What we’ve come to know as the quintessential leather jacket was born out of functionality, when they were created for aviators in the First World War. The first leather flight jackets were bulky, often featuring shearling-lined collars and lapels to protect pilots from the elements.
Outerwear designer Irving Schott and his brother Jack created the iconic Perfecto style in 1928. The Perfecto was cut in thick leather, and featured wide snap-buttoned lapels and heavy zippers, making it durable enough to protect motorcyclists in the event of an accident,. It quickly became a popular choice among the bikers of the 1930s, and soon the Perfecto became as infamous as the bikers who wore it, gaining a reputation through brands like Harley Davidson, the jacket’s first distributor. It wasn’t long before the leather jacket, and the Perfecto style in particular, was immortalized in the Hollywood movie "The Wild One" staring Marlon Brando. The Perfecto became the ultimate symbol of bad-boy notoriety.
Greaser subculture born in the late 1950s also sported the Perfecto styled leather jackets. This was represented in the 1980's TV series Happy Days, and the Hit Movie "Grease".