Do Millennials appreciate Classic Vintage Biker Jackets?

[Superfluous]

Do reptiles appreciate classic vintage biker jackets?

 

[Seb Lucas]

I appreciate them, I just wish I could find one that didn't end at my navel with arms 4 inches too long. I was born in '93, and I'd have to say I see more people born in my age group generally MORE interested in vintage wear and leather (or leather-substitute) jackets than people born in the past two generations. For instance, most Gen Xers and late age Boomers (as my parents and their younger siblings were) that I know still are into dressing in their '80s and '70s wear. Lots of denim jackets, track jackets, and white gym shoes. I can find photos of my Dad (b. 1959) from the past 5 decades and he's wearing the same kind of white gym shoes in every one of them. I have only one family member outside my age range that I'd say has an actual interest in leather jackets and vintage wear and that's my uncle (Gen Xer). His son, my cousin, dresses similarly in vintage wear, though the last time I saw him he looked to be channeling a young Kenny Loggins.

Anyway, getting back to my main point, I notice a lot of my generation frequenting thrift shops for vintage wear. It's partly out of necessity. Frankly speaking, our generation is broke. Perhaps another reason we're moving towards leather substitutes is just because real leather is so damn expensive. We don't have $500 to drop on a single clothing item when there's bills to pay. Everything is already so ridiculously priced, we're not going to purposely buy something that costs us a quarter of our monthly rent.

Interesting comment. I remember being broke when I was 19 to 25. Thrift shops had some great gear in the early to mid 1980's and that's how I ended up here - via an appreciation of vintage tailoring. Leather jackets were not much of a thing here until Indiana Jones started the mania for rugged, timeworn bomber jackets and similar looks. Before then leather was primarily those mid brown 1970's leather blazers worn by middle aged me with names like Bruce and Kenny.

The baby boomers I know are mainly into retro or pretend they are 22, so we don't see a lot of 1980's wear. I think there is a class component to what people wear too.

 

[navetsea]

Things I m better than my parents is that i learned from them how horrible the clothes they change into once they re at home. So at least i wear more or less the same clothes no matter if im just sitting at home or going out, and not dressing up for the public. I think with denim thing at least young people wear that pants the whole day and not quickly changing into shorts + faded tshirt with cigarette holes once at home.

 

[El Marro]

The jacket hobby is about to get REAL expensive. 9,000 cups of coffee later...

And it might’ve gone that way for real but for the fact that they switched the schedules around and I really see the jacket savvy young barista anymore...

 

[GHT]

Boomers (as my parents and their younger siblings were) that I know still are into dressing in their '80s and '70s wear.

You need to get out more:

 

[Edward]

Leather jackets have never been particularly mainstream as everyday wear, at least not since the 40's and such.

Very true. When I got my first Perfecto-type, which was my first leather jacket, it drew attention. In those days, only three kids of people wore leather jackets in Northern Ireland - bikers, metalheads and old punks. We were the metalhead kids that were rapidly being disillusioned by the limits of that scene and discovering punk rock; we fell in love with the Ramones, Still Little Fingers, The Clash, The Undertones.... got our hair cut short, but kept the leathers..... Any of those demographics in the early 90s, you only saw groups of more than half a dozen of us at gigs or bike events. Three or more of us would be given a lot of attention in malls and shops; half a dozen bikers could clear a cafe. A lot of folks then and there couldn't tell the difference between a regular biker and a Hell's Angel..... and the Angels were spoken of in the same sort of tone as the paramilitaries (ironically, the Hells Angels didn't establish a Northern Ireland bottom rocker until 2007). The rumours that used to abound.... I remember an aunt deciding to buy my cousin a brown leather jacket because she believed in all seriousness an urban myth that kicked around until well into the 90s that the IRA wore black leather jackets as an unofficial 'uniform'.

