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12/17/2014
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Miami, FL
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Hey guys.
anyone with industry knowledge to know, around what time of the year gear companies release new collections?
Fox, FXR, for example.
thanks.
Some through year but alot right at or before Lorettas.
Just use canvas and build your own one off each year.
I just got info on the release date from Thor. August 5th is when it will be public. In the recent past they have had gear shipping out to dealers on the day of the release. And I have had the new stuff as soon as the day after the release. Its still a ways out.
I've heard that they are making some big changes to some of the lines. New chassis as they call it . I've seen some renderings and I'm looking forward to seeing the real stuff.
Astars has their gear online for anyone curious.
https://www.alpinestars.com/collections/mx?page=4&view=products
Could be the worst Thor drop in 30 years. Embarrassing.
Hard for me to believe this is the same company that made this stuff. Just not even close
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The short answer is, the guy who has been responsible for the brand retired and there is a new guy. And from what I have heard, they took a more democratic way of picking the colorways they are selling this year. While in the past it was mostly a single persons decision as to what was put out. For this years stuff they took votes for the colorways from the people who sell it. So this line represents the people who are the brand more than a lot of past lineups. I was told about some colorways that they did not end up producing because when they went up for a vote, those colors did not get a single vote. They said that they did not think that they should go out and sell stuff that they did not believe in themselves. They wanted to people selling the gear to be excited about it and be invested in it doing well. I feel like this could be a good thing.
I thought it was a solid start. They always have multiple additions to the lines throughout the year. They will have a new line to replace the Sector line too around spring.
I was thinking about other brands having a larger line of colors and designs. But counted the stuff from Thor. The Fly and Alpinestars 25 lines as well as Leatt. And they are all right around the same number of colorways.
In my opinion , the new mid line that replaced Pulse. Is the biggest improved area of the lineup. They changed up the pant drastically and addressed the only complaints I've had from customers. Waist is a bit higher and they added some room to the thighs and crotch . I had a rep in the shop about a month or 2 ago that brough in samples of all of the new gear. The material the Launch mode pants are made of is more stretchy than the old Pulse stuff. Not on the level of the Prime or new Sportmode that replaced Prime. But its more of a true in between pant. The fabric felt almost like a high end work pant. Stretch and slightly softer feeling than past Pulse pants While they may have played it safe design wise, I have had GREAT feedback from the people who buy gear from me.
The Launchmode ( It is SPORTMODE not Launchmode ) that replaces Prime , is also a totally new chassis. They added stretch material to the seat area of the pant. The white with black and orange set of gear is a stand alone set that uses a mix of different materials than the other Launchmode ( Sportmode Edited after making a mistake in the names). The Pant has some material used on it that is not used in the other colorways. It is the same material used in Alpinestars Supertech gear. They got rid of the velcro adjusters on the sides . Not sure what I think about that. But they said that they have had racers wearing it for a while already( as of a couple months ago they said that some of the top guys had already been in them for 6 months or so. And overall they like them better than the pant it replaces.
Thanks to the poster that noticed my brain fart on the new model names and corrected me. I cam back to edit them after . But did not want to make his post not make sense . SO I edited in the way I did .
The designs feel kind of safe in my opinion. Similar to other years or brands well selling stuff. In my short few years of selling Thor, I believe that they have fewer colorways that will be unpopular sellers. That is going off of what I have sold to real customers. Not just what I like or dislike.
Overall I really like what they did and like what I have heard from the new guy that is the brand manager . I feel like its better than the 24 line as far as design and colors. There is also a REALLY good chance that some of the LE designs you have seen or will see on some top racers might just show up for sale at some point too. I heard they are trying to do a hand full of LE kits this year. As long as the dealers support it by buying it. From what I understand it would be a pre order only for dealers. If a dealer dosn't pre order it, they will not be able to buy any later on. And if it did not get enough orders it might not happen. I don't know if that is just an idea that is being kicked around or how firm they are that it will happen. In my opinion, You may get some more wild or edgy designs that show up as LE releases. But we will find out in the coming months and years.
Well that didn't take long 😆 The funny part is, we brought a designer back from that era to bring about our newest collection. Aside from that, if we kept living in the past, we'd still be making goatskin pants under the Hallman name. Progression is the name of the game!
