AVIREX Limited Version A-2 Leather Flight Jacket, Serial No. 040, 1992, Distressed Oval Back Art and Patches

A serial-numbered AVIREX Limited Version A-2 from 1992, No. 040, built to look like a veteran's painted jacket and now genuinely aged by three decades of wear. Its abraded oval back art and dense front insignia have crossed from effect into presence.

The Piece

This early-1990s AVIREX leather flight jacket comes from the brand's Limited Version line, distinguished by serial numbering, a dense application of aviation-style insignia and a dramatically weathered back-art composition. The interior label reads Vintage Flight Jacket, Type: Limited Version, Serial No. 040, and an interior copyright line reads 1992, placing it in the phase when AVIREX moved beyond straightforward military-inspired outerwear into narrative fashion, condensing the visual afterlife of veteran-painted aviation leather into a single garment.

The back panel carries a large oval painted or printed leather-art field with aviation and eagle-like imagery. Heavily worn, through age and possibly through original treatment as well, it now reads as a rubbed blue field with a fragmenting figure, visible craquelure and scuffing and a softened oval border; the partial loss of image has only heightened its atmosphere and brought it closer to the language of genuine painted jackets.

The front is busy in the true AVIREX manner, with multiple applied insignia-style patches: a shield, a diamond, a sleeve device, a shoulder marking and a flag-striped element, designed to evoke multi-insignia wartime flight culture rather than to reproduce a traceable uniform history. The brown and seal-brown leather shell, with intentionally distressed abrasion zones and a brown lining, has since gained real wear of its own, so that what began as styled vintage has become vintage in earnest. The jacket has strong crossover appeal for collectors of flightwear, Japanese Americana, early-1990s heritage fashion and serial-numbered limited jackets.

Details

• Maker: AVIREX
• Model: A-2 style leather flight jacket
• Line: Limited Version (“Vintage Flight Jacket” label)
• Edition: Serial No. 040
• Era: 1992 (interior copyright line)
• Material: Leather shell; brown lining
• Color: Brown / seal brown with intentionally distressed abrasion zones
• Decoration: Multiple front insignia-style patches with shoulder and sleeve patches; large oval back-art field with aviation and eagle-like imagery
• Provenance: Acquired by its prior private keeper approximately 30 years ago

Condition

• Significant surface wear, rubbing, fading, abrasion and age on both the shell and the graphic elements; a jacket of this kind is designed to benefit from lived patina, and the wear is part of its visual character.
• Back art heavily distressed through age and/or original treatment, with partial image loss, craquelure and scuffing, and a softened oval border.
• Rubbing on the elbows and sleeves, flattened seams and softened knit tones.
• Points worth confirming: zipper function, hide flexibility and suppleness at high-wear zones, stability of the back art field and its edge stitching, any hidden seam separation beneath abrasions, and the originality of the label and serial.

Authenticity & Care

The interior label reads “Vintage Flight Jacket”, “Type: Limited Version”, “Serial No. 040”, with a 1992 copyright line; a heritage-fashion piece, not a WWII military garment. Every piece is examined and documented in Japan before dispatch and is offered with the Japonista authenticity guarantee.

Delivery from Japan

Packed by hand in Japan and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Returns follow our published policy.

Collectors also search: avirex limited version a-2 · avirex serial no 040 · 1992 avirex leather jacket · avirex vintage flight jacket label · avirex patch back art jacket · early 1990s avirex a-2