A story we have been chasing for some time now, Lino Dainese has finally found a buyer for his namesake company, Dainese. The purchaser is the aptly named private equity firm Investcorp, which is headquartered in Bahrain, and has additional offices in New York, London, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi.
Buying 80% of the company’s stock for a reported €130 million, Investcorp’s valuation of Dainese would therefore be set at €162.5 million. The other 20% of the company is retained by Lino Dainese, himself.
A lot of things will change in the future. Cars will drive themselves. Motorcyclists won’t wear helmets (as we know them), and your leather jacket will be grown in a vat…at least, that’s what a new company named Modern Meadow hopes. Having just received $10 million in Series A funding, the New York-based company hopes to change the way we interact with our beloved bovines.
Getting its roots from the bio-technology sector’s research into “bioprinting” organs in a petri dish, Modern Meadow is looking for consumer-level applications to this still young technology, which right now focus on creating grown-in-the-laboratory beef and leather.
Obviously the FDA has a few things to say about creating food products from bioprinting, so Modern Meadow’s first foray will be into creating real leather with stem cells.
With the Ducati Multistrada D-Air, the Italian brand is laying claim to the first production motorcycle with a wirelessly integrated airbag jacket system.
Something that was announced at last year’s EICMA show by BMW Motorrad, the Italians have seemingly beaten the Germans to market, though the real announcement here is the OEM integration that Dainese is building with its D-Air suits and jackets with various manufacturers.
The Ducati system, like the BMW version, includes an integrated set of electronics built into the motorcycle’s existing electronics package. This allows the Dainese D-Air system to constantly know the motorcycle’s vehicle dynamics, and use those telemetry figures to determine if/when an airbag needs to be deployed during a crash.
Speaking to the VeneziePost (subscription required in order to read the article), Dainese Founder Lino Dainese has confirmed the news we broke last month about the Italian apparel manufacturer being in talks for investment, or possible acquisition.
According to the report, Dainese says the company came close to inking a deal with an unnamed private equity group, but terminated the talks because the parties could not come to terms with their agreement.
Polaris Industries continues to be the 800 lbs gorilla of corporate M&A in the motorcycle industry, and the American firm reinforced that fact today after it announced the acquisition of KLIM Technical Riding Gear. Known for its superb snow and off-road gear, KLIM is a strong apparel brand that matches up well with the core Polaris’s core business of ATVs and snowmobiles. While terms of the acquisition are not being discussed, KLIM is expected to clear $30 million in revenue in 2012.
In its statement, Polaris says that it will operate the KLIM brand in conjunction with the other existing Polaris apparel brands. Additionally, KLIM will continue operations at its Rigby location, and will retain the company’s current staff members. Planning to invest further in KLIM’s infrastructure, Polaris intends to establish the Rigby facility as its “new apparel Center of Excellence,” thus centralizing the company’s apparel manufacturing efforts.
Valentino Rossi fans will be happy to hear that the G.O.A.T.’s personal brand of apparel has finally come to the United States (it took him a while, ehh?), and is now available from a variety of motorcycle shops, and online on eBay with Grip Moto. At $35 for the above shown shirt, the VR|46 brand wear is not cheap, though we imagine that if you’re infatuated with Rossi as much as many of his fans are, you won’t really be looking at the price tag.
Where does Crescent Suzuki’s Jon Kirkham go when he needs custom racing leathers made for his British Superbike Championship bid? Why Alpinestars of course. Testing in Spain before the 2011 season began, Kirkham stopped by the Alpinestars HQ in Italy to get fitted for his new racing suit, and the Crescent Suzuki team brought along its cameras to share the experience with everyone else.
You don’t have to follow the BSB series to appreciate the time and effort that goes into making a custom leather suit, and getting an inside look at one of the top brand’s operation is certainly enlightening. The process is more involved than just taking a stock suit and putting logos on it. Instead each piece is custom cut to the rider’s measurements, and hand sewn to make a completely unique garment for Kirkham.
Perhaps more impressive is the fact that if he bins it during practice or a race, a new custom suit can be made from scratch in just eight hours. Check the video out after the jump.
Asphalt & Rubber has just gotten word that Shift Racing is about to announce its exit out of the street side of its apparel business, instead focusing its efforts on its dirt line in the future. Founded in 1997, Shift has been making gear for street riders for five years now, and is the edgier apparel division of parent company Fox Head Inc.
According to Shift, “Fox has decided to focus its efforts on the core product lines of the world’s premier MX Racewear and Protective equipment.” We expect a full announcement shortly, but it looks like the diminished motorcycle market has claimed another victim.
Source: Shift Racing
Motorcycle safety technology has clearly entered a new phase of development with airbag systems being pursued by a variety of apparel manufacturers. The latest company to enhance it’s riding suits with the technology is Alpinestars, purveyor of fine jackets, gloves, boots, etc. Alpinestars’ airbag system, dubbed the Tech Air Race, the system easily integrates into what the company calls the Electronic Airbag Protection Suit. The two components combined create a leather racing suit that can calculate in eight milliseconds whether a rider is crashing, and if so, deploy a pair of airbags that protects the rider’s body.
Australian Harley-Davidson dealer, Rocky Harley-Davidson, recently released some new videos on the internet to help promote their bar & shield apparel. After all, one can’t merely ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, you have to have the appropriate clothing to fit your motorcycle lifestyle. The following is a loose interpretation of what the script looked like for one of those videos.
In our first scene, we see the protagonist dismount his thundering stead, with his Harley-Davidson shirt blazing like a forest fire. Confidently he walks by a bevy of women. Blonde, brunette, red head, it doesn’t matter…they are all powerless to resist the swagger and sex appeal that oozes from his cotton threads. These women are like deer in the headlights, waiting to be hit by his freight train of masculinity. This man, nay…God..walks down the street with his sunglasses firmly on at all times, keeping his gaze under control lest he fire laser from them at his next female victim, just like Cyclops from X-Men. Why? Because he’s seriously dangerous. Check the real thing after the jump, and yes…even a bonus video for the ladies.