Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/410969
FOCUS PSB Helmet & Apparel www.PowersportsBusiness.com Powersports Business • November 3, 2014• 19 Sports, also owns its own factories, making the transition from design to production seamless. "We've got factories that build it, so it's not like I'm going to some handbag factory and say- ing, 'Can you guys make something like this?'" Wilkinson said. "The guy that owns Kido, he's pretty awesome. He loves challenges. He doesn't like to hear the word no. He makes you be competitive. He makes you try new things all the time." The company-owned factory gives Wilkin- son's team more flexibility, a key characteristic that attracted him to the job. "What I really love is the overall quality. We have access to pretty much any material that is commercially available, and we have some really great designers that make some good stuff," he said. Oftentimes second samples from the fac- tory are ready to wear for testers who will spend four to six months putting the gear through its paces. SCORPION'S CUSTOMERS Easy access to the factory allows Scorpion to quickly react to customer needs, and it allows the company to have complete con- trol over quality. "That's all we do here; we find out what the consumer needs are, and we make it for them," Wilkinson said. The brand has attracted a wide range of customers, from riders who are looking for their first high-quality set of gear to those who are ready to take on a long-distance adventure-riding trip. "We do a lot of touring; we do a lot of commuting; we do speed touring, and we do adventure or dual sport. We're not a Supercross brand. … We're not dragster racers. We're sort of everything in between there," Wilkinson explained. "Technology, price, quality — we're right in the middle of that, too." His team's goal is to always produce gear that will protect the rider in the case of a crash, while doing so at price that offers value for the money. "If we're going to build a premium prod- uct, it's going to be a premium product that comes with all the features, and they'll be amazed at the price point," Wilkinson said. Though the 2015 line is already designed and ready for the January release, Wilkinson hasn't slowed down. His team is two months into its 2016 designs, and work on 2017 was expected to begin in mid-October. "We've got four or five categories, and every year we focus on one of those cat- egories and bring it up to speed, make it new again," he said. "You can be assured it's going to be functional apparel; we're not going to make fashionable but not functional apparel." PSB SCORPION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 SpeedMob unveils 2015 Airoh lineup After a successful five month start-up with premium brands like Airoh Hel- mets, Arrow Exhaust, BMC Air Filters, Bridge- stone Race Tires, TechSpec and Dion Device, SpeedMob is looking to expand its prod- uct offerings to better service U.S. and Cana- dian dealers. During AIMExpo, SpeedMob intro- duced the range of 2015 Airoh Aviator 2.1 helmets along with eight new brands it will distribute in the powersports market. "We have been working hard since we launched the company in May of this year," SpeedMob CEO Tim Calhoun said. "Because we specialize in selling premium brands, we wanted to establish SpeedMob as a company that is easy to do business with and offers a premium buying and aftersale experience for both dealers and consumers." Purchasing manager Victoria Hill said: "We have been seeking out unique prod- ucts we feel offer exceptional value and also help fill in our product offerings in the off- road, sport, adventure and cruiser sectors. We are also adding some brands that span every sector in powersports. Some of these brands are strong Italian brands that have struggled to find the right distribution part- ner here in the U.S., and others are great emerging domestic brands just waiting to be discovered by powersports consumers." SCHUBERTH SR1 NOW IN BLACK/WHITE Schuberth North America announced it is expanding its helmet offerings by adding a new colorway for its flagship SR1 helmet, a gloss white shell with stylistic blacked- out chin vents, top vents and spoiler. The included clear visor is easily interchange- able with a dark smoke accessory visor for an even more dramatic blacked-out look. Schuberth's SR1 sport racing helmet was engineered to be the ultimate motor- cycle racing helmet. The shell design was created in Schuberth's aeroacoustic wind DIGEST stone Race Tires, SpeedMob introduced the 2015 Airoh helmet designs at AIMExpo, including the 222 Replica. See Digest, Page 21