Thanks for the kind words, we really do take it to heart. You are spot on, there have been some adjustments to the way we do things around here and the point that I like to emphasize to anyone is that we are all enthusiasts in this building - everyone here either twists the throttle or cranks pedals (most of us do both), we all embody this lifestyle in the most authentic way possible and feedback (positive and negative) is shared amongst us all, day in and day out.
BTW - Sector replacement will actually be dropping August 2025 👍 and it's actually SPORTMODE replacing the Prime. Believe me, it's taken us all a bit of time to commit all the new names to memory too, haha.
I feel Thor has completely left their legacy and roots in the dust. Always seems like their is a huge rebrand every 7-8 years. New logos, new names, etc.
If you think it's taken a long time to memorize the names; imagine your customers. Good luck in 2025 and beyond. Hopefully you customers can understand the brand more. I think companies are still trying to catch up to how Fox does things with their different levels: 180, 360, Airline, Legion, etc.
Fox has their own issues with their names but it's really easy to differentiate the different levels of their gear.
Now if we can just get companies to stop create custom gear designs that would be great. Do limited runs and choose several levels throughout the year.
I saw renderings and than the gear in person before I saw photos of it. And the thing that stuck out most , were the materials. The pants in the Launch mode line feel so much different than the Pulse. In a good way. The added venting to the regular lines of gear , with almost a filter fabric to keep sand from coming in of some of the stuff. All of the 25 stuff has a higher end feel to it in my opinion. Yes I sell it. But if You look back You will see that I posted I was disappointed with the 24 line.
This lineup is much much more than colors and patterns. There are a lot of material changes. Of course its still all mostly polyester. But the feel and weave of the fabric is different in a good way. I only had the gear in my hands while the rep was here, maybe an hour or 2. But I am very familiar with the previous gear and the areas that were complained about have been addressed. While there are changes to the Sport mode pant ( new Name for Prime). I feel like the Launch mode ( new name for the midline that was Pulse, also all new Chassis) pant will be the most improved of the 2. When customers tried on the Pulse pant in the past. They sometimes ended up going with either a Sector or Prime instead. The thigh and crotch area being tight. The new pant is supposed to fix that. And by the looks of it. Comparing it to the 23 and 24 pants I had on the rack, I think that it really should help fix the pant for the people who had issues.
Overall I would say go take a look at the gear in person when You get a chance. I am looking forward to getting some in and getting feedback as far as fit
Another quick note, the colors look to be pretty accurate to what to expect in real life. Often You will see gear and you can tell that the color will be different when You get it. Sometimes You get a Dark Navy blue expecting black. But they did a great job of accurately representing the color, as long as the gear I saw was what the production colors end up.
Without giving too much of our roadmap away...your comments regarding custom designs is duly noted 😉
Agreed, Fox's naming convention has been consistent for a long time and resonates well with dealers and consumers. What we are moving toward starting with this collection launch is a bit of consolidation throughout the catalog - fewer model names and better defining categories to make decisions easier for our consumers.
You're not kidding about the LAUNCHMODE pant, night and day from it's Pulse predecessor. We were thinking outside of the box with that final generation of Pulse, which started off based on anatomical sketches of the human body and how we could attempt a more specific fit. What we ended up with was a pant that was love / hate for everyone - nothing in between. Even at the pro level, we had riders that thought it was the best pant ever and riders who refused to ever wear it, in favor of Prime. To say that we put a ton of development effort into LAUNCHMODE would be an understatement.
That's fair. I will tell you honestly that, aside from Fast Boys, our throwback kits aren't as commercially successful as our leading-edge design work. All these people claiming that the THOR full mask is the best logo ever made just don't seem to put their money where their mouth is. I was born and raised here in SD and THOR has been my hometown brand since I started riding in Hallman (which we still make a bit of), so I am a fan of the throwbacks and original styling, it just doesn't seem to resonate.
Thanks for correcting me on that.
Of all the things changed. That is one I feel like it makes it harder to know what the top of the line gear is. To me, Sportmode and Launchmode do not really set themselves apart as well as Prime and Pulse did. But I could just be getting old. I'll get used to the new names. I do think that it helps let people know that there were changes made to the gear and it was not just new colors.
