1930s Leathertogs Original Pants

[Xopher]

A friend of mine owns these original 1930s Leathertogs riding pants. To my mind they are the most elaborate and high quality riding leathers I’ve ever seen and probably the finest example by that brand I know of. They were made for “John Beltrama of Easton PA” which is under an hour from where I live and maybe 30 minutes from the Reading Motorcycle Club which is the second oldest motorcycle club in the United States. They were worn up until recently by a really active motorcycle rider so I’m astounded they have survived in such good shape with all the original zippers in functional order, United Carr snaps, and intact silk tag. I am helping him sell these as he is getting older and does not navigate the internet well, but I wanted to post them here as a bit of an archive to show folks because they are absolutely incredible and should be in a book or museum in my opinion. I don’t yet know who will buy them or where they are going, but if anyone would like me to take more photos for the documentation of these I’d be happy to do so.

 

[red devil]

These look very cool! It would be worthwhile to send them over to someone to study for a repro. Would that be possible?

 

[jonbuilder]

I retired from riding in January of last year or if they fit me I would be interested in purchasing to ride but they do belong in a museum of collection that gets public display even if it is digital which I am not good at.
Differently the coolest vintage riding pants I have seen, thank you for thinking of us for documentation

 

[jonbuilder]

Could you post measurements

 

[dudewuttheheck]

Wow! Those are insanely cool. The tag is in such good condition I almost think they're a repro. Wild that they're in such good condition. Almost too good of condition.

 

[Monitor]

These are for sure nice but heh, I'm surprised y'all find 'em so cool 'cause if you do, there's no doubt Europe sure got US beat when it comes to vtg leather riding trousers. These are simplified copies of classic German pre-WW2 era motorcycle trousers, though less intricate and detailed. Still, nice piece, in any case.

 

[red devil]

These are for sure nice but heh, I'm surprised y'all find 'em so cool 'cause if you do, there's no doubt Europe sure got US beat when it comes to vtg leather riding trousers. These are simplified copies of classic German pre-WW2 era motorcycle trousers, though less intricate and detailed. Still, nice piece, in any case.

We really need a thread on this

 

[Will Zach]

I believe @Antique Indian Motocycles needs to know about these riding trousers...

 

[Xopher]

Waist measures 18”
Fits like a 34-35 waist

 

[tmitchell59]

Nice

 

[jonbuilder]

Waist measures 18”
Fits like a 34-35 waist

Wow my size I would have been selling blood if this appeared a few years back

 

[jonbuilder]

These are for sure nice but heh, I'm surprised y'all find 'em so cool 'cause if you do, there's no doubt Europe sure got US beat when it comes to vtg leather riding trousers. These are simplified copies of classic German pre-WW2 era motorcycle trousers, though less intricate and detailed. Still, nice piece, in any case.

You might be correct, I would not know, But US 40s stuff has the intrigue and I do believe it is more desirable worldwide than the better euro stuff.
But then I might be a narrow-sighted American

 

[Monitor]

You might be correct, I would not know, But US 40s stuff has the intrigue and I do believe it is more desirable worldwide than the better euro stuff.

You're absolutely correct and there's no doubt that old US made clothes indeed is much more desirable worldwide, primarily due to excessive social media brainwashing resulting from utter obliviousness of most, if not all self-proclaimed experts in the field of vintage clothing - However - the fact remains that for instance, German made motorcycle leather clothing of the 20's, 30's and 40's was astonishing, something that's clearly evidenced by these Leathertogs trousers, considering how vastly inspired the makers were by the originals.

 

[goodman]

Awesome!!! That's great. It's rare that Leathertogs' pants have been made publicly available online. eye candy.
Was a specific sale price mentioned?

 

[Rich22]

The condition does look unbelievably good... if they really date from that period then they were stored sensationally well all these years.

What odds would everyone put on those genuinely being 90 year old regularly worn leather pants? I reckon there's about a 5% chance, but I'm always sceptical.

 

[Carlos840]

You're absolutely correct and there's no doubt that old US made clothes indeed is much more desirable worldwide, primarily due to excessive social media brainwashing resulting from utter obliviousness of most, if not all self-proclaimed experts in the field of vintage clothing - However - the fact remains that for instance, German made motorcycle leather clothing of the 20's, 30's and 40's was astonishing, something that's clearly evidenced by these Leathertogs trousers, considering how vastly inspired the makers were by the originals.

Just did a bit of reasearch...

1890 - An estimated 2.8 million German-born immigrants lived in the United States. A majority of the German-born living in the United States were located in the "German triangle," whose three points were Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. (total US pop back then: 63 millions)
1910 - In this year, an estimated 2.3 million German-born immigrants lived in the United States. With declining immigration and increasing assimilation, the number of German-language publications fell to about 550.
(total US pop 92 millions)
1920 - Roughly 1.7 million German-born immigrants lived in the United States; the number of German-language publications fell to about 230.
1940 - An estimated 1.2 million German-born immigrants lived in the United States.

I wonder if the similar style is linked to the fact that some germans came in from the German leather trade and carried on makign the same kind of gear in the US, or was it just US companies copying what was done overseas.


Source: https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/imde/germchro.html


Edit: interrestingly, my dad's familly where German Mennonites who fled to the US (Pennsylvania) as mentionned in that article.

Edit2: The biggest German community in the US at the time these trouser where made was only 350 miles away from the Leathertogs factory, coincidence?

"In 1850, Philadelphia had the fourth largest German-born population in the United States
and from 1900 through 1950, the city consistently had the third largest German-
born population after New York and Chicago."

 

[Rich22]

"An investigation carried out in 1978 revealled that since 1820 over 6,978,000 people emigrated to the United States from Germany. This amounted to 14.3 per cent of the total foreign immigration during this period."

A TV documentary I saw recently pegged the immigration percentage from Germany from 1880-1950 at 20-25%. A massive contribution to America's population.