Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Taubers of California

tmitchell59

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,462
Location
Illinois
"If one was going to build a collection of a specific maker of vintage jackets, I think Taubers would be one of the most interesting brands to pursue"

The quote is from another thread. Taubers are the first jackets I stared collecting after a tip from a long gone member here. From there I became interested in the Bay area leather makers and all the West coast makers. Most of these shops were smaller and focused on the Western market.

1945 San Francisco City Directory

1655142924337.png


Taubers first appers in San Francisco city directories around 1941. Listing various Tauber family members as in the leather industry. By the 1945 listing they were listed as a maker of leather goods. This ad from 1984 shows the Taubers name was still alive. That is a 40 years history. At least the name outlived many other makers in the bay area.



1655141781817.png


As documented through their jackets there is a focus on Police and Motorcycle specific jackets. This was common for all the small regional leather makers. By the 1960s Horsehide was becoming extinct with Taubers and Cal leathers among the last to use horsehide. The taste of the public was also changing and Taubers seems to have followed this trend by offering more Civilian styles (not motorcycle). They also moved away from horsehide.

I will post my collection of Taubers and other pics I have to demonstrate Taubers variety of leather outerwear. Hopefully others with information will share and help to develop this achieve of Taubers outerwear.
 

Fifty150

One Too Many
Messages
1,840
Location
The Barbary Coast
As documented through their jackets there is a focus on Police and Motorcycle specific jackets. This was common for all the small regional leather makers.

Interesting this is a Utility jacket not a police or Motorcycle jacket.



Until about 50 years ago, leather jackets were just not commonly sold or bought by the average person. Leather jackets were a specialty item. Military, police, motorcycle riders. And from what I was told, longshoremen. Dockworkers. Military and police jackets had manufacturing specifications. There were no such specifications for jackets sold to laborers on the waterfront. Leather manufacturers probably put the jackets together based on feedback. The customers probably asked them to put an extra pocket here, or a reinforcement rivet there, and put in a zipper because the button kept breaking off. However they came up with the design...... that Utility jacket may be a dock worker jacket. The San Francisco Bay Area has a lot of ports. Plenty of guys working on the wharfs.

Golden Bear still sells a dockworker jacket. Aero has a design which they call a longshoreman. When I am down on the waterfront, I don't see any of the Longshoreman Union guys wearing leather. They have no "official" uniform. Most of those guys are dressed in whatever they want. A lot of Ben Davis, Carhartt, Dickies, or whatever. And aside from the actual physical labor, a lot of the jobs aren't done by men anymore. Women are now "longshoremen".


Screenshot 2022-06-20 00.50.42.png


Screenshot 2022-06-20 00.39.45.png




Screenshot 2022-06-20 01.02.24.png


Screenshot 2022-06-20 00.50.42.png
 

Forum statistics

Threads
107,028
Messages
3,026,674
Members
52,533
Latest member
RacerJ
Top