are often called in to make historical recreations to fill the size gap differences that cannot be achieved because modern men and women are often much larger then the people of the 1930s. In the case of Earhart, her original flying jacket (which was made by Abercrobie in the 30s) would be next to impossible to find so the film staff or private contractor would have to make a copy.



I went to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" yesterday and I was for the most part impressed. There are many stunning examples of original period jackets in the film. You could not have a better model than Brad Pitt to wear a jacket and he is an excellent 30s and 40s period archetype persona. The wool plaid jackets and leathers were for the most part stunning and accurate. The film has a gritty feel and look and the costumers go to great lengths to find accurate clothing. Belstaff contributed several jackets to the film and if I had found a picture of their 1930s shawl collared sheepskin and horsehide button up barnstormer jacket I would have posted it. Kudos to them for creating not just the nice tight cut but the jacket look fit seamlessly into the film. This did not hold true for their other creation pictured above. The four pocket jacket seemed frilly and out of place on Pitt in the film. It did not fit the character or the time or place of the film and it would be highly unlikely that the character of Button would have owned this jacket regardless of the look of the jacket. Oh well, marketing opportunities often outweigh the desire to be "authentic". Seems a shame though as films like "The Motorcycle Diaries" and even the most recent "Indiana Jones" with Shia LaBeouf really capitalize on historical iconic referencing with their fantastic recreations of early motorcycle jackets. I'm giving the leather a 50% score in the film oscillating between brilliant and banal!

Bettie Page, Icons, Leather and Hotness

In a sad moment, or maybe an uplifting moment there have been some recent celebrity deaths of late that shook my heartstrings. Eartha and Bettie Page both passed on recently and served to remind me that real human beings can often surpass their own existence into the realm of iconic greatness that becomes unattached, unchained significance. This must have been perplexing to the living artists when their captured works become culturally bigger then their own lives. These two arguably contributed so much to fashion, fetish and my interest leather inextricably due to their unique beauty and extreme and interesting personae. Bettie was the most incredible combination of brunette physical "natural" symmetry and perfection, combined with an open innocent sexuality and sexual image that she defined "hotness" for millions of twentieth century urban pinup suicide girls. Her use of skin tight iconic clothing imbued everything that was good about well fitted clothing and sexiness of the all American girl.


Eartha who was also iconic, broke ground with her triple threat talents, politics, and sex symbol status (Catwoman etc..) as a powerful black woman. Often representing everything that was possible in American culture today (i.e. Obama) years in advance of her time. She dared criticize the President in the sixties suffering great personal and career criticism, and similarly took on the role of Catwoman and reinvigorating a new sexiness to a role when smart talented women of color did not feature prominently in the period. I thank the universe for these two, because they forever changed culture, sexuality, politics and fashion in a way that we only are beginning to understand, and in a way martyred their own lives for it. Neither benefited greatly from their own genius. Certainly draconian copyright never figured into Page's status until the later years of her life. She never benefited from the use and wide cultural importance of her image living a rather modest existence, only profiting in her later years. The open exchange and use of her images grew her cultural relevance far beyond "pin up girl" and serves as a lesson to many of the industries today who seek to command and control their "cultural production" well beyond their rights to do so.
Thanks ladies we are all richer because of you!

Spots, Punks and Ebay

Customization and spot work were traditionally the realm of the warrior. Ancient knights customized their Armour not just for protection but so that they could be easily identified. These warriors could distinguish themselves in combat and strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. That tradition which can be traced back to the beginnings of human civilization incorporated popular culture in WW 2 when American airmen used their favorite media characters to decorate their jackets and planes and proclaim their achievements and intentions to their Nazi targets. Camouflage was not the concern unlike soldiers on the ground. The social and antisocial biker clubs that rose from the traditions of brotherhood and danger of WW 2 also sought to proclaim themselves through irony and often fearful imagery. Bikers routinely co opted and recontextualised popular culture icons into their jackets both combining powerful imagery and Armour appearance with practical protection from the road. One of the last great antisocial movements that celebrated this combination of culture, aggression and protection was the punk rock movement. Punkers celebrated their warrior status by wearing their politics on their leathers. Lefty punkers, anarchists, skins, Nazis all decorated their "war" gear appropriately with images of their musical heros, and studded their jackets like medieval knights in leather hobnail Armour. The goal was to strike fear into straight society, and their "enemies" in other groups. I added two photos of my old buddy Ken just to relive a moment in time

Sad ebay side notes of the month: Ebays new feedback rating system ensures that even when achieveing 4 stars out of 5, no seller qualifies for any discounts, search optimization and now sales. Part of the new requirement is 4 4.5 star ratings to get any discounts on Ebay. Apparently 80% isn't good enough, ebays c minus service requires a sellers A ++ rating of 90% or better. And because buyers think they are leaving good feedback with 4 stars, we all get to pay more to ebay...way to go!

Spots and Road Knights!

So what are all these fantastic custom pieces of leather with their studs and metal and spots everywhere. When I was young and goodlookin me and my friends would buy our leather cyclechamp d-pocket brimaco jackets and customize them with pain, punkrock and metal to be menacing and bad. The more threatening and armor like your jacket, the more bad ass it was. We thought we were so original, and how wrong we were.

Leather and studs go back thousands of years back to the Mycenaean culture and beyond. Inserting metal onto leather was the earliest form of protection and armor making. But what is important is where leather, metal and identity meet. The Medieval knights of the upper classes armored head to toe, had to customize their look to be identified friend or foe. Leather, metal and customization was a long history of warrior culture and continues today from punks and bikers, Rockers of Britain and the old time biker clubs of America. Spots not only saved expensive leathers from scratches and road rash, but they became a form of expression of personal identity. And it didn't hurt to have a flash of shiny nickle when riding down a lonely highway in a black leather jacket when a 2000 lb car came screaming by!

