In the world of motorsports, there are few disciplines as demanding as motorcycle trials. It’s a game of balance, precision, skill and endurance in which competitors must tackle obstacle-filled off-road courses while remaining rubber side down and riding as fast as possible. It’s not unusual for distances to hit triple digits, and here in the UK participants are often subjected to some pretty grim weather conditions to boot. To say suitable clothing is required would be an understatement. This is a sport that requires the toughest of the tough when it comes to kit, which is exactly what led Belstaff to design its now-legendary Trialmaster jacket more than 70 years ago.
From the perilous mountain passes of the Himalayas to the bustling city streets of London, the Trialmaster has since traversed them all. An icon of adventure, it has risen far above its moto-racing roots to become one of England’s most beloved outerwear designs. A quintessentially British spin on the classic motorcycle-jacket formula, favouring wax cotton in place of leather, press-stud bellows instead of chrome- zippered pockets and a mid-length cut to seal out the elements.
Belstaff advertisements from the 1950s, image credit: Mortons Archive
“Hardwearing, thornproof material; fungus, water and rot-proof; all exposed metal fittings are rustless,” as the jacket’s 1959 advertisement in The Motor Cycle magazine so eloquently put it. The Trialmaster’s roots can be traced back to World War I. Eli Belovitch and his son-in-law Harry Grosberg had spent several years supplying tents and groundsheets to the armed forces. After the conflict ended, they founded Belstaff: a portmanteau of Belovitch’s surname and his home county, Staffordshire.
Belovitch and Grosberg were pioneering textile hunters who travelled to all corners of the earth in search of the latest and greatest developments in fabric. It had long been Belovitch’s dream to apply his textile knowledge to motorcycle clothing, and Belstaff became an outlet for his experimental new ideas.
Belstaff Trialmaster Professional Jacket
It was in Egypt that Belovitch first got his hands on wax cotton. This ultra- durable fabric was lightweight, tough and abrasion resistant. Most interestingly to Belovitch, it was also waterproof and breathable – two qualities seldom found together in the days before Gore-Tex. Realising he had something special, he headed home and got to work crafting a new type of motorcycle jacket. Inspired by the Scottish Six Days Trial – the oldest and arguably most gruelling motorcycle event in the world – he eventually used his newfound wonder fabric to create his magnum opus.
“The weatherproof design provided a water-repellent, wind-resistant layer while remaining breathable to help regulate the wearer’s body temperature,” says Sean Lehnhardt-Moore, Creative Director of Belstaff. “Style signatures including the buckled throat latch collar, adjustable waist belt and the four-pocket silhouette were added to ensure the rider was comfortable and protected.
“The tilted chest pocket is probably the most recognisable feature. It was originally attached at an angle as a map pocket to provide easy access while on the bike. This has since become a design signature of Belstaff across the mainline and moto collections.”
Sammy Miller Riding His Hand-Built Sh5 200cc, 1954 Scottish Six Days Trial, he won The Best Newcomer award, image credit: Sammy Miller Archive
When the Trialmaster launched, a young rider by the name of Sammy Miller was quickly rising through the moto-racing ranks. The 18-year-old British rider wrote to Belstaff in 1951 to ask if the company would like to sponsor him, and they accepted. Miller went on to wear Belstaff’s outerwear in upwards of 1,000 races, praising the Trialmaster for its ability to keep him bone dry when other competitors fell victim to the poor weather conditions.
“I was riding in the Scottish Six Days Trial and it rained for five of the six days,” he says. “Belstaff had sent me the green Trialmaster. It was a new design, a new product. I think I was the only dry bloke out of the 300 entries.” One particularly gruesome year came in 1964, when the notorious Scottish weather battered riders with howling wind and torrential rain for the duration of the event. The unrelenting downpour made parts of the course almost unrideable, turning small streams into raging torrents that were near impossible to cross.
Those who were there at the time recall a brave Miller revving up and attempting to jump one such section, only to land midstream in the fast-flowing waist-deep water. He attempted to power through with the carburettor below the water, but his engine died and he was forced to drag himself and his bike up the bank and back onto land to dry out. Unbelievably, he went on to win the event. “I rode better,” he says. “The rest of them were like drowned rats. I used to pray for rain. Softened them up. Easier to beat them.”
Father Graham Hullett, leader of the 59 Club wearing a Belstaff Trialmaster jacket in 1968
Miller wasn’t the only high-profile biker to adopt the Trialmaster. Long before he became known as ‘Che’, a young Ernesto Guevara wore one while solo touring in Argentina on his motorcycle. Away from the road pioneering aviators Amelia Earheart and Amy Johnson both donned Belstaff outerwear for their respective record- breaking solo flights. And British intelligence officer Lawrence of Arabia famously wore the brand in the years between the end of World War I and his untimely death in 1935.
These household names helped to cement the Trialmaster’s reputation as a hardened piece of adventure clothing, but it was the jacket’s Hollywood adopters that brought it to mainstream attention and helped it to become recognised as a work of fashion rather than one purely of function.
During the 1960s and ‘70s, Steve McQueen was one of the biggest names on the planet. He’d starred in hit films The Great Escape, Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair, and was often spotted wearing his signature Trialmaster. As a result, the jacket started to develop cult status in the world of celebrity, and over the years its list of notable wearers has grown to include the likes of Johnny Depp, David Beckham, George Clooney, Will Smith and Brad Pitt, to name just a few.
Modern Belstaff Trialmaster Jacket, £595
Today the Trialmaster is firmly established as one of the most significant outerwear designs of the last century. It’s up there with its transatlantic cousin the Schott Perfecto, the MA-1 bomber and the Burberry trench coat in terms of its influence and legacy. Respected by the menswear crowd and intrepid adventurers alike, it’s one of the few pieces of clothing that comfortably inhabits both worlds, bridging the gap between function and fashion.
“It’s an iconic design – quintessentially British with a classic silhouette that is rooted in functionality,” says Belstaff’s Lehnhardt-Moore. “The waxed cotton gives it an authentically worn-in feeling from the start, and it only gets better with age.”
More details at Belstaff.