Suffice it to say that leather jackets are as popular among punks, rockers and bikers now as ever they were, and as relatively uncommon among the rest of society. Men, at least: leather jackets of a fashion variety, mostly aping classic bike designs, have been all over women's fashion stores here in London for a good couple or three years now.

Look at modern motorcycle jacket makers, almost all of them have heritage or classic lines now, didn't use to be that way.

That's been a big growth area. Retro has been a big trend in motorcycles here in the UK in the last five or six years. Fewer 'big' bikes like Harleys, increasingly more smaller, efficient and nippy bikes in the style of 60s and earlier Brit bikes, or 70s Japanese bikes, which were, of course, based on 50s and 60s Brit bikes often. As this has grown, it has given rise to a demand for riding gear to suit. Where once older rockers might still have been happy to ride in an old Lewis with no protection, we've seen the rise of retro-style gear with armour, riding jeans, and so on. Mostly 70s style jackets - lancer front, Mandarin collar - like the Lewis Monza, a very British style bike jacket of the 70 and into the early 80s - but also earlier styles in some cases, as with the Gold Top range. The very latest trend in that world is motorcycle helmets made to give a vintage look, but meeting modern safety standards (significantly, the one area of bike gear in the UK where the law mandates a certain level of protection be worn). Both openface, and, increasingly, full-face helmets that look right out of the early 70s but are ECE rated.

What’s funny to me is the icons of the look the young Dean, and Brando, in music The Ramones and Springsteen. Not that Bruce or the surviving Ramones are young now but the classic photos of them they were all young guys. Throw a young Joan Jett in the mix as well for the female look. Again young and rebellious. But getting a custom made or really nice vintage score is super expensive for a lot of people, let alone the young. For as much as it’s become an icon for the young and rebellious a real not some “cheap mall” jacket is really unattainable for 90% of the young people. So To piggyback on a lot of comments here I don’t know if it’s necessarily a generational thing, or culture change thing as much as it is a cost thing. Some people under 40 can afford it but overwhelming majority can’t. And as time marches on there are less and less surviving thrift or unknowledgable folks cleaning out dads closet and throwing up the leather jacket on eBay for next to nothing. So that Avenue shrinks all the time. Which is why TFL has a lot of over 40 members I imagine, guys who couldn’t when they were young and now have good jobs or are retired and can buy all the things they couldn’t when younger.

It was ever thus. The notion of a young man in a high end sportscar is, for 99% of people, a marketing fantasy. The reality is they're mostly driven by mid-life crises.

 

[Ayeteael]

I appreciate them, I just wish I could find one that didn't end at my navel with arms 4 inches too long. I was born in '93, and I'd have to say I see more people born in my age group generally MORE interested in vintage wear and leather (or leather-substitute) jackets than people born in the past two generations. For instance, most Gen Xers and late age Boomers (as my parents and their younger siblings were) that I know still are into dressing in their '80s and '70s wear. Lots of denim jackets, track jackets, and white gym shoes. I can find photos of my Dad (b. 1959) from the past 5 decades and he's wearing the same kind of white gym shoes in every one of them. I have only one family member outside my age range that I'd say has an actual interest in leather jackets and vintage wear and that's my uncle (Gen Xer). His son, my cousin, dresses similarly in vintage wear, though the last time I saw him he looked to be channeling a young Kenny Loggins.

Anyway, getting back to my main point, I notice a lot of my generation frequenting thrift shops for vintage wear. It's partly out of necessity. Frankly speaking, our generation is broke. Perhaps another reason we're moving towards leather substitutes is just because real leather is so damn expensive. We don't have $500 to drop on a single clothing item when there's bills to pay. Everything is already so ridiculously priced, we're not going to purposely buy something that costs us a quarter of our monthly rent.

All hail the Air Monarchs! Haha. To echo what others have said, millennials who appreciate well-made, timeless pieces scour eBay, vintage stores and the like for vintage leather et al. RRL is devoted to recreating vintage pieces and has a rabid, cult following. I think it boils down to the person and his obsession over clothing as opposed to age/generation.