Hiccup, the elections over maybe back to Business

The last bunch of years has been a bit of a joke. My business (the vintage clothing business) has been hammered by Bush policies and general right wing agendas. First it was SARS when American media tried to demonize Toronto because people had the flu, then the dollar bouncing and now cheap knock off crap from China (Im glad Wallmart is richer) and wall Street greed. I have to say I actually was a bit emotional when Obama was elected last night. We just went through our own election here in Canada and as usual it was uneventful and more of the same.
American elections hold a real interest in Canada. In reality American politics often dictates as much about our policies and economy as our own government. As you can imagine Bushy hasn't really been very good for Canada or Canadian values. After I watched Obama get elected most (not all) people here in Ice land sighed a sense of relief. Like maybe we have a new hope for change away from the madness of the last 8 years. We all lost money, we all feel badly for people embroiled in war, and especially me, I feel for my friends of color especially my black friends who after years of experiencing racism in one form or another breathed a sigh of relief, like it was finally not completely wrong to be black. I actually was moved.

Just a thought, now that there is a new President: People are still going to be bigoted in America, Canada and the world, but isn't it nice to know that it will become just that much more unacceptable and less the norm and more the exception. Next we need a Gay president or a Woman, or a gay women...we can keep this thing going! And when it is all done, we can elect people who actually represent ... Read More their own politics, and don't bow out cause they smoked a joint or their kids friend published naked pictures of their privates on the internet or because they hung out with the wrong person when they were 12, who knows maybe one day we can live in a clean environment and where oil company s and banks don't dictate domestic and foriegn policy and where mutual respect and hard work are rewarded and where deviant social behavior is punished and or reformed, wow....I think I saw that show it was Star Trek the original series!

Halloween and the Rise of the Dead!!!!

I like to think of myself as an intriguing mix of Alfred E. Newman meets Steve McQueen. This year for Halloweeny instead of my usual fare, Nance and I dug into the archive of vintage leather and went as dead 40s bikers. I considered it an homage to all those people who lived hard, died and left me their fantastic apparel. In some way their spirits live on in their leathers so we donned the garbs and went aspookin. This was a nice prelude to some interviews I'm doing with some real old time club bikers who are nice enough to share some picture and stories from their day. I'm wearing a Buco police jacket and a pair of Score (Toronto) 1940s copy Harley jodhpurs with 1940s harness boots and a 1930s military belt, Nance is in a 1940s Cycle Queen, some 1950s flat track racing pants and we both have on early riding gauntlets. Halloween was...awesome!

Los Angeles, Logos and Design, Simple Simple Simple

I've been busy designing a logo for my new company. I'm trying to balance the tightrope between clean iconic design and horrifying kitsch. When designing the line between clear identifiable brand and derivative dumb hommage is very thin. The only thing worse than dumb homage is over wrought nightmarish flourish. So since I have sought out designers the detente between trying to get what you want and not offending those offering the design is a very scary tightrope. I ask for simple and iconic and I get back L.A. style Germanic overwrought skater style images. I immediately morph into a critical lunatic. I don't want to be Ed Hardy, or Juicy or anything tattoo related I say. Does anybody understand? Man, the Japanese are so far ahead of North America stylistically, who would have thunk it.
All this aside, I collected some of the best iconic brands here so in case anybody ever asks me what is simple and iconic they can refer to the above!!!

My A-2 For Sale, Ebay and the Declining U.S. Economy

So I have a rare piece that I am selling for a friend. Recently with the downturn in the U.S. economy more and more of my customers are Asian or European. In fact for the last six months my sales have switched from approximately 70 percent American 30 percent other to 90 perecnt European/Asian/Australian 10 percent American. Worse still, I now get vitriolic emails from frustrated Americans who are mad about my prices and go out of their way to curse. It is very strange to be selling in a world market and being yelled at from one corner of the world. I feel badly for all the people including my family that are suffering because of the greed of wall street and the impotence of the U.S. government to curb the Ponzi scheme that allowed for the fleecing of middle class people across the world, but guess what, I have to make a living too and cant give away merchandise! That being said, I have this incredible A-2. It is the jacket of Laidlaw Bowie Mackall, who as it turns out was a war hero of the China,Burma, India Japan theatre and winner of many many medals. This is a real gem of a rare rare moment in the history of World War Two pilot history. While getting a lot of interest on ebay I had no real offers, so feel free if you are interested to email me one!!!! Here is a little piece of history on this jacket:

THIS IS A RARE CHANCE TO BUY AN ORIGINAL HORSEHIDE VEG TANNED A-2 JACKET OWNED AND WORN BY LAIDLER B. MACKALL, SERVICE NUMBER A0420868, OF THE 462ND BOMB GROUP, 768TH SQUADRON. LAIDLER BOWIE MACKALL FLEW 33 MISSIONS, 15 HUMP MISSIONS. HE RECEIVED THE SILVER STAR, DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS WITH OAK LEAF CLUSTER, AIR MEDAL WITH 4 OAK LEAF CLUSTERS, SOLDIERS MEDAL, AMERICAN SERVICE MEDAL WITH ONE BATTLE STAR, ....LAIDLER WAS DISCHARGED AT THE RANK OF LT. COL.

HIS SPECIALTY WAS PILOT B29 VHB

The following was Col. Kalberer's recommendation for Major Mackall's Silver Star, based on his efforts to save Major Slack's plane.

On 6 January 1945, a formation of five aircraft from the 462nd Bombardment Group, were on a daylight strike mission against Omura, Kyushu. This formation had been assigned the lowest altitude of all formations making the strike and were supposed to attack first. However the other formations hit early, and the five plane formation was the next to last one over the target. As a result, the enemy had been thoroughly altered and has been able to get a large number of fighters into the air over the area, which he now knew was the object of attack. Immediately after bombs away, the first fighter attack and knocked out two engines of the lead airplane. Major Mackall, pilot of the deputy lead airplane, was informed of this fact over the Command Radio by the Formation Commander. As the damaged airplane began to lose speed and altitude slowly, it was apparent that unless protected, it would soon be shot down by enemy fighters. Major Mackall decided to keep with the lead plane and cover it as best he could. With great skill and determination he remained close on its wing even though the damaged plane, somewhat disorganized, flew directly over **** and a heavy anti-aircraft barge was encountered. By this time, about fifteen minutes after the first attack, the lead plane had slowed down to 160 MPH. Disregarding the fact that their slow speed had enabled the fighters to make very accurate attacks, and that about thirty more enemy planes could be seen climbing to engage the formation, Major Mackall, with cool disregard for the increasing danger from savage and hard-pressed enemy attacks made with aerial bombs and machine guns, gallantly remained with the damaged airplane to afford maximum protection for its efforts to reach rescue craft off the coast of Japan. For about thirty minutes, he kept with the cripple, which had lost altitude until it reached an undercast. To descend through the undercast would have forced him to leave his charge and required a climb before reaching his home base. he realized that to render further aid would have been futile and that the enemy fighters were low on gas and ammunition. He therefore left the damaged airplane to descend into the cover of the undercast and successfully brought his plane back to its home base.



