Help identifying Lewis Leather jacket

[Esinem]

I wonder if anyone can help me identify this Lewis Leathers jacket? My internet searches haven't nailed it down. Is it a Monza variant? The collar style and the single waist adjusters don't seem right for that though?.

I have had it for over 50 years. The main zips are all YKK but unsure if the pocket zips are. No labels inside as the lining fell apart and was replaced with Thai silk.

Thanks.

 

[Tom71]

Have you reached out to LL themselves?

The zippers are unlike anything I’ve seen from them so far. The other details seem off as well (sleeve zips on the inside, shape much less boxy and longer than the variants I’ve seen.)
If you had it since the early seventies, it may of course be something not produced in large numbers and long since discontinued. I trust, the good people around Derek have some kind of archive.

 

[Esinem]

Have you reached out to LL themselves?

The zippers are unlike anything I’ve seen from them so far. The other details seem off as well (sleeve zips on the inside, shape much less boxy and longer than the variants I’ve seen.)
If you had it since the early seventies, it may of course be something not produced in large numbers and long since discontinued. I trust, the good people around Derek have some kind of archive.

 

[Esinem]

Thanks. Yes, it does seem oddball Not heard back from LL yet. I'm assuming my dusty old brain isn't mistaken re origin.

 

[unhatted]

It’s a Viscount I think—hard to say without seeing the back. A rare and quite desirable jacket similar to the Highwayman Ricard. Slightly fancier than the Monza or Super Monza.

 

[Esinem]

Thanks. Here's the back

 

[Esinem]

It’s a Viscount I think—hard to say without seeing the back. A rare and quite desirable jacket similar to the Highwayman Ricard. Slightly fancier than the Monza or Super Monza.

I think you might be right. Shocked at prices. I guess the lack of original lining might devalue it

 

[Esinem]

Just had this from LL:

Hi Bruce, nice jacket, not a Lewis Leathers, similar to the Super Monza.

I've just showed my college and he reckons it may be a Highwayman Viscose. there's one similar here:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1431673019/ultra-rare-vintage-70s-highwayman

Hope that helps,

LL Team.

I don't think it is a Highwayman Viscose as my lining was red originally and the zips are different...the plot thickens. Have asked LL why they say it's not theirs and asked if it could be a Viscount

 

[Edward]

Back in the day the British motorcycle leathers industry was surprisingly big, with some eighty plus brands at its peak as memory serves. They were always on borrowed time, though: the affordable motor car became a thing for the masses by the Sixties and gradually replaced the motorcycle as primary private transport for the average working class man. By the early 70s the British motorcycle industry was in decline, really broadly gone by the turn of the eighties. The mc leathers industry really died out with a decade of that. By 1990 they were nearly all gone, mostly replaced by imports coming in, primarily from Pakistan, but also just a general drop in demand as motorcycles by then were very much a lifestyle choice or a hobby for a minority, and some were moving away from leather altogether for textiles that were starting to become more available and better than they had previously been. Lewis has survived as a revivalist brand (I suspect they sell more to non-riders than actual motorcyclists these days), and some other brands have been revived, if not always manufactured in the UK (Goldtop is a good example).


Back in the 60s and 70s, they did all tend to 'borrow' designs from each other - almost every company on the go made their own version of the Lightning, which Lewis introduced first in 1958. Lewis's straight zip / shirt collar models, which became the archetypal Ton Up Rocker jacket, were introduced in 62; Highwayman had been making the style since 58. The ubiquity of most of the designs does mean it's not always easy to identify a jacket once the original labels are gone. I'd have guessed this one was 'inspired by' the Super Monza (the preceding Monza model was shorter; by the late 70s, trends in bikes had changed and a lot of the Japanese-style racing bikes with a crouched over riding position led to a demand for longer jackets that didn't ride up and expose the small of the back when in riding position on one of those. This style of jacket was everywhere across the UK and Ireland by the early 80s; if you saw a motorcyclist ride past, 99% of the time they'd be wearing something like this. I'd have guessed an approximate date of c78 to c87/88 for this one - exciting you've been able to have it m=pinned down to at least a potential brand though. Be interesting to hear more of what comes from the follow-up, as there are a lot of British brands that have I suspect gone undocumented and been forgotten.

 

[unhatted]

the fact that they described it as similar to a Monza when it’s at very least a dead ringer for their Viscount suggests they aren’t massively familiar with their back catalogue tbh. Viscose is probably a typo or autocorrect for Ricard(e?) as that’s a fabric rather than a model name AFAIK.

What made you think it was an LL initially?

Kett and Dodds also produced near identical jackets to the Viscount and or Ricard/e (the latter is claimed to be the original of this design though who knows?).

 

[Esinem]

I thought Viscose sounded odd for the same reason. However, I seems that you win the cigar today as I just got this from LL:

Hi Bruce, Derek thinks it may be a Viscount, hope that helps!

That's good enough for me. I can't recall why I thought it was LL but I always did think that Maybe it had a label before it was relined? It served me well for many years and miles.

Any thoughts on value? The leather is good apart from an area below the collar at the back where it has cracked slightly due to being hung on a coat hook rather too often. I assume the non-original lining will detract.