Once upon a time...

Vanson Leathers – celebrating its 50th anniversary this year – is a company that has continued to handcraft motorcycle riding and racing apparel in Massachusetts, USA, since 1974. During these 50 years, Vanson has become known for delivering “heirloom quality” motorcycle garments you can pass on to future generations.

The men behind Vanson Leathers are Mike van der Sleesen and James Goodson.

Mike was born in San Francisco but moved to Holland with his Dutch father and American mother. Jamie was born in Cambridge, England to an American father and English mother.

Bicycles, motorbikes and Europe all went together in a two-wheel world of adventure and independence for Mike and Jamie.
At age 16 Jamie and Mike graduated to small road machines and were able to travel great distances. Jamie rode to Morocco and Czechoslovakia on his Suzuki 50cc.

Mike rode to Switzerland and Italy, England and France on his Garelli Monza 50cc.
In 1970, van der Sleesen and Goodson moved to Paris to attend University. They were growing up, so to speak, and graduated to BSA Lightnings, Norton Commandos and Honda CB750s. While in Paris Mike picked up part-time work, uncrating and setting-up new Nortons, at MotoBritannique, a “Brit Bike” shop located outside Versailles.

Jamie and Mike also helped out the owner of MotoBritannique, Mike Harper-Smith, by traveling to London to buy used bikes, parts and accessories for the shop. In those days there were no open borders and so riding these old bikes into France from England, loaded with parts and bits, was always a border-crossing customs adventure.

Returning to San Francisco in 1972 Mike continued to import motorcycle parts from his British connections to sell to dealers stateside. Late in 1973, he moved to Boston. Jamie moved to Boston in 1974 and Vanson Associates (Vanson is a portmanteau of van der Sleesen and Goodson) was formed.

Vanson rented a 3,500-sq.-ft. loft for $175.00 per month, then filled it with used cutting and sewing equipment. The company wasn’t an instant success. At one point, Mike and Jamie gave up their apartment and moved into the workshop for 18 months.

During these early years recruiting dealers across the nation (pre-internet, pre cellphone) was a challenge, requiring many, many weeks of travel. Identifying dealer prospects required driving from region to region across the U.S., with frequent stops at a Howard Johnson’s or Denny’s, for a cup of coffee and to ‘borrow’ their copy of the local Yellow Pages to start calling on the local dealers.

Vanson’s first big break came in 1979 when they made the racing leathers for Dale Singleton. Dale was a self-proclaimed “famous pig-farming privateer” who beat all the factory race teams not just once but twice, winning the Daytona 200 in 1979 and 1981. The second win was when Vanson supported 1979 AMA Grand National Champion Steve Eklund. Over the years there have been many notable riders who have worn a Vanson. Here are but just a few, Antron Brown, Freddie Spencer, Giacomo Agostini, Mario Duhamel, Dave Roper, Mike Hale, Nicky Hayden, Angie & Matt Smith, Dave Schultz and many others.

The ’80s and early ’90s were a period of steady growth and change for Vanson. Jamie and Mike split up in 1983, with Mike wanting to continue to manufacture domestically and Jamie preferring an import path.

Club racing was flourishing and the interest in motorbikes just kept growing. Buell, Suzuki, H-D were among the companies that ordered jackets, pants and racing suits from Vanson.

It was during this period that manufacturing changed, government restrictions became tougher and imports into the USA really took off. Many companies were driven out of business, or at least out of the USA as a viable production site. Every supply-chain resource that had been commonly available throughout the USA became harder to find, essentially industrial clusters are an ecosystem, and if one aspect gets out of balance, it impacts the whole.

As the market has changed for US producers, the through-put volumes have decreased. We at Vanson embrace lower volumes so we can concentrate on the special and custom orders. This philosophy of striving to be the best is reflected in the Patents covering features such as ventilation and protection.

This DNA: Innovation, Heirloom Quality, Made-in-USA, individually crafted and numbered, keeps Vanson as a Brand relevant in the Motorbike, Race and Fashion markets.

At Vanson Leathers quality has become an obsession with painstaking attention to detail — traits that are the primary reason why we have survived and even thrived for the past 50 years.

Designed, engineered, cut, and produced in the U.S.A. of imported and domestic materials, sewn by hand in our workshop in Fall River, MA, USA.

Thank you for reading.