TAKEN FROM: www.b-29.com/major.htm

Winters Coming get your Horse and Wool!!!

Ok, after taking a long break from blogging Im back for today!!! I have a million things to write about. Most importantly, winter is coming, tommorrow is a federal election here in Canada, and as usual, Ebay in all its continued insanity has had another sale day first day after a long weekend, and on the same day as the federal election. Just how rude and stupid can the business office at Ebay Canada be? That aside, I've not been blogging due to my deep desire to build my own website. It is coming along slowly so stay tuned. On that note, winter is coming. What did the bold and the hearty do back in the day. Why they wore horsehide, either lined with wool or combined with wool. How cool is that? The deep protective waterproof qualities of horsehide jackets mixed with the warm scratch bold masculine plaids of wool. Jackets cannot be made today with this manly design and masculine materials. Damn they were good back in the day!!!!!!

Motorcycle Paraphanailia and Cool Shirts

I have a collection of cool motorcycle t-shirts. I love everything from the 70's and have no idea how it happened. I remember in the 80's I hated the seventies, I obviously didn't understand cool, wow self awareness and enlightenment is cool!

Daytona Bike Week has been a tradition since January 24, 1937 - the inaugural running of the Daytona 200. Perhaps it was the appeal of hard sand, warm winter days and the excitement of that first motorcycle race on the beach, that made Daytona Beach the home of Bike Week. Now, the event is usually held on the first full week of March and contends with the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as the most popular motorcycle rally in the United States. Bike Week has always had a flavor of its own. The rally started on January 24, 1937. This first race in Daytona was a 3.2 miles (5.1km) beach and pavement course, and won by Ed "Ironman" Kretz from Monterey Park, California, riding an American made Indian motorcycle. This yearly race took a break from 1942 to 1947 due to World War II. During the years off, an unofficial event was still taking place commonly called Bike Week. In 1947 the official race resumed and gained in popularity. The event was then promoted by the late William France Sr., co-founder of NASCAR. Some time after the war, the event began to take on a rugged edge. While the motorcycle races on the beach were organized, events surrounding the race were not. As time passed, locals became afraid of the visitors and law enforcement officers and city officials were less than enthusiastic about what some termed an "invasion". Relations between the Bikers and law enforcement officials continued to worsen. When things appeared to be at their worst (after the 1986 event), a special task force was organized by the city in cooperation with the local chamber of commerce to improve relations and change the magnitude and scope of the event. When photojournalist and writer Roby Page first started trekking to Daytona Beach, Florida, for Bike Week in 1985, the counterculture gathering was dominated by rogues, ruffians, and rebels. In Bike Week at Daytona Beach: Bad Boys and Fancy Toys, Page gives us an understanding of the visceral, even elemental thrills of traveling by motorcycle. He tracks the history of the outlaw biker image from its origins in the wake of World War II and vividly documents the evolution of two American icons - the Biker and the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, creator of the machine favored by bikers. Cold beer, great burgers, pool tables, and old Florida hospitality! This ringer tee from the 1985 event with its amazing graphic design, conveys the frenetic energy and pace of the Daytona 200.

Insainity, Ebay and the New Feedback!!!

I rarely like to use my forum to complain about others but O joy O bliss I received my first negative feedback on ebay in a long while, and it was the first under ebay's new feedback system. I have been on ebay since it opened, in fact I tried to create my own ebay before it even existed. Believe it or not the earliest adopter of the online auction for collectibles format was in fact a bunch of buddies of mine in the vintage clothing business. Our secret Cabal of dealers were way ahead of the ebay game. I have both fortunately and unfortunately been with ebay through the entire rise and fall of internet selling. Wow, have they ever gone astray. The great irony is even though there have been failed attempts to compete with ebay, now that they truly have alienated their seller base, no one wants to step up to the plate and finally offer a competative marketplace.
That aside, I got my first negative feedback today. Wow, the new rules are so awesome. Not only did I get it from a guy who didnt even tell me he was unhappy but you should see the affect on my rating. Each feedback takes me down a full percentage point and now I cant even respond when I run into a problem buyer. Worst is there are financial penalties for me at a time when ebay is already charging sellers so much that they are looking for alternatives that are cheaper to sell through. I could go on but suffice to say, you combine a guy who doesnt understand vintage leather, and a personality disorder and a disfunctional public company and you end up with one very unhappy ebay seller.

Leather Fetish and Normalacy: Which are You?

So what is the line between fetish, obsession and "normal"? Hmmmm, my wife goes oragasmic over Cole Haan bags, and Manolo shoes...I sometimes think I am married to Ms. Marcos! I've often wondered if my collection of leather is obsessional myself, with the piles of jackets I have accumulated. Just when I though...hmmm maybe Im normal...I don't dress up in leather thongs and go to big parties for whippings (not that there is anything wrong with that) I remember back to my first really cool jacket and how excited I was when I bought it. I remember the creak of the hard leather as it folded and broke in, the sense of protection that it offered and that smell! Well, now I am remembering why Nancy gets so excited about that bag and those shoes...and hell Im not the only one who obviously has this fascination just check out some of the links on my blog or this guy!!!!



http://www.classicboots.com/



Its not like its weird I just forget that I have it and dont know why!