I figured the timeline on future stuff may be adjusted depending on how much of the current stuff was still around and other things. I thought that Paul had said it would be spring ish for the sector replacement. But maybe that was something else. Overall I am very excited to be a dealer for Thor. And I'm excited to see what my customers think of the gear when they see and feel it in person. I've had customers that get very good pricing on FXR change over to Thor because of how well the Prime stuff fits and allows them to move around. And the way You guys made a few Jerseys that can cross over from the Launchmode should help get some of the people that do not like the look of the tighter fitting jersey into the higher end pant.
Its funny I thought I would sell more of the Pulse line when I first started to sell Thor. But slowly I've ended up selling more of the Prime. It makes sense though since I sell more tech 10's than tech 7's. And I've always focused more on higher end stuff.
I am happy to hear that You guys are open to all types of feedback. As I learn more about Thor and Parts Unlimited. I see that they are seemingly much more the family, the people who live and breath powersports more so than other brands that publicly claim too be . I sell a decent amount of gear for being a small shop. But I know I am a smaller shop as far as yearly #'s go overall. And I have been treated VERY well by my Rep and everybody at Parts Unlimited.
As a designer, I like the new logo. Whenever I put the mask version on a rear fender or something that was otherwise symmetrical, it never fit well. The new Logo will be easier to work into designs , and I think it will be successful long-term.
The new logo almost looks like the eyes of the mask logo. I can see that they drew inspiration from the Mask, and maybe some of the technical art studies . It has elements that studies have proven to be popular and or part of popular works of art over history.
When does fox 25 drop? Only gear I’ve seen that interests me so far as a 36YO vet are a couple of the a stars sets. Maybe I’m out of touch, I do wear new balances.
I like the designs this year (could use more colors IMO). Think we have been spoiled in the early 00's with all gear brands and colors. Im getting the sportmode strike in navy.
It was surprising on our end as well - over these past two years, we had seen increasing demand for Prime over Pulse, a healthy indication when assessing our rank in the market, it feels good knowing that fans of the brand will spend for the best products.
Too funny, before I even considered coming to work here (7.5 years ago), I asked when the IPO was going to happen and tank the company, then I was given the full history of ownership via LeMans corp and the Fox family. Having been through public company sell-offs previously, I am thankful for the solid, familial ownership of this organization.
Pit Row
Thanks for the support! Don't forget, if you size between 28-34, you will have options for odd sizes as well.
I'm usually a 33, so that helps a lot. How soon do bigger online vendors get the gear?
Please run fast boyz again in sportmode. Pretty please.
Same here, I ran 34” my whole adult life and it turns out that I am a perfect 33”. Logistics put us a couple weeks behind, should all be available within these next 2-3 weeks.
Stop living in the past, Spooner! 😂 We sold it so fast I never even got a set.
That new Thor stuff looks good, might have to try some 33 pants, got a 32 waist but big thighs.
Im just glad I dont have to see that damn Hawaiian theme stuff anymore, they had everyone in that gear, not pretending what I like is what everyone likes but that wasnt my cup of tea.
Yeah that Aloha kit is pretty kitschy for sure. We actually collabed that one with Webb, as he grew up a surfer so it had a connection there. But yeah, definitely not for everyone, haha.
I don't think he talks about the design itself, but about how powerful/meaningful those designs were back in the day. It seems like Thor is no longer that. I just can't stand how you don't build anything around Prado or Deegan. Alpinestars is the best at this, releasing the new Deegan helmet.
About the new line, I like the concept of pants being different colors than the jerseys. I think it's a refreshing thing. Hopefully, we get to see more custom kits for Thor's top athletes.
About Sidi boots, anyone knows when they release new colorways for the Crossfire 3 srs?
Deegan had a few custom kits this year FYI.
Yes I know. The brown one from last year (I think) was cool. The yellow one from Cooper Webb was sick too.
Prado too and thankfully he won a SX heat race in it! But it's true, for all of the trick custom stuff that we've done, we've historically been terrible about releasing to the market. Change is in the air, gents.
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