Vintage Leather Jacket "Natural Comfort New York"

[guygardner]

Anyone know anything about the company "Natural Comfort" that was based in New York? I need help identifying the company and the age of this jacket. This is the only tag:

[/IMG]

The lining is real sheepskin shearling.

[/IMG]

The shell is a thick, stiff leather that was in need of conditioning. The seller was adamant that it is horsehide, although there is no tag to indicate what kind of leather it is. I had a long German leather motorcycle coat that had leather that looked and felt a lot like this (same thickness, same color, patina).

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

Any ideas?

 

[guygardner]

No one has heard of this company?

Does anyone recognize this brand of zipper? Would you be able to tell the age by that?

 

[GoodTimesGone]

I haven't heard of this company, but in times past there were many more leather companies in the U.S. than there are now. Natural Comfort could be a subsidiary of another company as well. The fact that it says "New York" doesn't even guarantee that it was made there. Some companies would get their product from elsewhere but have a label sewn on with the city of the company headquarters. I knew the zipper logo looked familiar, so I looked at my jackets and found the same logo on my 1969 Star Sportswear G-1 flight jacket. If the zipper model was the same it would narrow it down better. My guess is with the vertical seam pattern on the back and the wide knit ribbing that this jacket dates from somewhere between 1968-1975. The lining is definitely genuine shearling, which makes it a more valuable (and very warm) jacket. From the photos, it could be horse, steer, or cow. I have a few vintage jackets that are not labeled with the leather type like this. When it comes down to it what matters most is the quality, comfort, and whether you like the jacket. Your jacket looks to have nice quality leather, which is far better than what you see in malls and department stores these days. If you're having above average temps like we are you may not be wearing a sheepskin lined jacket very much the rest of this winter. Our weather has been more like late May all week but we're going back down to normal next wednesday. This is usually my favorite weather for a-2 jackets, but I've been wearing short sleeve shirts.[huh]
-Tom

 

[Seb Lucas]

Looks 1970's to me. Lables themselves are tricky. Many companies have their lable designed, made in bulk and use it for 20 years or more. A jacket company over here (now gone) used thier 1950's lable until the late 1980's.

 

[guygardner]

I haven't heard of this company, but in times past there were many more leather companies in the U.S. than there are now. Natural Comfort could be a subsidiary of another company as well. The fact that it says "New York" doesn't even guarantee that it was made there. Some companies would get their product from elsewhere but have a label sewn on with the city of the company headquarters. I knew the zipper logo looked familiar, so I looked at my jackets and found the same logo on my 1969 Star Sportswear G-1 flight jacket. If the zipper model was the same it would narrow it down better. My guess is with the vertical seam pattern on the back and the wide knit ribbing that this jacket dates from somewhere between 1968-1975. The lining is definitely genuine shearling, which makes it a more valuable (and very warm) jacket. From the photos, it could be horse, steer, or cow. I have a few vintage jackets that are not labeled with the leather type like this. When it comes down to it what matters most is the quality, comfort, and whether you like the jacket. Your jacket looks to have nice quality leather, which is far better than what you see in malls and department stores these days. If you're having above average temps like we are you may not be wearing a sheepskin lined jacket very much the rest of this winter. Our weather has been more like late May all week but we're going back down to normal next wednesday. This is usually my favorite weather for a-2 jackets, but I've been wearing short sleeve shirts.[huh]
-Tom

Thanks Tom. I had a feeling it was from the late 1960s-early 1970s. I did a search but couldn't find any information about the company. I guess it must have been a very small operation.

Yeah, I got to wear it once this week and then temperatures soared. It's 21C (69 F) today. These temperatures are about a month early.

It's extremely warm for a leather jacket, but also very heavy, as a result of the shearling lining. It feels like armour, much more so than my old steer hide motorcycle jacket.

 

[guygardner]

Looks 1970's to me. Lables themselves are tricky. Many companies have their lable designed, made in bulk and use it for 20 years or more. A jacket company over here (now gone) used thier 1950's lable until the late 1980's.

Interesting. I guess the same can be said of zippers. The old fordist model of production being to produce tons of different components, and then store them in warehouses for years until they find their way to the finished product.