The Great Old Companies and their Trademarks

One of the really cool aspects of good old leather companies were their design trademarks. Not silly design trademarks in the legal sense (although those were very common in the early days) but more design trademarks that were style markers. If you infringed on another maker's style you risked having your brand identified as another maker's, so different brands naturally defined themselves in order to differentiate themselves. One must speculate that in the old days there was more value in "being unique" than ripping off your competitor. To be fair this was not always the case. In the 20s and 30s many companies parroted each other redefining each others style often making subtle changes and even improvements on design. I remember an Admiral Byrd jacket that had a patent pending on a pocket design in the 30s that became common place by the 1940s. By the 1950s and the development of many companies who competed against each other to make common styles specs defined by the U.S. Army or police forces, many companies started to develop trademark styles. Harley Davidson defined itself with the smooth back and d-pocket of the cycle champ and cycle queen, and many lesser companies produced knock offs of the cut all the way into the 80s (Brimaco is the classic example) but many many companies promoted their trade mark style and were rarely copied. Passiac Leathers was one of those companies. The created the diagonal pocket round neck cafe racer. Those diagonal pockets were their trademark! Rarely have I ever seen a Passiac that wasn't a basic black cafe racer, but this one combines their trademark style with the exotic colours of a true 1960s cafe racer a la Bates!!!!!

Children, Sophistication and Designing for Grownups

One of the fascinating trends I see in clothing design is the compulsion modern consumers have to dress their young children in adult clothing. More designers seemingly create adult-style fashions to cash in on what marketers see as a lucrative demographic. Personally I find modern children's clothing somewhat obscene, especially clothing that "sexualizes" the wearer. That being said, there is a long tradition of adult-style clothing for children that is both sophisticated and attractive. Often the more colorful designs reserved for the fringes of adulthood served well on the younger set, especially given the rugged durability and functionality of the clothing. Check out these amazing two-tone wool motorcycle style jackets from the 1930s. Obviously not designed for 8 year-old motorcyclists they have a beauty and sophistication that is a welcome look. Also, the rugged and fun design of the Sears fidelity youth jacket of the 1950s. Note the simple spotwork on the front half-belt which is much more about aesthetic than back support and fit.
From the design perspective it might not be the best protective design for a horsehide jacket but from a style perspective, very classy, very sophisticated indeed! This belt design only shows up on the Sears children's line of horsehide motorcycle jackets.

Why American Styles dominate Euro Styles: Metrosexuality

A Frenchman friend of mine got mad at me today and complained "what about European vintage clothing?" I had to explain to him that in my opinion there was no such thing!!! He was quite offended...what about Chanel, Dior etc....I replied this is not clothing. Clothing of the street or the basic designs we all wear were not created by Dior or Chanel. Modern work and street wear produced in the modern industrial age were in fact developed in America. The great brands of the 20th century flourished in the New World while Europe was embroiled in WW1 and WW2. North America rose as an industrial superpower, untouched by the wars there was time to develop the new styles synchronous to the new needs of a new age, and with new machines to produce them. My thesis that the best tailors of Europe, mostly of Jewish backgrounds fled to North America and built the modern clothing of today. While Dior et al may have created fashion haute, the major impact of modern clothing was worn and designed for the street. That being said, there are distinct differences between European styling and North American. Compare this Nazi jacket to the American A-2. While menacing, the Nazi jacket is somewhat ornate and fussy, starkly contrasting the simple functionality of the a-2. Shall I say metrosexual vs masculine. While quite scary, this fussiness exists in European styles today, and the masculinity that built the American clothing industry is sadly disappearing.

Bomber Command and Motorcycling: Two Gangs One Story

Check out the Wolf Sportswear two tone motorcycle jacket! Does something seem familiar. The amazing effect of the end of World War Two was a mass return of thrill shocked dissillusioned men who returned from the terrifying dangerous missions of Europe, Asia and Africa to relatively dull living in America, despair and unemployment. These young men became the modern day rebels of the late 40s and 50s. With the action of the war over they found themselves with out the comradeship of their sqaudrons often swapping the seat in a bomber command or fighter, for a motorcycle and buddies who knew them in action. These men took the paintings of their bomber groups which were influenced by the carefree and often cynical characters of animation. Animations that often acknowledged and entertained more real themes then the news of the day. This customization carried over to club jackets of the forties and fifties. This white and black jacket is a classic example of this kind of theme and expresses absolute rebellion. The loud colors and threatening studs served a dual purpose; to make one visible on the bike, and like modern day punkers, to say fuck you to everyday fashion by being as noticeable and dangerous looking as possible!

Chills, Thrills and Rare Jackets

Ok, so every once and a while I don't actually feel like posting. I'm down in the dumps after a hard week of not selling enough, and not having my phone calls returned. So just when I'm feeling about as low as I can...I jump on Ebay and BAM!!!!! My heart flutters as I view some of the holy grail of leather jackets. In front of my eyes an incredibly rare Leathertogs 1930s size 46 brown motorcycle jacket of the type worn in the movie serial Buck Rogers!!! If you ever want to see beauty in leather, this mint condition jacket still has the patina of its newish state, and on top of that, a sweet 50s Buco riding shirt and a 1950s Grais casual wear jacket....I had chills, now if I only had 4700 dollars to buy the leathertogs that would make one very happy schamta boy in Toronto!!

Grais Leather a Chicago Landmark

Rubin Grais, an immigrant Jew from Russia came to the United States to start a new life. His skills as a shoe maker created a foundation from which sprung forth Grais Leathers, one of the iconic leather jacket manufacturers of the 1940s and 1950s. Mr. Grais transformed his skills in shoes and vests into a wartime contract maker. Grais produced every type of jacket, this beauty was a classic horsehide from the forties. Sportswear with Grace!!! I will post more of the history of Grais through the coming months.

Colourful Displays and Tough Guys!!!!

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So I found myself explaining the two tone 1930s wool jacket with a grommet zipper to a friend the other day. My friend suggested that the jacket style and design was a bit "swishy", perhaps less manly. I was shocked! I suddenly realised that I had a very different concept of manliness then todays 21 century view. I find metrosexuality ridiculous. I think many of the designer jackets made today are full of frivolity and uselessness, extra buckles and meaningless pockets. But I still need to explain why these colorful old jackets are still tough guy jackets.

Metrosexuality is a co-optation of gay culture by straight men. Someone mistranslated the message. In the 1930s men had a uniform, either a suit or a military uniform, or perhaps work jackets and pants or other socially prescribed outfits. Those who wore leather jackets, or other kinds of jackets were often seen as rebels, or adventurers. Those that wore colourful leather jackets, or customized jackets were seen as uber-rebels. Bright colours attract attention, customization attracts attention; when you broke the fashion codes of the uniform you were attracting the attention of others, and if you wore the uniform of the rebel, you attracted extra attention. This story of rebellion didn't mean that the jackets were frivolous, just the opposite, still practical and utilitarian but with extra "bad-ass". Gay culture also expressed this version of "bad-ass" in many of it's vintage fashion statements reflective of the hyper-masculinity celebrated by gays. But this hyper-masculinity today is definitely not to be confused with "metrosexuality".

