Using leather for clothing has remained popular up to modern time despite the invention of human made fibers like Nylon and other petrochemical based products.



In the last century the leather jacket became an icon for many subcultures, in major part through film. As such, these all served to popularize leather jackets in American and British youth from the "greaser" subculture in the 1950s and early 1960s. Later on the leather jacket was featured prominently by popular TV stars like "The Fonz" in the television series "Happy Days" which was produced in the 1970s and 1980s but depicted life in the 1950s and 1960s. The leather jacket The Fonz was wearing is now housed in the Smithsonian Institution, and the Grease movie duo. John Travolta and Olivia Newton John also popularized leather jackets with their T-Birds male clique. At the time a leather jacket would have cost between $7 to $20, which was considered expensive.

Not only has the leather jacket become popular for certain population groups, but it has also been adopted by mainstream institutions like the US Air Force. Anyone of a certain age, may remember the famous brown bomber jacket, with the sheepskin collar, used by the US Air Force. It was made famous by Jimmy Stewart in the 1957 film, Night Passage, by Gary Cooper in For Whom the Bell Tolls and Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones film series.

The brown bomber jacket was a supporting actor in the 1986 movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise and it became a fad with that generation.

The leather manufactures have done a great job adopting leather clothing to the latest fashions, as well as serving the traditional buyers of leather jackets etc.

This writers favorite is a vintage original brown bomber jacket passed down from an uncle, who was in the US Air Force. I do not know if you can still find a vintage brown bomber jacket, but you can surely find a well made new clone.

If you are looking for a leather garment of any kind you should shop around. Remember there is a big difference between a leather jacket, etc made for casual use and what is made for riding a motorcycle. A leather garment designed for motorcycle riding is made heavier and thicker to provide better protection, as appose to casual use.

Regardless of what you are looking for; a leather blazer, a full length coat, a three quarter length, trousers or anything else you can find it on the Internet. The Men's Leather Jacket website is a good place to start. You will find the web address below!