MW: What were Lewis making at the very start?
DH: The very first thing we had was a factory, funnily enough, in Whitechapel, making cut and sew clothing. Suits, trousers, overcoats which were sold in the shop at Great Portland Street. As time went on, from about 1907 onwards, that area gradually became known as Motor Alley. People would go down there firstly looking for cars, then motorcycles. Aviators also. If you owned a car, which was an expensive item in those days, there was a good chance you might also have a personal plane. So it was attracting a well-heeled customer base and I guess, naturally, people would drop into D Lewis Ltd and say, “What have you got for an afternoon’s winter motoring or to ride on my motorcycle?” And while Lewis were still a clothing shop, they shifted the emphasis of what they were making to motoring apparel. Most of it was pretty similar. You’d have a big, long coat for flying and motorcars but with the addition of straps to strap it to your legs so that it didn’t flap around if you were on a motorcycle. Gradually, motorcycle clothing evolved in a different directions from the flying and motoring kit because people found it was better to have a waist length jacket as opposed to a coat. But yeah, D Lewis moved with the times and served this new clientele until the outbreak of war when there was no civilian flying and motoring stopped because of the gasoline scarcity. When the war finally finished, of course, there was petrol rationing and motorcycling became the new popular form of travelling because you could go much further on a tank of petrol on a bike than you could in a car. So the motorcycle market was a big expanding market and that’s what Lewis moved into wholeheartedly.

MW: Who are your customers nowadays?
DH: I’d say 70–80 per cent of our customers, in the London shop anyway, are still motorcyclists. Mostly guys who’ve got vintage bikes. But we also still attract a lot of rock bands and their fans. We’ve had Arctic Monkeys, The Hives. They all came in a couple of years ago and got measured up for jackets they still wear on tour. They call it ‘rock ’n’ roll armour’.

MW: What does the Lewis Leathers brand embody for you?
DH: A brand with heritage. Like a pair of John Lobb shoes, a Savile Row suit, a good Harris Tweed, it’s something that you can say, “Wow, this has been around for one hundred, two hundred years.” You’re buying into that whole ethos. It’s something you feel you can trust. And they look great!

MW: Do you remember how you felt when you wore your first one?
DH: Well, I was very excited. I was in my early 20s and I’d had other leather jackets before – Carnaby Street were always making knock-offs of Lewis – but they just didn’t feel the same. To have one with Lewis on it made me feel like I’d sort of joined some elite, really. Even though I wasn’t riding a motorcycle I just felt that there was a lineage to it. It connected me to something that went all the way back.

Grooming by David Wadlow
Model Ned at ESTABLISHED

Bottega Veneta Nubuck Suede Patchwork Jacket £3,230

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