Early Leather Design and the Automobile

In the early days of motorcycle jacket design principals were embedded that affected both the shape and construction of leather jackets. Fashion while a componant of design was not the paramount influencing factor. Utility and quality often trumped design and flourish, which is clearly the opposite of the current trends of offshore manufacture. The best jackets often culminated in the perfect blend of practical design and flamboyant personal expression, like the agressive fierce explosion of a mating mandrill or the bright coloured dance of the peacock! This sort of colourful expression would be an example of early threatening fashion which down the line would culminate with the baggy colourful explosions of hiphop fashion and other modern trends.

The early designers often drew from what they knew. The industrial age of the plane and the motorcycle displaced the earlier cavalry of the military. The earliest protective gear made for motorcyclists and tankers parroted the practical designs of the Cavalry. Compare these early 1935 Jodphurs fashioned from wool and leather to these 1940s European motorcycle riding pants. The distinction between horseback riding and motorcycle riding was indistinguishable

Durable, Canadian Branding and America

The 1920s was an interesting time for leather jacket manufacturers. Before the boom of radio and later t.v., North America was reliant on printed media to spread marketing and brand. The majority of the economy was centered around ports of call, and the major transport system was the Great Lakes Waterways. This made the port cities on these lakes the major producers of the great transportation revolution. Cars, planes and motorcycles needed the appropriate gear to go along. The modern motorcycle jacket and other leather jackets were based on the primitive designs that had always been used in Europe for horseback riding and work wear. The American jacket was born of the cross fertilisation of those Euro styles with Native American wear, rugged wear required to settle North America and innovative designs to adapt to the modern age and technology. This innovation often happened in a vacuums as different companies rarely had opportunities to see each others designs until catalogues were printed or big stores could distribute. Early jackets have great historical importance because of these isolated innovations. Check out this awesome early Durable Brand Canadian Jacket. Durable survived many many years producing utility jackets for many police forces. I have a great many of these jackets, and I'm pretty sure I read that Schott bought the company at some point. This early jacket would indicate that the company probably started under a different name and that they had in fact two locations: one at the Port of Vancouver; and one in Ottawa the capital city of Canada. This usually indicated a family presence in both cites, as well as an unusual example of east west marketing to capture leather markets up and down both coasts. The jacket pictured has the classic early primitive pre-zipper design, which included generous eggplant per portions to accommodate riding pants under the jacket. Not flattering but very useful.

Anxiety, Sleeplessness and Startups

"True entrepreneurs are basically unemployable. Nobody wants a former boss as an employee. They don't just fade away, they start new companies." I stole this quote from a blog this morning after a night without sleep!

http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/05/01/age_and_the_ent.html

At a crossroads with my life, I'm 41 and looking for a change. Last night there was no sleep for me. I had a dream that I met an angel, and she took me under her wing. She installed inspiration: patterns, design, sewing, tanning...everything and everyone I know came back to me all at once...how do I harness this and at what point do I need to be the "man" who knows it all myself. Entrepreneurs are control freaks by nature...successful or not I can't stand not being in control! I can't seem to get past my mind explosion regarding this crap...where is the angel? I really don't want another night of sleeplessness. On that note, check out this pre-war suede jacket that I will be selling this week. The suede is thick leather, with some sort of damage that beat up the jacket. Very authentic. My favorite aspect of these early jackets is the variety of blanket liners that early makers used. This one is a high quality check plaid, which added a soft warm quality to the beautiful suede. It is amazing to see the custom qualities of pre-war jackets regarding liners because by the 1950s makers started using standardized rayon insulated liners that really cheapened the quality of 1950s jackets. That flannel liner represents the precursor of the paradigm shift from small custom shops to big production industrial makers of the 1950s like Sears and Buco.

Internet, Joy of New People and Reno!

One of the amazing effects of the bloggosphere is this incredible fortuitous synchronicity where I meet and interact with people across the globe whose only common bond to me is the love of well made leather. Just one such event happened in the last 2 weeks where through the miracle of the web Joe from Reno said Howdoo and sent me pics of his incredible jacket. Joe was the classic hippy of the Haight Asbury days. He bought the jacket on Castro street right from the East West Musical Instruments store. As the "old greybeard" was telling me, he was leaving Reno for Penn. and found his old jacket which hasnt fit in 20 years. I was astounded at its beauty and design and am hoping that Joe will send me some photos and stories of his jackets journey when he gets settled in his new home. He inspired me to go to Reno last week, and damn I had fun playing poker and hiking in the gorgeous mountain air.

I spoke with local Police about their jacket suppliers, and even got to play poker with Ken Shamrock, Ultimate Cage Fighter. Im glad I can say I know where cowboys come from!!!

CRTC and the Throttle Button!

In the continued effort to keep anybody interested informed, I received my response from the CRTC regarding the slowdown of the internet via Bell Canada. I read the documents and I would guess that Bell is looking for money from some of its competitors to expand the networks out there. This is a play with bigger ramifications, lets hope the courts come up with some reasonable solutions that keep the interests of us (the consumers) front and center. Bell screwed up its monopoly for years by offering terrible services and worse prices, they sadly cant be trusted to be the arbitrar of the internet, nor represent the interests of Bell's competition!

Dear Mr. Himel:

Thank you for contacting the CRTC regarding the issue that has become known as "traffic shaping" of the internet. The CRTC is aware of the public debate over this issue and is monitoring its development.

The CRTC does not regulate the retail rates or quality of service provided by Internet service providers (ISPs) to their end customers. I therefore suggest you contact your ISP directly regarding your concerns if you have not already done so.

The CRTC regulates the internet access services that large telecommunication companies such as Bell, Telus and Rogers provide to independent internet service providers. Your service provider is in the best position to evaluate whether it believes its provider or a competitor is involved in inappropriate behavior, and if so, it can provide the Commission with evidence of any alleged wrongdoing and file a competitive dispute with the Commission. The CRTC cannot deal with customer complaints made on behalf of their internet service provider.

