Montgomery Ward (Windward) Motorcycle Jacket History 1947-1963

[tmitchell59]

Roughwear Clothing connection. Admiral Byrd and Montgomery Ward.

 

[tmitchell59]

California Sportswear jacket. Labeled on ebay as a Ralphs-Pugh jacket. I just can't find enough evidence to support RP making jackets for any other label. MW labels can look very much like a RP label, that is as close as it gets for me.

 

[EAC]

Fall/Winter 1941-42, part of the Windward section; Admiral Byrd is mentioned as well:

Interestingly, not all leather jackets are in the Windward section; some cossack-style ones, referred to as 'Windward quality' in their description, appear a page before the Windwards, together with cheaper, non 'Windward quality' pieces.

Also, I didn't know calf was more luxurious than horse/goat; kinda makes sense, though.

 

[EAC]

An interesting find on MW leather jackets in general:

A combined Brent and Windward label. Credit goes to @Claybertrand, who first noticed this, in the Find and Deals thread:

Nice pick up. Seems to be an early Brent. This one has a unique Crossover label where it actually has WINDWARD and BRENT on the same label and the Windward Colors in the label as a whole.

Some more pics of the jacket, recently sold on ebay for a very good price to a TFL member

 

[Will Zach]

Here's one in brown HH (shameless plug, I have it for sale in the Classifieds). I have not seen a 1950s jacket with such a pristine liner and label, ever. Even has the paper size tag in the pocket.

 

[tmitchell59]

I've seen very few Montgomery Ward catalogs. The jackets below are the two pictured on the right side of the catalog page. The bottom jacket is a popular style by California Sportswear often seen in goatskin.

This Pony Hide does have the look/quality of a Roughwear Clothing jackets. It has the Windward and Admiral Byrd labels.

Goatskin by California Sportswear

 

[MojoStick]

 

[EAC]

A brown version of a late 40s MW aviator, first posted by @JMax in the Find & Deals thread and currently on ebay:

 

[EAC]

A couple more leather jacket pics form the same catalog:

Not much leather, only a two-tone wool/capeskin, similar to the aviator Sears ones of the same period; but peep the wool versions of the half-belt Admiral Byrd and aviator Windward.

Non-Windward leather section: some more two-tones and cheaper half-belts:

First Windward page (the second is a few posts above), surcoats and sportcoat-like designs:

Comparing the prices, AB seems lower quality than WW.

 

[EAC]

30s MW? (Originally posted by jonesy86 in the Vintage outerwear thread):

 

[EAC]

The japanese shop where this Brent was sold (https://vintage-mushroom.net/?pid=119644541) dates it to the 50s, so I guess this Brent label could be seen as the MW equivalent of Sear's Fieldmaster: it appears in the late 50s, right after the Windward one, and some labels show both names (as it happens with Hercules and Fieldmaster).

This is the last occurence of Windward name by itself that I have available (SS 1956):

No info for 1957, but the 1958 Christmas book features Brent (for a lot of stuff, underwear, shirts, tailoring, more formal outerwear) and Brent+Windward (casual outerwear only) throughout the catalog:

From 1959 on, at least on the Christmas catalogs, Windward is no longer mentioned.

 

[tmitchell59]

These catalog images confirm the transition from Windward to Brent in the late 1950s. This is indeed much like the transition from the Sears Hercules label to the Oakbrook label. The Sears transition comes a bit later. 1962 is the earliest Oakbrook mention. Sears also had the Fieldmaster label which first premiered in 1956.

 

[EAC]

A quick side note on labels.

The Brent and Fieldmaster labels where both already in use in the early 1940s at the latest, but on different type of products (shirts/hats and hunting clothes, respectively); they were later extended to other garments.

MW FW 1941-42:

SR FW 1940-41:

Something similar can be said of the Hercules name, which was already used by Sears in the early 1910s, but only referred to work shirts.

Windward is an exception, AFAIK: from the 30s to the late 50s, always casual outerwear.

 

[EAC]

Mixed Brent/Windward label jacket, seller says 60s, could be a bit earlier (source: https://www.secondtimeglory.com/items/29248874):

 

[Blackadder]

Not my jacket, I found this MW California label on a said to be from the 40s jacket :
California Montgomery Ward 40’s vintage horsehide motorcycle leather jacket 38 | Mens Vintage Clothing (mens-vintage-clothing.net)

There is a size 36 on Yahoo auction JP

 

[photo2u]

There is a size 36 on Yahoo auction JP
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Sweet Jesus! That is just perfection.

 

[Blackadder]

A Windward aviator jacket. Too bad cause there seems to be a big hole that is somehow fused as repair.

 

[tmitchell59]

There is a size 36 on Yahoo auction JP
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Love that Collar! Old side Zip by California Sportswear. The straps at the cuffs are probably not original.

 

[Blackadder]

Love that Collar! Old side Zip by California Sportswear. The straps at the cuffs are probably not original.

View attachment 453036 View attachment 453037

I think it is original because the other one posted by Wildhorses a size 38 also has the straps.

 

[ABCD]

Horsehide Montgomery Ward, made by California Sportwear. I love the blackened hardware.