History of Lewis Leathers Part2
Most important brand "Lewis Leathers" in history of British culture.
Derek Harris, the 5th generation owner, tells tradition and innovation.
10 4/22 UP
Text:Andrew Bunney Photo:Tommy Translation:Mayumi Horiguchi
- A :
- What lengths do you go to be accurate with the details?
- D :
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There are a lot of companies out there, in Japan particularly, that go to extreme lengths to exactly replicate a flying jacket or a tank jacket, for example, stitch for stitch. We don’t do that because I feel that our jackets have got to be worn for comfort. Generally someone that wears a WWII style jacket will wear the whole look with high waisted trousers and everything like that.
Our jackets have always been tailored to fit, so although you can buy jackets off the peg, we’re equally happy to make to measure. In recent years, people have been wearing very low-slung pants, so while we can make a 1950s standard Bronx jacket to order, no problem, there’s no point having that shape as a standard because it’s not going to help anyone. . Therefore, we can produce all of our jackets made to measure, if you need longer sleeves or body, we will build you a new jacket and deliver it in three weeks. As for the styling, all the pocket detailing, the zippers, the lining, all the details are as accurate as we can make it. We’ve done some slight modification to the patterns, which we felt needed doing. We’ve done some slight modification to the patterns, which we felt needed doing. You can look at a vintage jacket and the shoulders for example might look bigger, but that might be that the shoulders have stretched because someone has been riding a motorcycle. It’s really hard to copy something and say this is perfect. I might have 3 vintage Lightning jackets downstairs that are a size 38 and they are all different. That might be down to the machinist, or that might be because they are all made to measure for a tall guy, a medium guy and a short guy. There is no rule of thumb, so we have a standard size and a made-to-measure size, so the look of the jackets is extremely authentic, and the way they are made is authentic.
- A :
- The customer service is superb. Was this always a big feature of Lewis Leathers?
- D :
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Yes it was. We’ve always offered made-to-measure and I’m really proud that it’s a service we can still do. The customer can come in and we’ll make sure the body and sleeve length to your liking. So they may like a longer body than we may personally recommend but it’s up to them. You can add or take away pockets. You can have a choice of lining - you can have a red quilted lining or a Ministry of Defence Lining. You can have colours, stripes down the sleeves or across the body, you can mix and match the patches, so you can have a black jacket with brown patches on the shoulders and elbows for example. We’re pretty flexible.
- A :
- How do you think the products are relevant to now? Is it enough just to reproduce old styles?
- D :
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Up until now, I’ve just been trying to get things as right as I can. I still see us expanding the range, keeping Lewis Leathers as it is, as the anchor for the company and maybe doing a range of armour for the guys that want that but still want a traditional name. For the time being we’ll grow the casual clothing ourselves, quite slowly, and just see how it goes. We made some special bits for Dover Street Market, Comme des Garçons… we’ve worked with Gieves and Hawkes, we’ve worked with Hysteric Glamour. We work at our own pace and that way I can keep control of it.
- A :
- Why do you think it resonates so much with people?
- D :
- It’s something that people latched onto as teenagers, so it’s like eating apple pie and custard as a child – you might go and live abroad, but you will always want to eat apple pie and custard. It’s a comfort food. I think as a young person, with some products you become very attached to them and with a leather jacket you keep it for a long time as well. It was worn by very heroic people, be it racers, bikers or rock ‘n’ rollers, so it resonates rebellion, testosterone, white knuckle riding（＊7） and it has a sense of adventure about it. I think the same goes for Dr. Martens boots and Brothel Creepers.
- A :
- What do you enjoy most about your job?
- D :
- Everything about it. Getting to travel about, the people you meet. The late Richard Lyon before me said that he’s had companies that made him a fortune but through Lewis Leather he always met the most interesting people. Whether it was creative people, bikers with a story, old guys who might have flyers, you get a wide variety of people.
＊7：white knuckle riding …Drug racing team by mike & Cindy Roures