The CRTC has received a formal complaint by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) against Bell Canada requesting that the CRTC order Bell Canada to stop "throttling" the access services Bell Canada provides to CAIP’s members in order to provide high speed internet service to their customers. If you are interested in following the outcome of this application you may do so at the following link:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2008/8622/c51_200805153.htm

In addition, anti-competitive behavior complaints can be submitted by an ISP to Industry Canada's Competition Bureau, at:

Competition Bureau Industry Canada
50 Victoria Street
Gatineau, QC K1A 0C9
Tel.: 1-800-348-5358
Website: http://competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/Intro

China, Reno and Production

I'm on holiday in Reno, Nevada enjoying the cool desert air and the fabulous golf and poker. Happiness is being up at poker! I played with Ken Shamrock, and a host of characters since I have been here. I had a local cop beside me at one table, and to my surprise he wanted to discuss leather jackets! It was an inspirational moment. When I returned to my suite, there was a documentary on China's growing industrial toxicity and how its people are being decimated. Apparently 90% of China's rivers (which are its only water supply) are so toxic as they are deemed dead. There are entire towns and cities where populations have gone from cancer rates of 1 in 100 000 to 1 in every hundred or even higher. It brought home to roost for me why it is more important than ever to support local business and local economies. Look, you can own a reasonably produced cheap jacket with no style for almost free, or your lawn furniture, or that bbq, but in the end all you have done is leveraged the health of men, women and children in the third world. The worst part is the local governments in China ( and probably elsewhere) are complicit in the poisoning of their own people because they own and collect revenues and taxes from these factories, tanneries and other crude industrial polluters. If it wasnt ok in 1890 in North America and Europe it shouldnt be ok in China in 2008.

The process is already under way. Acid rain caused by China's sulfur-dioxide emissions severely damages forests and watersheds in Korea and Japan and impairs air quality in the US. Every major river system flowing out of China is threatened with one sort of cataclysm or another. The surge in untreated waste and agricultural runoff pouring into the Yellow and China Seas has caused frequent fish die-offs, and overfishing is endangering many ocean species.

The growing Chinese taste for furs and exotic foods and pets is devastating neighboring countries' populations of everything from gazelles to wolves, and turtles to parrots, while its appetite for shark fin soup is causing drastic declines in shark populations throughout the oceans. According to a study published in Science in March 2007, the absence of the oceans' top predators is causing a resurgence of skates and rays, which are in turn destroying scallop fisheries along America's Eastern Seaboard. Enthusiasm for traditional Chinese medicine is causing huge declines in populations of hundreds of animals – including tigers, pangolins, and sea horses. Seeking oil, timber, and other natural resources, China is building massive roads, bridges, and dams throughout Africa, often disregarding international environmental and social standards.

History is Often Wishful Thinking

I've spent the last thirteen years digging in the basements of old stores and wandering around old schmata factories looking for rare treasures. My grandfather had one said factory and I often think I got into the business of vintage when my Great Uncle Benjamin passed away, leaving a store with 75 years of goods tucked into the basement still to be sold. Benny used to say to me "business is business" and in his own way was a hero to his neighborhood which transitioned from Jewish to Portugese over the 80 some odd years he had his store there. Ah, back to the narrative at hand. I had one instance where I interviewed the owner of Brimaco Leathers (British Motorcycle Company) in Montreal. I was hunting down old patterns. This was one of the biggest and the oldest manufacturers of leather jackets in North America, starting around 1890. The gentleman was 75 years old and the grandson of the first owner. As the conversation progressed, a picture of old time leather factories emerged to me. He regaled me with tales of the old days before he shut the company down in the 90s. He made great claims of designing jackets before Buco and other competitors, he even told me that it was him who invented Coban thread (wrapping cotton and polyester together for increased strength) and how he used to pull jackets behind his car on a mannequin to test the strength and durability of his products. Tales aside, over the years it became obvious to me that all the manufacturers were aware of each others designs. Copying and borrowing was part of the schmata game. When a police department needed a jacket, the spec was put out and whomever made the jacket the cheapest won the contract. This is why you can see the same model of jacket made by 10 or more companies. Now to my point, I hear people say and claim they designed the "one star" jacket or it was "their" jacket used in such and such film. Like ... Schott was the jacket in The Wild Ones; or Buco was the first to design this one or that one. I can tell you that history is rarely so clear and until I meet someone with the brochures for every company with every jacket design, with dates and model numbers, we will never know who made what first, and what was designed by whom. All these great old men shared and competed for the same designs. Case in point, compare the jacket Brando wears in The Wild Ones (I met the director in N.Y.C. in the 80s, Lazlo who worked with Fritz Lang) to an original Schott jacket from the period. Note the Schott placement of the cuff zippers on the inside and Brando's are on the outside, and the main zipper is diagonal on Brando's but not on the Schott jacket! Hmmmm was it really a 618?

Women, Leather and the History of Girl Power

A dear friend who writes for the Globe and Mail Newspaper business section asked me a pointed question; are you only writing about and interested in men’s jackets? A wave of horror shook my spine, as I consider myself very gender equal in my interest in fashion. I had the sudden realization that I had devoted very little time to the woman’s leather jacket. I reflected on this, and reminded myself that my greatest enjoyment in life is to locate a fantastic leather jacket and have my sexy wife try it on! My second greatest enjoyment is when her swish upscale friends live in jealousy of her fabulous vintage jackets and complain when they cant find anything near as good at Holt Renfrew our local upscale shopping stop!
So why the lack of talk of women’s leather? Well, as I was reminded today, women rarely wore leather in the old days. Leather was a work jacket, a hunting jacket, a flying jacket but not so much a fashion jacket. Very few women’s leather jackets remain in the historical record as compared to men’s ones. It was the rare woman that wore leather. She was bold and unique, blazing trails for today’s woman! These women were the Amelia Earharts and Katherine Hepburn’s, adventurers and pant wearers! I decided to research Earhart today, and found out that she lived and worked just up the street from me on Spadina Ave in Toronto. Earhart came to Toronto to visit her sister and stayed to work with returning war vets at the then Spadina Military hospital up the street from me. It was here at the Canadian National Exhibition that she met flyers and discovered her passion for flying. And it was women like her (rare and few and far between) that wore leather. Amelia’s favorite jackets included a European tailored horsehide trench coat, and an Abercrombie A-1 style button up jacket. These were important styles that were much more typically worn by men and were the early prototypes for the much more famous jackets that were developed during WW2 for the famed pilots and soldiers on all sides of the war. The 1930s styles were simplistic and clean and reflective of intuitive tailoring that had been more or less untouched by the industrial age!

