So as my placement’s finishing I want to splash out a bit on my first leather jacket (am a student so can’t get too excited). Budget will be around £200-£300 but ideally I want this jacket to last a good while so was hoping for some recommendations of good, high quality brands. Really liked one until I saw it was Ted Baker and I don’t want to spend loads on the brand when the quality is just poor imo. Lakeland is currently at the top of my list.

Lakeland

The kitchen utensil place?

When I got the recommendation from a friend the other day I was also confused, turns out there’s a leather one. Doesn’t show up on google for me without putting lakeland leather.

When I was a student I bought a few leather jackets from the local second hand / retro clothing shop. £30-£40 iirc. Still have them and they are in decent condition.

As a student surely you want one of those full length matrix style one?

Do you have long hair?

Gary_M – Member

As a student surely you want one of those full length matrix style one?

Do you have long hair?

That was 20 years ago Gary. Kids these days are into biker/bomber jackets and Hitler youth haircuts.

jimjam –
When I was a student I bought a few leather jackets from the local second hand / retro clothing shop. £30-£40 iirc. Still have them and they are in decent condition.

Dibs pending pics.

Just bought my GF the female version of this and she loves it!!

Leather is so soft and doesnt have that shiny black look.

ALL SAINTS CARGO

I want one too!!

Superdry do a nice selection, all in your price range

Superdry? 😉

TK Maxx on line?

Superdry? 😉

touché binners, touché

EBay, shedloads going for very little, buy used and get one for every day of the week on your budget – also avoiding the new, shiny leather jacket look.

Stretch the budget a bit for an Aero Leathers apprentice piece which will probably last longer than you

Matchstick or Belstaff?

Budget will be around £200-£300

On a student budget? Jeez I must be ancient

Look around second-hand stores, street markets that deal with retro stuff, or maybe check out established biker shops that might deal with repairs and second-hand.
This place is always worth a look, I bought a genuine CWU-45 flying jacket, in excellent condition, for £85, new, an Alpha Milspec version is over £400, because it’s not nylon, it’s flame-resistant Nomex, as used in racing suits and firemens outfits.
http://www.rokit.co.uk/vintage-mens/clothing/jackets-and-coats?filters%5B34%5D=1222,252,229&page=1

Seeing the Fonz photo, how about this: http://www.rokit.co.uk/vintage-mens/clothing/jackets-and-coats/LJMZIP000835-rokit-flight-jackets-leather-j
A design classic, USAF A2 flying jacket, made by Coopers, the defence contractor who supplied the US military, £145, which is pretty cheap.
I’ve got a bike jacket upstairs, recently had a couple of sprung seams restitched by a friend, picked it up from a bike shop in Bath. It had been repaired for someone, new zip fitted, and he hadn’t been back to collect it, the bill was £25.
I phoned him up, and asked if he was interested in selling it, he said yes, if I paid what was owed, and him £25.
That was around 1988 or so, still wearing it.
It has a sketch of Tank Girl on the inside lining by Jamie Hewlett, plus another sketch by Philip Bond, and one by Brett Ewins, which I got done at a Deadline Magazine signing.
Possibly worth more than the jacket, but that’s just part of its history now.

Christ! £380 for that All Saints jacket?
https://www.bikersparadise.co.uk/Mens-Elite-Patrol-Classic-Leather-Jacket.html
The classic patrol jacket from an actual bike clothing dealer, for £219
And it can take proper armour inserts, which shows it’s not just a fashion jacket.
A jacket like that, looked after and given regular leather treatments, like Renapur wax, will last decades, and won’t go out of style.
That one I mentioned above, it’s coming up on thirty years that I’ve owned it, and it was already fairly well worn, so maybe forty years old?
The only issue might be growing out of it, so buy a size larger, unless you want to look like you’ve borrowed your little sisters jacket…

I had a few but the only one that went the distance was a Furygan (*)motorbike jacket. I’ve taken the armour out now and it has bona fidey motorbike crash damage on one arm but it still looks good and sits on my shoulders like a suit of armour, lovely.

(* Furygan leather – made from actual Vin Diesels)

Subject to where you are, check out Hugo Boss outlet stores; any seconds are clearly marked – all other stock is perfect but about two seasons old; unless your a a dedicated follower you would never know the difference between this ‘season’ and previous. Quality is better than Ted Baker.

Also suggest you google Matchless as there are occasional sharp prices from some stockists but be aware that sizing is a little on the small side.

Got a lot more advice than I was expecting, cheers everyone! I reckon the style I’m looking at is this type of thing, http://www.soulrevolver.com/mens-leather-jackets/mens-vintage-style-leather-jackets/cafe-racer but depending on what I find am not necessarily fixed to it. I’ll definitely check out all those suggestions, thanks again.

Cool jacket, and timeless, worth keeping an eye on rokit.com, their stock changes all the time, there might even be something in there I hadn’t spotted, because I didn’t know what sort of thing you were looking for.
Get a good second-hand one in good leather, with a bit of wear to make it interesting, get some renapur wax to keep it water-resistant, and you’ve got a jacket for life, other than growing out of it! Worth buying a bit bigger, then there’s room for layers in the winter.
Good luck.
It’s worth doing a google image search, and seeing what pops up, you might well find something new in a sale that’s the style you like.
Some years ago I saw a leather biker jacket featured in the style section of a Sunday supplement that I fell in love with, made by Spyker, an Italian company. I can’t remember the style name now, but it was a simple, mandarin collar design, but with white stripes across the body and around the sleeves, so I just had to have it!
Did a lot of google searches and found one, ordered it, then was told the British distribution was no longer going, and my money was refunded.
Three times that happened, all over the UK, even phoned the Italian HQ, then I found someone selling stock 45% of retail, put an order in and it was confirmed.
They were in Swindon, fifteen miles away! I paid £150 instead of £355, and it’s a superb jacket, it’ll last me the rest of my life, so keep hunting, and don’t be tempted to pay stupid money just because it’s considered a fashion item.

