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Ten years ago
Roger D in 1976 as you’d guess
Funny part is that it was BY FAR the highest seller anytime we did it in all black. Makes no sense but not much does these days.
Welcome back, we definitely missed you… no, I think Astars, FXR, Fox, O’Neal, ONE are all doing great. Even Fasthouse, while it’s not vital’s demographic, does a good job for what their market is.
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While it’s not my thing, I think they do a great job at appealing to their market. They know what their market wants, and they achieve it. I can respect that. Fly is not doing this imo. The people defending it do so because of their involvement and support of the industry.
MX Guy, can you supply metrics to support this? Not trolling, would be interested if this is all just opinion or if there is anything concrete you can point to.
Trust me, there are things we have done in the past that I absolutely hate. That’s just a part of it. But to say that we aren’t reaching anyone is difficult to swallow when I look at sales numbers across the industry on a comparative basis.
You would think but it seems every time something new and different comes out whether it be gear or bikes there's always a negative thread about the change....
Genuine questions here:
+ How much are you closing out each year? Does your rep offer apparel swaps?
+ Do you have the ability to 'pre-line' the apparel with your best customers each year? Like having an in-house event where your customers can pre-book their apparel for the upcoming race season?
+ What marketing resources does Fly provide to you dealers and could pull-through be improved?
LOL, I actually like this line! Just goes to show it’s all about personal taste, so there is truly no pleasing everyone!
Personally I liked fly more when they were ugly and unique.
Case in point.
Funny enough I also think the gear with just the old ass fly logo someone said looks like it was drawn by a 6th grader looks better than the many iterations of "FLY" across the chest. I say embrace the ugly!
I loved the 86 Fox Honda gear in red/white/blue. It looked amazing with white Hi-Point SuperVictories.
Thinking for a moment, maybe Fly could (re)consider some sort of logo that could be iconic for the brand. Yes, I think of a fly from a humorous perspective as was posted above, but as a motorcyclist, I think I’d want something clean, core, and appealing, and that would look great on gear, casual, and hard parts.
I’d bet they’ve gone through this exercise before, but I’d like to see a cool logo on the gear besides some of the previous Fly logos. I think the new one is pretty good, though.
I currently have a couple sets of Thor, about five years old (or more). One set is the Prime, and the other is the vented. Both have a really clean look that I like, and also make minimal or no use if pastel colors.
I think that’s one of the best explanations of modern gear styles I’ve heard on here.
Like you said, we all know what the logos mean lol
To me, ONE does a great job of making gear thats not scared to be different. That’s why I wear it. It’s not the same old bs every year. There newest stuff looks sick but sadly the pants are out of stock for my size.
FOX LE and Alpinestars LE stuff is usually really cool imo as well.
Shift always broke barriers in design especially with LE stuff.
Thor is always trying new stuff imo, I appreciate them. Some of it hits, some of it is hideous.
This ‘05 stuff that Jesseman/Motoworld ran looked good
You should know better than anyone that apparel market share data doesn’t really exist in our industry. We all use lightspeed data as if it’s gospel but it’s certainly not. The vital survey is about as close as we can really get to consumer market feedback, and Fly has been on a downward trend the last few years. Maybe Fly sales are up, that’s great and I’m not mad about it. The problem is, this is the 2nd launch in a row that I’ve seen the comments trending negatively. Other brands don’t have this kind of reaction. Sometimes we have to look beyond the spreadsheets.
What Fly has done a great job at is being down to earth and relatable. We see the support for the media and the enthusiasm you put into everything you do. That alone might be enough to attract and maintain loyalty. This isn’t meant to bash you or Fly. I think the consensus is that the gear designs are what need help.
early 00's thor was prime.
I’m not a dealer at all, let alone a Fly dealer, so it’s not really my job to figure out. I’m plugged in enough to know what’s going on though, so I’ll play along.
I wouldn’t go into a prebook knowing I’m going to have to closeout 50% of my inventory, even if it’s getting rotated, that’s just terrible business decision making to me. I’d go with a different brand, one that people come looking for more often.
I’m not sure what level of impact 10 people pre ordering a couple sets of gear will have on a 12 month sell through window, but sure I guess? Could be worth a shot
I will say dealers are terrible at marketing. God awful. They need help in that area and that’s not even on Fly, that’s on themselves.
@jtmoney @MXguy What "customer testing" of Fly ideas happen? If you do not have 'real data' then possibly Fly can hire a bunch of Boise State students to do A/B testing on what customers like/dislike. Get some data to back your ideas instead of hunches. Might even save you money in the longterm.
Pit Row
I always thought this era was peak fly
Like I mentioned in my response to JT, the Vital consumer survey is telling. It’s not tied to what people have already spent. It’s what they _would_ spend their money on. Both are important to look at, one confirms bias and one gut checks it. Someone might only buy gear because they got a discount, it was on sale, etc., maybe they don’t care about the way it looks. There’s a ton of those people out there. If that’s who Fly wants to be, then by all means. That’s not the core MX rider, the core MX rider does care how it looks.
Started wearing fly around the time the formula helmet came out and mostly to support a brand that was supporting the sport/content creators. Always liked the gear around that time and like someone above said, the late Brayton era was sick
Haven't been a fan in recent years. They do some awesome limited edition and one off gear for special events but the normal stuff you can buy is very underwhelming now. I'm a football (soccer) fan and there's nothing worse than a kit with a huge sponsor logo and wording on it. Fly gear is making the same mistake in Moto with the "FLY" wording completely dominating most of their jerseys
We’ve been wearing fly for the last two years, myself and the kids. Was looking forward to getting some new gear for Christmas for us all but man… I think the 2027 stuff is really bad. I’ve always liked how simple and boring fly gear is, because I’m simply and boring myself. But the 2027 stuff doesn’t turn me on at all. Quality wise, I never had an issue. I hope their 2028 stuff comes around.
Giving credit when it is due: They (Fly) killed it IMHO with this gear.
I've definitely enjoyed my Fly Gear, last year and two years ago I enjoyed some of the lower end gear sets like F-16. I really liked combining gear sets. I typically ran a set of black patrol pants and red F-16 jersey.
Fly tends to make a lot of sick gear like the custom DeCoster Gear the Conens wore. Just a lot of it we can't buy. Black and yellow is great and I don't see why more brands don't go for it.
Are the sales numbers to the dealer, and is the product selling through or just sitting on the shelf?
Yea fair, they are rather 'safe' designs I'll give you that.
early 2000's fox and no fear was fantastic. but I was also a teenager then so I grew up looking at it in every magazine. I bet those same teens today will look back in 20 years and reminisce over gear of their youth.
Looks like a polygraph reading wrote FLY
This guy asks the real questions.
Unfortunate miss by fly. The problem is, the pro gear looks great with all the sublimated logos, name, number, etc. but once you strip that shit off it just looks 🫤
bland and minimalist or aren’t the same thing. These look great. In the simplest terms, the lower set is retro ‘inspired’ and the upper set uses SHIFTS modern design language to create an asymmetric design with a nice flow.
Minimalist does not have to be bland but it takes a designer to make it minimal and interesting
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