I have been overwhelmed today with the response to my ebay auctions and have been answering questions galore relating to leather jackets. In the whirring noise of people trying to find, buy and sell pieces I often forget why I started the blog and why I am so into these leather jackets. It all started when I bought an Endura café racer flat track jacket years ago, I tried it on and I felt like a rock star. Those days are long gone, I was 28 then and I’m 41 now, my rock star status has faded with my hairline. What has remained is an intense knowledge of the many thousands of jackets I have handled over the years. I feel a nostalgia connected to these jackets. Similarly, I often feel a strange outrage when I see what other people consider fashion , or quality garments. So many of my mental meanderings follow from my sense of outrage whenever I see someone wearing a crappy piece of fashion leather.
I am going to preface this posting with the fact that I am not a safety expert, and I only have limited research into ideas around safety. I personally find the modern import jackets made with their poor stitching and crappy plastic inserts a ridiculous attempt to create a sense of security for the people who buy them.

Recent independent tests by Motorcycle News (MCN, 2003), in the UK found only 4 out of 18 leather suits f from the major European manufacturers, passed all the tests against the European Standard. Twelve of these suits failed the burst test due to either thread and/or leather failure and impact protectors failed in eight suits.

Ok, so exo skeleton wearers keep this in mind. My step dad was a coroner. For years we discussed the many many motorcycle accident victims that he would get every spring, summer and fall. It seems there is a prevailing opinion that impact with a solid object at a high rate of speed results in death. All the plastic bits in the world will not stop this inevitability. From years of seeing quality leather jackets that have been through slides and spills, the most important attribute I see is a hard thick leather that is abrasion resistant and allows for a slide, combined with proper construction and stitching that prevents the outfit from coming apart. Anecdotally, I don’t trust food made by slave farm labour, children’s toys, or leather suits. Here is a great quote from the Motorcycle Council of N.S.W.:

Most manufacturers are finally including impact protectors in all the right places. The abrasion resistance scores for textile jackets have also improved significantly. However it is pointless to have high abrasion resistant materials (leather or textile), if the stitching fails and the suit bursts apart when you hit the road. Quality of construction is critical.

So there you have it, why ever buy any item of clothing that is undermade, undersewn, or lacks the logic and purpose to which it is built. In my opinion, no leather jacket, for fashion, riding, working or just plain screwing around should be made with less then this standard in mind. Check out this 70s Vanson that I have up for sale and the abrasion on the back…sliding is the most important characteristic of full hide leather. I would love to see someone riding their bicycle in a Prada leather jacket and falling off…I like my standards, lol.

1930s CHAMOISE SUEDE A-1 AND GROMMET JACKET:

Until you have worn or held an early 30s suede jacket in your hand you cannot imagine the difference a little tradition makes. Modern suede is, by leather world standards, a by-product of the tanning process. When tanning leather modern tanners must often split or skive a skin down to a desired thickness to create the kind of skin required for the usage. So if one is making a belt or a saddle, a thick full skin in a veg. tan is best suited as it is hard, inflexible and mouldable for shaping and carving. These leathers, like shoe leather, can be a full thickness but for jacket purposes one has to split the layers of the dermis to create the desired thickness. The skin side epidermis (where the hair was) is the most valued part of the skin, and then the underside is the "suede" side. The left over by-product piece is often what we associate with suede today, a crappy rough-ish surface usable only for Halloween costumes as chaps. Suede itself has become the bottom of the leather barrel, so to speak.

Not so for 1930s suedes, they were the creme of the fashion product of their day. As modern leather makers sell "butter soft" jackets, their sales pitch is a misinterpretation of the jackets produced in the hey day of real leather jackets. The signifier has become so detached from the sign that leather production barely understands where and why soft leather became a fashion statement.

The word Suede derives from the term "gants de Suède" which translates gloves of Sweden. Suede is the split side of a skin, that was treated and sanded to create an open pored nap. This made suede soft and porous and perfect for the glove making industry. 1930s suede is quite unique and unlike any I have ever seen. The inside is always the top grain of the hide and the suede side is always a super super fine nap with the hide grain showing through. It is more like chamois than suede.

Ok, a little side note...chamois (the shammy) is a kind of South American goat. Chamois is made today by splitting and sanding lambskins and using only an oil tanning process. Chamois is super soft, porous and water absorbent and used for all sorts of fashion and industrial applications. 1930s suedes are very hide like but with the same qualities of chamois. The garments made with this leather were a clear counter statement to typical garments of the day. They were an expression of excess, clearly not utilitarian, no good for rough wear or use. So as an expression of wealth you could own a hard leather jacket for working or riding, and a soft leather jacket for fashionable nights out. These two jackets are great examples of those kinds of suede.

(they are for sale on ebay as well, for now!!)

That is why 'butter soft" is the sought after leather, but unfortunately it has become a misnomer!

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

1930S GROMMET ZIPPER SUEDE JACKET

MONOGRAM HALF BELT HORSEHIDE JACKET

CLASSIC SIXTIES CAFE RACER: im sellin these

BATES MUSTARD YELLOW CAFE RACER

Some of My New Jackets Im selling: SECOND TAG VANSON

As my good friend Schrader rightly pointed out Vanson had an earlier tag then this, which was reflective of their more hippiesque jacket production in the early days. I owned several pieces from this period which included patch work hippy vests made with the leftovers of the good 1.3 mil natural leather!

Beautiful Bates Jacket size 44

LANGLITZ: A piece of History

I've been reading a lot of chatter about leather jackets lately. I am amazed at some of the closet historians out there, and dumbfounded by some "voices" in the discussion that are more tude then knowledge. I'm all for chat, even wrong headed chat, but geez make sure you know a little of what you speak or inform yourself.
A fellow recently expressed the query "why are Langlitz jackets so revered, the use the same designs and the leather doesn't seem that great?".

