The Vintage Leather Museum - Home Page

This collection of pages are a virtual museum of British seventies and eighties motorcycle leather clothing. This era saw the introduction of padded areas on shoulders, elbows and knees marking a departure from the plain style of previous decades. Some of the old racing garments had plain strengthening patches of double thickness leather but without the padding.

In later decades, motorcycle leathers now contain reinforcement in the form of hard or soft but very strong materials such as kevlar. This gives much more protection for the wearer but doesn't lend them to be worn off the bike or as fashion accessories.

There appears to be an idea that many manufacturers copied Lewis Leathers designs. While Lewis did produce high quality garments there is no evidence to hand of who copied who. Certainly there are similarities just as there are in today's designs of motorcycle clothing. The young girls fashion market (2014-18) for so called 'Biker' jackets made from plastic do appear to be copying the seventies quilted padded shoulders as well as introducing a ridged design of their own.

This virtual museum is a hobby project and not a trading company, therefore it does not sell leather garments. If you are a sales person from a Pakistani leather garment manufacturer, please don't waste your time (or mine) by offering to trade with me or send your catalogue as the website DOES NOT sell leather goods, therefore we DO NOT buy either - Thank you.

If private individuals have any items you think may be of interest to the Museum or would like to chat about the exhibits and your experiences, then please get in touch by email.