Che Guevara wore one while riding across South America in 1952. Steve McQueen wore one while racing motorcycles in Scotland. A woman named Mary Kenyon-Slaney wore one riding through the Scottish Highlands in 1948. The jacket was always a Belstaff.
Belstaff didn't invent the motorcycle jacket. But it made the best one — a jacket that could protect you from rain, wind, gravel, and cold, while still looking great when you got off the bike.
1924: A Workshop in England
Harry Grosberg started Belstaff in Staffordshire, England. The name came from mixing a partner's surname with "staff" from Staffordshire. His big idea was about material: he coated Egyptian cotton with wax to make fabric that was waterproof, breathable, and tough.
His timing was perfect. In 1920s Britain, the motorcycle was how working people got around. But British weather was harsh, and the riding gear available was either too heavy, too fragile, or too expensive. Grosberg's waxed cotton solved all three problems at once.
1948: The Trialmaster Is Born
In 1948, Belstaff created the Trialmaster jacket. It was built for the International Six Days Trial — often called the "Olympics of motorcycling." This was serious competition, and the jacket had to be serious too.
It had four pockets big enough for maps and tools. A belted waist to stop it flapping at high speed. A high collar to block wind and rain. And waxed cotton tough enough to take a beating and keep going.
The Trialmaster wasn't designed to be fashionable. It was designed to survive. But it looked incredible — dark, worn, and full of purpose. That turned out to be Belstaff's greatest selling point.
1952–1964: The Famous Riders
In 1952, a young Che Guevara rode a Norton 500 motorcycle across South America. The journey later became the famous book and film The Motorcycle Diaries. His jacket? A Belstaff.
Then came Steve McQueen. In 1964, he entered the International Six Days Trial in East Germany — wearing a Belstaff Trialmaster. The photos of McQueen covered in mud, grinning through exhaustion, his jacket scratched and stained from six days of brutal riding — those became some of the most famous images in motorcycle history.
McQueen understood something about Belstaff that others missed: the jacket looked best when it was beaten up. A new Belstaff was handsome. A worn one — oiled, scratched, softened by years of riding — was magnificent. Every scratch was a road you'd taken. Every stain was a journey you'd completed.
"The motorcycle wasn't just transport. It was freedom. And the jacket was the armour that made that freedom possible."
The 1960s: Café Racers and Cool
In 1960s London, young riders called the "Ton-Up Boys" raced between cafés at 100 miles per hour on stripped-down motorcycles. Many wore Belstaff waxed cotton. The café racer look — lean, fast, and full of attitude — shaped motorcycle fashion for generations.
When designers like Tom Ford and Hedi Slimane later brought motorcycle style into high fashion, they were building on a look that Belstaff helped create decades earlier.
100 Years and Still Riding
Belstaff celebrated its 100th birthday in 2024. The Trialmaster is still being made today. The waxed cotton is still the signature material. And what Harry Grosberg knew back in 1924 remains true: the best riding gear is the gear that becomes part of you.
A Belstaff jacket doesn't just hang in your closet. Over time, it picks up the marks of your riding life — the oil, the rain, the road dust. And in doing so, it becomes more than clothing. It becomes a record of everywhere you've been.