I thought about this a lot lately! It seemed to ask the question why is the present day maker Langlitz sought after by so many and paid a premium for (as perceived by this guy). First contextual note: Langlitz jackets may seem expensive from the perspective of this dude, but in the world of high fashion leather...Aero, Langlitz, Lost Worlds et al are actually quite low on the price scale. Sure, you could buy a 169 Pakistan special, or find yourselves bouncing down the highway in a Joe Rocket jacket with cool fake eternal spinal cords and alien padding, but from the perspective of leather 1200-2500 is right in the middle. If you had a custom jacket made by Bill Wall, you could pay upwards of 4000-5000 dollars. Routinely Italian designers charge 2500-15000 for their weird incarnations, and there are certainly places I don't know about where you could spend lots more for custom pieces. I don't think price is an issue when looking for quality. Price is for people who cant afford the best! I recently read a story published by Scottish Bag Pipe and Kilt manufacturers who have had their business' challenged by imported kilts, pipes and knives and such from the east. As these fine laddies point out, if your bag pipes, kilts and such are cheap knockoffs made in foreign countries, what is the point of celebrating the Scottish heritage. You could save 2000 bucks to put traditional Scottish craftsman out of business, nice ironic kilt wearing statement. I'm so cheap I put the Scots out of business!

Ok, so obviously moving on from price, why Langlitz. From my perspective, the first answer which is not so obvious has to do with trends. Rin Tanaka started a craze with his books on Motorcycle jackets available through Schiffer Publishing. More often than not ebay listings of good vintage jackets refer to Rins book when selling their wares. The craze began in Japan way back in the 1980s, where young and old dudes alike have been adoring and living the American dream of the "motorcycle" guy for years and it spread to American and European readers. Rintaros book celebrated the few remaining survivors in the Jacket business from the great imported cheap jacket kill off. At some point price outweighed quality. Sometime in the 1970s manufacturers chose to make money riding on the memory of their quality North American (and in some cases European) manufacture and ruined their brands producing in Japan, Pakistan, Turkey and South America. What happened was inevitable. Initially they profited in North America, then eventually these out of country manufacturers learned to make their own brands and circumvent their American counterparts. Simultaneously, consumers unlearned quality...they learned to purchase crappy jackets for cheap. Very quickly great brands could no longer compete with cheaper imports and bamn, no more good jackets. Worse, the cultural memory of what quality fit, fashion and materials were all but dead by the 1980s. I remember interviewing a fellow who ran Brimaco Leather Jacket Company in Montreal. He was the third generation of Jacket makers to take over the company which became a property management company in the 1990s. He said they tried everything to save money to out compete imports, right down to buying his own cattleskins and driving them to the tannery himself!!!
To the point Rin celebrated the last men standing so to speak. This meant Langlitz leathers. They had the patterns and the original resonance of Ross Langlitz who created the brand with his old school motorcycle values. The hand of Ross could still be felt on the jackets. Previous to these books, people were isolated who were into these values of quality. Now you have the resurgence of old brands; people are buying up old motorcycle brands like hotcakes from the hotcake vendor. Some are trying to recreate the quality like Lewis Leathers and some are not!
My other point regarding why Langlitz remains well sought after regards the way they manufacture. They remain small, choosing to produce 5 or so jackets a day. They choose to make custom pieces, which is a lost art today. They choose to use the best "NORTH AMERICAN LEATHER" available, which means you are dealing with ethically produced clothing. These are all very good choices for reasons I will not go into at the moment. Sometimes being really good at what you do and remaining true to the past is a good thing, there may be new guys in the business ( I want to be a new guy) but that doesn't detract from the "old guys". If you buy a Langlitz your buying a piece of brand history. I will point out many many companies moved offshore to make their stuff and ruined their brands Gandalf, and many of the hippy jacket companies absolutely destroyed their business' this way, Langlitz remained a craft business...and you are paying for craft. It is amazing that they are still here, and people buying their products are supporting that vision in its entire set of implications which is a good thing. We as a culture need to spend less on more, not more on less or we will kill ourselves, and I for one am happy to have one or two good things then 1000 crap pieces of garbage. Learn from the Japanese who cant afford big spaces and big houses so they fill their lives with big quality purchases of the little things in life, just like the people in American culture in the 1930s who invented these values!

If I Could Blow up Bell

Holy Crap!! This post has nothing to do with vintage leather jackets. Bell Canada, my former dsl provider that I fired, has struck back at me. The bastards at Bell are using their monopoly status to mess with their regulated wholesale customers. The very customers that in order to provide competition to bell lease a pipe from bell to provide me DSL. I quit bell because of their stupid stupid customer service and incredibly bad service, on top of which they started throttling their customers. It was the last straw for me. Bell Canada Puke Puke cough I vomit on your corporate face. So now that they are losing thousands of customers a day to their incredibly bad stupid bad bad stupid service, they have decided to single handedly level the playing field by limiting the service of their wholesale customers. Great. If Bell wont give it to you someone else will....try until bell messes their service from bells side. They are wrecking everybodys sandbox. Nice work, I will be calling the crtc tomorrow and trying to find out what moron is in charge of allowing this kind of nonsense. Canadians like to be whipping boys, we have a culture of domination, lets not put up with crap from bell and make some noise people. I apologize in advance for and profanities used in this post:

UPDATE: I wrote the CRTC and the Prime Ministers Office:
Guess what, I got a nice form letter back with reference to the Minister they suggest I contact it said the follows:
Dear Mr. Himel:

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to thank you for your e-mail, in which you raised an issue which falls within the portfolio of the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry. The Prime Minister always appreciates receiving correspondence on subjects of importance to Canadians.

Please be assured that the statements you made have been carefully reviewed. I have taken the liberty of forwarding your e-mail to Minister Prentice, so that he too may be made aware of your comments. I am certain that the Minister will give your views every consideration. For more information on the Government's initiatives, you may wish to visit the Prime Minister's Web site, at www.pm.gc.ca.

L.A. Lavell
Executive Correspondence Officer
for the Prime Minister's Office
Agent de correspondance
de la haute direction
pour le Cabinet du Premier ministre