The 9 Leather Jackets You (Yes, You) Could Actually Pull Off

Leather jackets can be tricky to get right. Too trend-focused, and it’s a thousand-dollar flash in the pan; too trend-agnostic, and you get a museum artifact rather than a wearable piece. AYR nailed the balance on its cleverly named Scrambler jacket, which draws off moto history and sits in the Goldilocks zone between classic and contemporary.

I’ve worn it motorcycling through the Appalachian mountain roads and plan on packing it for an upcoming jaunt to Europe. If you’re looking for a more classic moto style, I also own and highly endorse the elegantly named Baby Grand. The brand (and menswear lead Brice Pattison) has the Midas touch of outerwear; every style is worth its weight in gold.

Schott makes the classic moto jacket. This is the one that comes to mind when you think “leather jacket,” back when Henry Winkler was the Fonz and not our most talented living character actor. The pop culture references are legion: Brando in Wild Bunch, Elvis onstage, Uncle Jesse in Full House. A classic Schott Perfecto does it all, and it remains essentially unchanged today. That’s a good thing.

A shearling jacket is hard to pull off in day-to-day life. Done incorrectly, it can quickly devolve into a kind of cosplay of a WWII fighter pilot. Overland’s Lance jacket retains the genuine sheepskin lining but softens the look with a handsome dark navy colorway paired with a more subtle brown lining, giving you the warmth and badassery without crossing over into costume territory. Unless that’s your thing, then the brand’s B-3 bomber recreation is right up your alley (though, as always, Todd Snyder’s take is more wearable).

I want every leather jacket to have an origin story like Taylor Stitch’s, which begins with one of the brand’s designers recreating a beloved cafe racer style jacket his dad bought in the '70s and wore to perfection. It turns out the original manufacturer, Golden Bear, was around the corner from TS, and the two brands worked together to re-issue the style.

It’s got some modern twists like a Thinsulate lining, but retains the design cues that make it functional on a bike and just plain cool on its own. I’ve coveted this jacket for years, and recently got my hands on it IRL, and boy, it does not disappoint. The Whiskey Steerhide colorway looks a little early aughts coded online, but in person, it looks like the magic liquid itself: golden and invigorating. For a non-insulated, more lifestyle-oriented take on the silhouette, I’d point you to Billy Reid’s Blake jacket, which is my dive bar go-to.

Many leather jackets are cropped, echoing the performance qualities of the denim jacket and aiding with mobility when on an actual motorcycle. But that’s not the only way to do it. With the leather version of the Trailmaster, British brand Belstaff uses a belt, à la a classic trenchcoat, to offer the same functionality and more coverage. More leather means more room for pockets, which this jacket has in spades. And weather protection, which the Panther adds to the buffet by hand waxing the leather for extra water repellence.

Budget leather goods can be problematic. Under a certain price threshold, you’re almost certainly not getting the real thing, in which case you’d be better off going with a disclosed imitation leather piece from the likes of all star mall brands like Banana Republic or Abercrombie & Fitch. Or eBay, where a tape measure and search for Wilson’s Leather or vintage Orvis will unlock a treasure trove of perfectly patinated jackets.

For brand new on a budget, I recommend The Jacket Maker. Its cut will be a little less forgiving than the pricier brands in this list, but if you’re a guy who fits well into off-the-rack suits, you shouldn’t have an issue. Plus, the brand offers a custom, made-to-measure jacket design tool that has me tempted to recreate McQueen’s from The Great Escape.

I am big on brands that care about details and let the clothes speak for themselves. Octobre Éditions is one such brand. The cut and the cloth set the clothes apart and create longevity outside the trend cycle. When you’ve designed a perfect OCBD you can never really go out of style. Same too with the brand’s excellent Larren Jacket, which I have and is unfortunately currently OOS. Thankfully, the Peylor cuts the same silhouette in a nubby split leather that I’m a little envious of. Get it while the getting’s good.

The leather jacket and the motorcycle are so intertwined that sometimes we forget about the cowboys. And suede is some real cowboy shit. The roughout leather was used for warmth on the range and fringed for waterproofness. These days, the long-term maintenance drawbacks have turned suede into a luxury signifier, but this style from Flint and Tinder throws back to cowboy roots. It's suede yes, but 100 percent shearling suede, which means the wool lining is still attached. Take that cold weather. And with it's current sale price at nealry 20 percent off, it’s too good to pass up.

Sure, there are excellent (and expensive) picks from LOEWE, Celine, and Tom Ford with extra-premium materials, brand-specific takes on classic silhouettes, and the extra designer oomph that makes them worth it in some circles. But in this price range, I’m more interested in the experimental and new perspective of a brand like Stòffa, which you can tell is having fun with fabric and silhouettes. This Traveler jacket is cut and sewn in Italy and somehow manages to be sleek and drapey all at once. A daydream of a jacket that’s definitely pricey, but somehow still more affordable by half than other designer pieces out there.