Introduction of style design and functionality of motorcycle clothing

Introduction of style design and functionality of motorcycle clothing 

The previous articles gave us the overall introduction of motorcycle clothing, product classification and fabric characteristics. Now with the expansion and deepening of professional motorcycle competitions, motorcycle riding is slowly spreading among the public.

At present, the motorcycle suits for professional events are customized for one certain group. The overall cost of these motorcycle suits is relatively high as they have high requirement for the protection. For motorcycle enthusiasts, it is still somewhat difficult to buy a professional, protective and cost-effective motorcycle suit. There are three ways to obtain it: by direct online shopping,through domestic agents of other foreign brands, or choosing new domestic brands of which the price is more reasonable.We’ll share more informaton about the style design and functionality of motorcycle suits in the following to help you choose the most suitable motorcycle suit. The specific points are as follows.

1. Problems in the design of motorcycle clothing

1.1 Details in the style design of motorcycle clothing

First of all, taking the domestic actual situation and motorcycle enthusiasts into consideration,we’ll find short-distance urban leisure motorcycle suits and long-distance adventure motorcycle suits are more popular.For the short-distance commuting and outings in the city, although motorcycle suits also have the functional protection of armors, more attention is paid to their casual appearance: basic rib pocket and functional air vents on the front and back ensure that the rider will be in harmony with the surrounding environment after reaching the destination to avoid increasing the burden of extra wear.

For long-distance adventure motorcycle suits, because of the changeable weather and even changes in the geographical environment during riding, they need more functions and protection to ensure the safety and comfort of riders. Now adventure motorcycle suits have added more design elements, which in turn interferes with practicality. For example the adventure clothing has multi-pocket design which at the first glance allows the rider to load more items and increases the inclusiveness of the clothes. However, in the actual high-speed riding, it is inconvenient for the rider who is wearing gloves to fetch things from pockets, which also increases the safety risk in the riding. Therefore, it is not recommended and some are not used. At the same time, in the event of collision, if the rider has hard keys and mobile phones in his pockets, it is easy to cause secondary injuries. In addition, we reccommend the rider not to carry hard objects and unnecessary items with him to reduce the burden as his upper body leans forward to reduce resistance when riding.

1.2 The size design of the motorcycle suit

Motorcycle riding is mainly concentrated in Europe and America, especially in European countries.Because of the advantage of the abundant domestic labor force, factories in China mainly provides OEM for various foreign brands of motorcycle suits.Domestic brands of motorcycle suis basically refer to the European pattern, because the overall safety and pattern of European brands are the most popular. But the difference in eating habits between Europe and Asia has led to the different body shape between Europeans and Asians. Genrally speaking, Europeans are tall and muscular,meanwhile Asians are flat and lack muscles.As a result,the bust measurement,body length and sleeve length of Eurpean mtorcycle suits are not suitable for domestic sizes, which affects the wearing experience of consumers. As motorcycle clothing has high requirements for its protective functions,ill fitting clothing has hidden safety hazards. Therefore, it is difficult for domestic cycling enthusiasts to buy very suitable motorcycle clothing. Even the domestic private-brand version is not uniform, and there is still much room for improvement.

1.3 The creativity of motorcycle suit design

The functional features of motorcycle suits have caused similarity in the design of different motorcycle suits and have also led to the similarity in the details of each brand. In addition, domestic brands of motorcycle clothing basically imitates foreign brands and rarely has the creativity of its own brand which leads to sluggish consumer’s market as consumers often dress the same motorcycle clothing, lack the sense of belonging and the feeling of "this is the design I want". In contrast, big brands will have their own design elements and concepts, allowing consumers to follow the brand and have a high degree of adhesion.

1.4 Protective function of motorcycle suit

As for the protection of motorcycle clothing, protective armors are the most critical part. Especially for motorcycle enthusiasts, there are a lot of differences in the comfort of different armors. There are many types of protective armors: shoulders, elbows, back, chest, hip and knee protectors. Armors are especially important for the protection of elbows and knees as they will hit the ground first when a collision occurs. Previously, the size of the protective armors was too long to provide good protection because long armors tend to slide in the collision which are prone to cause bone fractures of the rider’s. After receiving market feedback, protective armors become relatively short and wider which can better wrap the joints after a collision and improve rider’s safety greatly.

2. Functional design of motorcycle clothing

Only when you realize above-mentioned problems in the design and use of motorcycle clothing , can you slove them in the actual design and production process. Here is the structure, fabric and color matching of the cruising motorcycle suit. We’re going to share our experience about the structure, material and color match of adventure motorcycle jackets.

2.1 Structre of adventure motorcycle clothing

This adventure motorcycle jacket has three layers: outer shell which is made of nylon, one removable warm down padded liner and one removable waterproof liner.

2.1.1 Air vents on the front and back

This design ensures that the rider can adjust air vents on the front and back in the hot environment which can take away a part of the heat and make the rider feel comfortable. Especially the front chest ventilation design consists of large area ventilation, multiple designs of zipper, velcro and magnet buckle by which riders can adjust the size of the ventilating fabric by himself. The design of the magnet buckle makes the ventilation fixed in the front center instead of hiding it inside the outer shell of motorcycle suit, making the rider feel more comfortable

2.1.2 The design of streach inserts on elbow

In  the motorcycling,the upper body of rider usually lean forward and his arms maitain a curvature of 110-140 degree which requires us to use multiple patches to create curves in the design of sleeve, making the sleeve more fit with arm. The stretchability of streach inserts also avoids the elbow movement causeby stacking of fabric,which can improves rider’s safety.

