First the definition of biker jacket, from the World English Dictionary, a short, close-fitting leather jacket with zips and studs, often worn by motorcyclist’s.
The biker jacket actually started in the 1920-1930 era, worn by aviators in the military in WWII. The jackets were known as bomber jackets. They were made out of either goatskin or mostly horse hide, which is what the farmers provided to the clothing industry during that time.
In 1928, the Schott brothers introduced the first motorcycle jacket, the Perfecto, which was made from steer hide. This was a higher quality hide than the horse hide, which helped provide better protection from the terrible road rash.
It wasn’t until the 1950’s when the biker jacket became popular. The movie “The Wild One” with Marlon Brando portraying Johnny Strable, wore the Perfecto jacket. Let’s not forget the movie “Rebel Without A Cause”. Which melted women’s hearts when James Dean, with the leading role of Jim Stark, portraying a troubled teenager, also wore a Perfecto biker Jacket. With this bad boy image, guys wanted to be like him.