Leather clothes are a funny thing, they have to be thick enough to be hard wearing, but thin enough to be comfortable for casual wear.

Best leather jacket I ever had, and my last actually, was a Turkish Valentino knock off I bought from izmir in the 90’s.

Bloody nice jacket that was, despite being a fake designer jacket, it was really good quality leather.

They don’t make fakes like they used to.

This might be worth looking through eBay for, a Schott 641café racer jacket:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/schott-641xx-40-steerhide-black-leather-single-motorcycle-jacket-caferacer-641-/112526578799?hash=item1a331b546f:g:utEAAOSw~ElZagBE
It’s the same style, but Schott have been making leather bike gear for decades, and do a seriously good quality jacket.
Or how about this one, I don’t know your size, but this is a large, which ought to be ideal:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mens-Vintage-Diesel-Cafe-Racer-Leather-Jacket-Black-Large-44-R6096-/192285479537?hash=item2cc51b9271:g:l6UAAOSwl7JZnFM-
It’s the same style, by Diesel, and it’s £100! Bargain!

@kraken2345

What chest size are you? I may have something that floats your boat.

Just sayin….

http://lewisleathers.com/productinfo.html?code=jak-402

😀

Crikey, sure it’s a great jacket but that’s the budget smashed and then some!

Superdry Brad jacket is nice. I had one for a few years before I sold it – I lost a stack of weight and it ended up too big.

Bought for about £200 new and sold it for £100 on eBay. Still looked nearly good as new when I sold it.

I bought t’other half one from All Saints back in January – beautifully soft leather and smells lovely.

That LL Lightning jacket is lovely, and an absolute classic, it even gets a mention in one of William Gibson’s books, Virtual Light, and for a custom made jacket, a fair price.
A wince-making price, but fair for what it is, and again, if you bought one and kept it and wore it for 25 years, that’s £33/year, so pretty reasonably priced.

As said about above, Aero leather is where you want to be going. Never mind the rest. In comparison, it’s shit.

They quite often do small runs of cheaper stuff made by aprentices or seconds. Still light years ahead of everything else.

As said about above, Aero leather is where you want to be going. Never mind the rest. In comparison, it’s shit.

They quite often do small runs of cheaper stuff made by aprentices or seconds. Still light years ahead of everything else.
Including the likes of Spyker, who make racing leathers for competition? Sorry, but any well-made leather jacket, properly looked after, will last decades, regardless of where it comes from, it’s just that leathers from any company that makes clothes ofr actual motorcycle riders are going to be producing kit of a higher standard than high-street copies; which is not to say those won’t be well made, it’s just you’ll be paying well over the odds for a fashion item that looks like the functional item it’s based on.
Just like several examples I’ve posted up, like the bikers paradise one; why pay over a hundred quid or double for something where there’s no fundamental difference?
The OP wants a nice, well-styled leather jacket within a budget; his chosen style can be found for a lot less, as I’ve posted up, a perfectly good second-hand jacket for £100, so why on earth should he be looking at something costing £100 over his budget? Makes no sense, he’s not going to be riding the IoM TT for chrissakes!
The old one I got secondhand is a Fieldsheer jacket, the style doesn’t exist any more, but current jackets run from around $320-400+, and I paid about £50 for mine thirty-odd years ago.
OP, ignore people trying to encourage you to pay over the odds for a jacket that’s no better for your requirements than that Diesel one I linked to – you’ll get no extra benefit from it, because you won’t be requiring it to protect your sorry ass from a 70mph slide along one of Her Majesties public highways.
Just like me. My Spyke jacket is totally over the top for my requirements, it has hard armour built into the elbows and shoulders, but it’ll outlast me, and cost me £150, why on earth would I want to pay £450?
Can’t find a photo of mine online, I can’t remember the model name, the nearest I can find is this:

A ‘fashion’ jacket would be three times the price I paid for mine, and won’t be better made, I can pretty much guarantee that, for what should be very obvious reasons.

Had a look over my Spyke jacket, and found a tiny label inside, it’s a Hood GP jacket, and this is the only photo I could find via Google:

It’s a superb jacket, Italian made, and a bargain at its original price.

Well that’s given me a far better idea of where to look, thanks everyone for your help. Second hand does seem very tempting but I’ll definitely be getting some of that Renapur wax regardless as it seems widely recommended.

ChubbyBlokeInLycra – Member

Stretch the budget a bit for an Aero Leathers apprentice piece which will probably last longer than you

This, bought my Aero highwayman with first wages from “that London” and only the fact I am 49 stops me wearing it.

OP – did you get one?

Should men over 30 really be seen in a leather jacket?I,m not so sure.Just like over 50 year olds in jeans look like there trying to hard.

monkeyc, we may be old but at least we can spell it’s “they’re”