2.1.3 Hook&loop adjustor on elbow

This design ensures that the rider can adjust and fix the position of the protective armors to get personal fit, thereby improving riding safety.

The front and back waterproof lower pockets have a concise and clear design. They are used for the convenient storage of gloves and raincoats and other non-hard items. At the same time, the eyelets at the bottom also drains away water timely to keep the items dry inside the pockets in case the water leaks into the pockets.

2.2 Selection of fabric

The use of fabric determines the positioning of the product and also affects the protection of motorcycle clothing. Motorcycle suits desigined for professional events are all made of leather, as leather has good flexibility and fit the body well, which can better protect the body. Taking into account the acceptability and practicability of the consumer group, our final choice is PU coated nylon fabric with good windproof, waterproof, breathable and high wear resistant performance. The main fabric of outer shell is nylon and the gray fabric of the shoulder and elbow is wear-resistant which improves the friction resistance of the fabric in riding collision and ensures the safety of the rider.

In order to ensure the waterproof and breathable function of the motorcycle cltohing, the lining is laminated with membrane. There are two types of membranes:non-porous and microporous. The typical microporous membrane is PTFE membrane. The pores of the membrane are 20,000 times smaller than water droplets. Even the smallest water droplets cannot pass through the membrane. The waterproof function is achieved in this way; Meanwhile, the membrane’s pore size is more than 700 times bigger than the vapor molecules, so the moisture can easily pass through membrane to maintain breathability; in addition, the sequence of the microporous membrane is irregular and the outside wind cannot pass through the complex channels in the membrane. The wind will scatter on the surface of the membrane instead. It protects the human body from wind and keep the body warm in this way. The technology of the microporous membrane is relatively complicated and the cost will be high. In addition to the microporous membrane, there is non-porous TPU membrane whose full name is thermoplastic polyurethane.It is one kind of non-porous hydrophilic membrane. Because it has no pores, it has excellent windproof and waterproof performance. The moisture permeability is mainly achieved by hydrophilic characteristics of the TPU membrane. There is a certain difference in steam pressure between the inside and outside of the motorcycle clothing. The steam can be transferred from the high pressure place, that is, the inside of the motorcycle clothing through the pressure difference to the outside of the motorcycle clothing where has low pressure to achieve breathability.

This adventure motorcycle jacket uses a new type of TPU non-porous hydrophilic moisture-permeable membrane to improve the waterproof function of the fabric and make its waterproof

index reaches 5000MM, regardless of whether it is rain or snow. In addition, the membrane also has an impenetrable windproof layer, which is comfortable and breathable to bring the comfort of riding.

The unit of the waterproof index is millimeter water column pressure, which is mainly measured by the water penetration through the fabric under a certain water column pressure. The ordinary measuring standard is  no more than 3 drops within 24 hours. If the pressure of 5000mm water column is applied to the fabric against this standard, the waterproof index of the fabric is 5000mm

In order to adapt to different climatic conditions, a detachable thermal insulation liner filled with down is designed for motorcycle protective clothing, which is light,breathable and warm. The reasons for using down filling are: the down has a good thermal insulation and the second is that it can effectively reduce the thickness, making the motorcycle clothing more portable. The thermal liner is zippered with the outerwear and can be worn alone when you are not riding a motorcycle.

2.3 Color Design

As a major element of in the design of motorcycle protective clothing , color design enhances the overall image of motorcyclists. In order to show the speed and passion of motorcycle sports along with the spirit of pursuing freedom and challenge by motorcyclists, the color design of the motorcycle clothing adopts contrast color threatment. It mainly uses black and light gray as a collocation, while the red color on the arm is the finishing touch to echo the entire print design which bring aways the dull. The stitching at the front and rear waists is transitioned by the transfer printing reflective strips, which increases the safety of night riding.

2.4 Selection of protective armors

Well-wrapped armors are used for shoulders and elbow.Besides, the armor pockets also follow the shape of the armors so that the armors will not move during riding. At the same time, we choose back protector which is made of slow rebound material-it will return to its original state after the impact and will not deform. The most important thing is that it is softer and fits the back better, which can prevent the spine from extending itself too much in the wrong direction to cause dislocation or fracture of the spine in the event of an accident.

Through the above analysis, we can have a better understanding of the design concept and functionality of motorcycle suits. Therefore, we’ll gain insight in the design of the motorcycle suit in the later period. We’ll always keep the original intention of the motorcycle suit in mind and improve the current problems by taking the practicality,consumer’s comfort and feedback into consideration. It’s the consumer’s feedback that helps us better understand motorcycle clothing.

The most important feature of motorcycle clothing is  its functionality,which should be always born in mind in the R&D or improvement of motorcycle suit. Keep this main line unchanged and then combine with market feedback and the fashion trends of various brands, you can choose the most suitable motorcycle clothing and bring its functionality into full play.

After reading the above, if you have a rough idea about developing your own brand of motorcycle clothing in the market, or if you have detailed design of motorcycle clothing, but couldn’t bring the design into samples or if you have the market, but don’t have the style&design of motorcycle clothing, or other situations, you can contact us at any time since we have a professional R&D department and a team of skillfull pattern makers to bring the drawing into samples. For further information, please contact jane.zhang@bowins.net.