Members Only

For an icon, the math is gentle. The Members Only racer is the rare design recognizable on sight, and its slim cut layers under coats or stands alone as the whole look. Buy it because you love the silhouette and the wink of nostalgia, not because you expect heirloom leather; this was always meant to be an everyday jacket with personality.

It's the racer jacket that made the brand famous in the 1980s. The tells are built into the design: narrow epaulettes on the shoulders, a collar strap at the throat, and knitted trim at the cuffs and hem. Original racers came in a wide variety of colors, so color alone proves nothing, but those three details together are the brand's signature.

Members Only is an American clothing brand created in 1975 by menswear entrepreneur Herb Goldsmith. The line was first introduced to domestic American markets in 1980 by Europe Craft Imports, which is when the jackets began their climb into 1980s ubiquity.

Through the 2010s the brand kept launching seasonal collections sold by online retailers and by brick-and-mortar shops such as Urban Outfitters. For the original 1980s racers specifically, the vintage and resale market is where the genuine period pieces surface.

That was the brand's advertising tagline during its heyday. It captured the whole pitch of the racer jacket: that slipping it on was less about warmth and more about attitude, a small transformation you could wear. The line has stuck around as shorthand for the jacket's outsized cultural presence.

Yes. The brand never disappeared, and in recent years it has expanded well past the original. Alongside many new jacket styles, Members Only has added a women's line, plus footwear, sportswear, hosiery, and even a medical scrubs line.

The brand was licensed in 2016 by Sammy Catton, president of iApparel Brands, LLC. Ron Malhotra currently owns Members Only, steering the modern revival of a name first built in the 1970s.

Beyond the jacket itself, it became a marker of the era. Communication scholar Todd Kelshaw read the brand's surge as part of a 1980s shift toward materially-based, product-driven communities. The jacket became such cultural shorthand that political journalist Matt Bai once called a dated 1980s figure "the political version of a Members Only jacket."

It did. In the 1980s the brand shifted away from celebrity endorsements and toward public service announcements, running messaging on issues like anti-drugs and pro-voting. For a fashion label of the era, leaning into civic causes rather than star power was a genuinely distinctive move.

Let the jacket be the statement and keep everything else quiet. The slim racer sits beautifully over a plain tee or fine knit with straight or slim trousers, so the epaulettes and collar strap read as intentional rather than costume. A neutral color slips into a wardrobe easily; a bold one leans fully into the 1980s spirit if that's the point.

That's exactly what it was built for. It's a lightweight, layerable jacket rather than heavy cold-weather armor, which makes it a natural pick for transitional weather and city days. Think of it as a wardrobe character piece you reach for often, not a piece you reserve for special occasions.