You’re never alone if you’re wearing a black leather jacket, especially if you’re with your mates. Nothing changes a mild-mannered and considerate wimp into a rip-snorting, wheel-spinning, Brylcreem-dripping speed freak quite like a BLJ. Steven Myatt went to Britain’s longest-established manufacturer to learn more.

Plenty of colour for 81

Name three things, excluding the bike, that are indispensable for classic biking. Go on, quick. Two gallons of four star, a strong kicking foot and a black leather jacket. There you go. Your answer might have been a well-equipped shed, the love of a good woman and endless faith – but I’ll stick with my list for now, thank you.
So where did the mighty BLJ come from? How did it evolve? Well, the answer relates directly to the internal combustion engine, as is only right and proper. By the last decade of the 19th century gentlemen adventurers were discovering the new madness of speed. For thousands of years no one could travel faster than the speed of a galloping horse, but for several decades it was now possible to travel really quite remarkably fast by train. It was very exciting, but you had no choice as to where you were heading, and you didn’t get to do the really fun bit – that was the train driver’s job.

Various stages of the BLJ

Then, at the turn of the century, something else appeared apparently out of nowhere. As soon as cars and motorcycles began to appear – no matter how primitive – human beings could move at very high speeds in just about whatever direction they chose. You didn’t just have access to high speed; you had high speed on demand. It was one of the most important developments since man first walked upright and women began shaving their legs.
The first takers were, unsurprisingly, young men; the group who have always pushed civilisation forwards – thanks to the wonderful, all-conquering chemical testosterone. They weren’t all wealthy dilettantes. Many were, but lots of very ordinary guys began fitting internal combustion engines to push bikes and setting off down the lane at speed – scattering chickens, old ladies and dust.
There was one problem which needed addressing – actually, there were many, but we’re only interested in one – and that was protection. Moving at high speed was a cold and often wet business. If you fell off it hurt, too, but that was very much a secondary matter.

Promise of quality from the name over the door.

These young bucks, like their peers who were pioneering air flight, needed a simple solution, and from very early on that was the leather jacket. Add a pair of goggles to keep the dust, chickens and old ladies out of your eyes, and preferably some headgear, and you were in business. You could go anywhere and do anything. You had a power very few others had. You were a minor god. And, in its own sweet way, it was all really rather sexy.
Britain’s oldest maker of leather jackets for motorcyclists and fliers is Lewis Leathers, which – amazingly – opened for business in 1892. Originally known as D Lewis, the company seems to have been founded by one David Isaacs, and quite why the trading name of Lewis was used is unclear. He can be shown to have been in partnership a few years later with his brother, Lewis Isaacs, so it is most likely that D Lewis stood for David and Lewis.

Surreal stuff from the era of psychedelia.

They were based in Great Portland Street in central London and, before the turn of the century, they were offering leather jackets for the ‘gentlemen’s auto sports’ of motoring and flying. It was a visionary decision to move into this market. Their jackets, gloves and helmets were very well-made, and used the best-quality leathers, so they could be afforded only by wealthy youngsters. Think of a young Edwardian buck roaring through the leafy lanes of England, his cap on back to front and his goggles slowly steaming up – racing into town from his parents’ country house – and you’ve got the guy.
Proportionately WWI brought about the death of more upper middle class and aristocratic young men than from any other part of society, but the use of the internal combustion engine moved on enormously. Through the 20s and 30s much larger numbers drove open sports cars, rode large-engined bikes or flew in tiny planes. Wherever two or three are gathered together, they start racing, and Lewis began manufacturing specialist racing leathers in 1926. Things were obviously going well; three years later, David and Lewis had been joined by a third director, Nathan Jones, and he was sent to Lancashire to set up a new and much larger manufacturing operation.
The company certainly thrived through the 30s and, as well as leather jackets, the catalogue included full-length leather coats, two-piece flying suits, boots, goggles and even earphones. There was also a range of cotton clothing. They could boast that they supplied the governments of many countries across Europe and the Empire.

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