History of the Leather Jacket

The history of Leather Jackets

A leather jacket is a jacket made of leather. The jacket usually has a brown, dark grey or black color. Leather jackets have a rich history and can be styled in countless ways, different leather jackets have served different purposes from fashion, to motorcycling, to the military

The history of wearing animal hides can be traced back as far as the palaeothic period where cave paintings were discovered depicting the use of leather clothing, unlike the modern approach primitive man discovered that smoke could preserve skins, and that they could be treated with natural ingredients such as barks and plants.

Wall paintings and artefacts in Egyptian tombs indicate that leather was used for clothing, burying the dead and for military equipment. The ancient Greeks and Romans also made good use of leather and it has remained an important industrial raw material since those times.

The Romans used leather on a large scale for footwear, clothes, and military equipment including shields, saddles and harnesses. Excavation of Roman sites has yielded large quantities of leather articles such as footwear and clothing.

Leather manufacturing was introduced to Britain by the Romans, and by religious communities, the monks were experts at making leather, especially vellum and parchment for writing purposes. The Britons then used leather for footwear, clothing and leather bags. They were also used on the hulls of the early boats, known as coracles

Through the centuries leather manufacture expanded steadily and by mediaeval times most towns and villages had a tannery. Many of these tanneries still exist, but in many towns the only remaining evidence is in street names, like Tanner Street, Bark Street and Leather Lane.

By: Gojira