Vintage 1940s French Sheep Leather Motorcycle Jacket Éclair Zips

France, late 1940s. The war is over, petrol is still rationed, and the roads out of town are long, cold and empty. Somebody needed a jacket that could take the wind at forty miles an hour and still look right walking into a café at the end of it. This is the jacket they made.

Everything about it is built for the road. The front zip runs off-centre, so the wind can’t find a straight way through, and it carries on up into a pointed collar that closes snug at the throat. Turn the collar up and you’ll see why it stays there: the underside is stitched in a close zigzag pattern that stiffens it to stand against the wind. It’s a tailor’s detail, and one rarely seen today. Buckled straps at each cuff, fastened with nickel buckles and run through stitched leather keepers, seal the sleeves over gloves.

The back is just as considered. A shaped yoke runs across the shoulders, with piped seams curving down into a half belt at the waist. The elasticated sides hold the jacket close when you lean forward over the handlebars, and let it move when you don’t.

The zips are Éclair, the French maker whose name became the word for a zip in France, and the stamped Éclair pull still sits on the angled chest pocket. Two angled hand pockets sit low on the front, their welts bound in leather. Inside it is lined the old way, diamond-quilted through the body for warmth, with striped cotton in the sleeves so the arms slide in easily.

It’s cut from cuir de mouton, soft, fine-grained sheep leather, the hide French makers favoured for jackets meant to be worn close to the body. Seventy-odd years have done the rest. The leather has softened beautifully with wear, supple and broken in where the jacket has moved most, across the arms and through the body. It has worn to honey and tan across the shoulders and back, and it darkens to a deep brown in the creases at the elbows and around the belt. The surface has the dry, faded bloom that only genuine age gives. You can see exactly where it bent, where it rubbed and where it was worn hardest.

Jackets like this were working clothes, and most were worn until there was nothing left. This one made it.

Condition & Restoration

Very good vintage condition for a jacket of this age, with a beautifully aged patina throughout. It shows the light, honest wear you would expect from a piece of this era, all shown in the images.

On the left shoulder, just below the collar point, there is a tiny scuff that has lifted only the very surface of the leather. Along the outer edge of the collar there is light surface wear where it has rubbed over time. Towards the bottom of the sleeves there is some minor chapping, which has been treated, and the cuff straps show light wear to their edges. All of this is entirely normal for a jacket of this age, and none of it takes anything away from it.

The leather remains strong, the seams are sound, and the quilted lining is in good order.

Specialist cleaned and conditioned in-house. The Éclair zips have been cleaned, polished and waxed, and run smoothly. The cuff buckles fasten as they should.

Key Features

• Vintage French leather motorcycle jacket, circa late 1940s
• Soft, fine-grained sheep leather (cuir de mouton), beautifully broken in
• Offset front zip running up into a pointed collar
• Original Éclair zips, with a stamped Éclair pull on the chest pocket
• Under-collar stitched in a zigzag pattern to stand against the wind
• Angled zipped chest pocket
• Angled hand pockets with leather-bound welts
• Buckled cuff straps with nickel buckles and stitched leather keepers
• Shaped back yoke with piped seams
• Half belt across the back with elasticated sides
• Diamond-quilted body lining
• Striped cotton sleeve linings
• Naturally aged honey and tan patina

Size & Fit

Measurements, laid flat

• Chest, armpit to armpit: 23.5" / 59.7 cm
• Shoulders, seam to seam: 19" / 48.3 cm
• Sleeve, shoulder seam to cuff: 26" / 66 cm
• Underarm seam to cuff: 18" / 45.7 cm
• Back length, base of collar to hem: 29" / 73.7 cm

Best suited to: 42" chest regular, or a 44" chest as a slim fit / Size M–L

Fit: A slim cut, made to be worn close to the body, as these jackets were, so that nothing flapped in the wind on the road. It’s riding length, sitting neatly at the hip, with the half belt drawing it in at the back. Please go by the measurements above, and compare them with a jacket you already own.