A group of motorcyclists from Sydney has donated hundreds of leather jackets to the homeless community.

Motorcycle riders from across the country gave up their old jackets for the annual Winter Jacket Drive event, a partnership between Mission Australia and Australian Motorcycle News.

News editor at Australia Motorcycle News, Chris Dobie, said the jackets are well suited for people sleeping rough.

"Motorcycle jackets are great because they're made with one purpose in mind and that's to be protective and to keep you dry and warm," Mr Dobie told 702 ABC Sydney Breakfast presenter Robbie Buck.

"So if you're sleeping rough on a hard surface, the jackets have a lot of padding in them.

"It just makes wherever you might be sleeping for the night a little bit more comfortable."

Hard to part with treasured jackets

Last Friday some of the jackets were collected from a drop-off point at a motorcycle dealership in Ashfield, in Sydney's inner west.

"When we got to Ashfield there was a pallet full of jackets," Mr Dobie recalled.

"There would have been a couple of hundred [jackets] easily, and that's just the tip of the iceberg in what we've collected so far this year."

After collecting the jackets, a group of motorcyclists delivered them to those sleeping rough in inner Sydney.

"It was bucketing down when we arrived and we found a lot of the homeless people huddled under Woolloomooloo bridge, which is where they stay," Mr Dobie said.

"They were cold, [it was] windy and nasty conditions and they were very happy to see us."

Motorcycle jackets can be a hard item of clothing to part with because they are so close to the heart of the riders who wear them.

"They're treasured items and what we found is because people don't change them often; when they do, they find it hard to let go of their old ones," Mr Dobie said.

Even so, he said the generosity has been overwhelming.

"There were a lot of people with jackets in cupboards and in the back of garages," he said.

"We just explained to them, 'they're never really going to be used, you may use them once or twice, but if you donate them you could save a life'.

"That's certainly no stretch of the imagination."

The rest of the jackets were given out at the Sydney Homeless Connect event at Town Hall on Tuesday.