Icon is best-known for their street gear, with a price-friendly lineup that has proved to be a strong competitor for beginning and casual riders’ dollars. Now, they’re planning to branch out into a more technical market, with the Raiden lineup of adventure riding gear
The idea behind the Raiden line is similar to the company’s Icon 1000 line, says their marketeer Joe Gustafson.
“We’ve always had waterproof gear, but people see “ICON” and they may not explore the line to find it,” he said by email. “Raiden gives us a chance to further explore and specialize gear offerings outside the mainstream ICON customer base. More than anything it’s about destroying pre-conceived notions of the ICON brand. The Raiden customer is bolder and younger than the general ADV customer. ”
There will be female-specific gear in the new Raiden lineup, he said, and like the Icon 1000 line of gear, the company will have theme bikes built that tie in to the lineup. However, the Icon 1000 line was aimed squarely at custom bike builders, while the Raiden line will aimed at real-world performance.
“It will be more about where you’r going than what you’re riding,” Gustafson said.
He also dropped some hints on features we can expect.
“The strategy of the jackets is more dynamic, lighter, and more athletic than current ADV gear,” Gustafson said. “That means more flexibility, different silhouettes, and most importantly, no hung liners.” In other words, no zip-in waterproof layers.
The new gear should be available in early 2015; of course, Icon has been using the Raiden name as branding for a while, as this for-fun video clip from 2012 shows.
