ICON protective clothing company set to hit the UK with their distinctive street style

ICON launched in the USA and received a great response from the motorcycle community for their street riding, purpose built protective clothing. Now they’re set to hit the UK, we caught up with ICON to find out more…

Describe Icon, how are you different to anyone else?
Our attitude is really what sets us apart from the rest of the industry. We take pride in the fact that we show and live the moto-cyntric life that is Icon. From the gear to the bikes it’s all done under one roof at the Icon HQ in Portland, OR. No ad agencies and hiring the latest custom bike builder on the scene. It’s all us.

I understand your clothing is more protective than racing leathers in a low speed collision, but what about wearing your clothing on the motorway (freeway)? Can they handle high speed slides?
We’ve built our gear for the ‘real world’ riding experience which, unfortunately, does include the nasty reality of crashing. I can say from personal experience that our gear can most certainly handle a trip across the asphalt, track or street, at a high rate of speed.

How do you test your products?
Other than throwing ourselves down on the local backroads we have a variety of test that our gear must adhere to. Most commonly know as ‘CE certification’ even product bound for the states is subjected to the riggers of the independent CE test houses. Our factories also have in house testing equipment so we can experiment with new materials and construction techniques before sending them off for final certification. In addition to that every night on the commute home you’ll find someone from Icon riding in some unreleased gear in development.

What new parts have you got coming out?
The 2012 Spring collection, set to release in February, is full of surprises for the Icon faithful and should turn some heads outside of the motorcycle industry. We’ve been working on some special pieces for quite awhile now and are very excited to see peoples reaction to them.

What kind of response have you had in the states so far?
The fans and supporters of the Icon brand are diehard. We have a great connection with them through our own blog/social network site LIMITER (www.iconmotosports.net). The crew in the office have first name basis relationships with the riders out on the streets representing Icon. It’s something that can’t be faked and other brands would love to have. On the flip side you have a age old industry that we turned upside down when we hit the scene. That obviously is going to bring out the haters. But we all know how that is right? If you don’t upset someone you’re doing it wrong.

We love your initial campaign for the women’s clothing with the suggestive embrace, anything similar coming up?
Definitely. We realized a long time ago that women riders and passengers don’t want to wear some old hand me down men’s jacket and helmet. They want something that looks as good as it protects and is cut for a woman. That’s some free advise for you guys out there looking to buy something for your lady who rides with you. 😉

Your brand seems to have a lot of energy to it, how do you keep it up?
We’re stoked to come to work everyday. Our fearless leader Kurt Walter has built us a fun and challenging place to work everyday. No one want’s to let him down and we all strive constantly ‘one-up’ ourselves everyday. If you don’t have that kind of attitude people will pick up on it and then you’re finished.

What’s the most exciting thing we should expect you to bring to the UK?
Icon in all it’s brash glory. There’s a group of motorcyclist in the UK that are right in line with who we are. Rat’s, Fighters, Wonky Chops….. you know who you are. Ride Among Us!