Alpinestars - 50 Years!

Since acquiring Alpinestars from his parents in 1993, Gabriele Mazzarolo has been the sole Owner and President of the brand. Twenty years later, as the historic motocross company celebrates 50 years in the business, Mazzarolo has taken a step back to reflect on what his family’s business has accomplished—but not long enough to lose sight of planning for the future.

“Of course it is an important milestone, but this is not something that I give a lot of thought to,” says Mazzarolo.  ”I am always looking at what we are doing next; it is not really in my nature to think about what we have done in the past. My people had to chase me down to get input or approvals for the anniversary parties that we had or for the 50th Anniversary book. I never had the time to look at those.”

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Italy, Alpinestars put itself on the map as an international company back in 1963. It was then that founder Sante Mazzarolo, Gabriele’s father, opened up shop in the small Northern Italy town of Asolo and began making the first products that would be named after the regions perennial Alpine star flower. Motocross was just gaining acceptance as a sport during the same time period, and Mazzarolo focused in on this trend, applying his talents as a leathersmith to create a new category of technical footwear, designed to meet the demands of the sport. The boots, which were adopted early on by motocross legend Roger Decoster, have gone on to be recognized for their iconic style.

According to the company’s heritage story, “Though Alpinestars has evolved over the years, the timeless rebel-style of motorcycle racing and the refined Italian aesthetic of the early sixties continue to drive the brand.” The private, family-owned business model also continues to drive the company, as well as Mazzarolo, who plays a key role in the day-to-day operations across the brand’s international offices.

We caught up with the world traveler to learn more about his take on the motocross industry, which city—if any—he calls home, and how he hopes to direct the brand into another successful 50 years in the business.

How has the company evolved since it was founded by your father in Italy back in 1963?

When my father Sante started his company, it was a small hiking and mountain boot factory. Soon after, Sante designed the first modern motocross boot and this was the first evolution in the company, followed by motorcycle road racing boots. All of these products were extremely innovative for the times and became rapidly world-renowned. In my teenage years through school, I started to participate in the company and due to my innate passion for anything with an engine, Alpinestars started to transform itself from a footwear manufacturer to a sports equipment company. For the past two decades, Alpinestars is definitely one of the most well-known brands in motorsports, worldwide.

What has remained unchanged about the brand?

The principle that everything is based around product innovation. When Sante made his first motocross boot, although everything at that time had laces closure and no protection, he designed a boot with buckles closure, steel shin protector and a smooth sole to slide on the ground and improve riding performances. All of these things were unknown at the time and made the product immediately sought-after. Today, our motorcycle racing leather suits incorporate sensors that can determine if a rider is crashing or not in 8 milliseconds, and fully inflate airbags before he or she touches the ground. Consequently the top racers in MotoGP are all with Alpinestars, and the same goes for Formula 1. The principle is the same: always forward innovation. Just the scale of operations and the technology is different.

Take a look at the Alpinestars international offices & showrooms here:

How do you personally divide your time between the LA, Tokyo, and Italy offices?

Already during college I was traveling extensively, whether for sales or production reasons, or to be at sports events on weekends. Still today I travel between Europe and US, Asia or South America really often, normally no more than 8 to 10 days in one continent.

Which culture do you prefer?

The culture that I loved work-wise, 25 years ago was the Far East’s: anyone that travelled there to build technical product at that time knows how hungry people were there to build something. Anything that in Italy would have taken 90 days to build – like a mold or a piece of equipment – it would have taken 60 days in California and between 7 to 10 days in Taiwan or Korea! It was cool to develop production there at that time.

As per culture of living, Alpinestars has always had a very international approach. For decades, we’ve spoken English at our main building in Italy and the feel inside of the building is very international. There is really no difference inside of Alpinestars’ offices in Italy, US or Asia. 

Do you call one of those places home?

L.A. and Asolo, Italy. 

What are some of the milestones for the company along the way that you are particularly proud of and why?

The first motocross boot in 1965, then the first item of technical apparel (motorcycle jacket) in 1995, then entering auto racing products in 2002 and casual apparel in 2004. In all of the technical activities, in the span of very few years, Alpinestars became the leading company, product-wise and sales-wise. Casual apparel is taking more time, but with the strength of our Product department and the visibility of the sports where we are the main brand, this is coming together now. 

Speaking to an action sports specific audience, which products have you seen evolve and be received with the most success at retail?

Although our brand is based around motorsports and action sports, a product category that has always done well for us has been boardshorts. This speaks for the product innovation focus that we always have in anything that we do.

How important is the core motocross retailer to your brand and what does Alpinestars do to support that community?

We have separate distribution in every country for our 4 main categories: moto, auto, cycling and casual apparel. The core retailers are the 100% focus of each dedicated category, so each one is extremely important to the Sales division that is dedicated to it. In the moto channel, we typically are the brand that attracts buyers into the stores. With our continual introduction of truly new products each season, and with the enthusiasm that we create because of the presence of the brand, we typically attract buyers into the stores that carry Alpinestars. This is what we do to support the moto retailer.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned since being at the helm of Alpinestars?

Since I was young I was always with top athletes. We grew up together and always got along great because their principles and ours were the same: what you get out of anything completely depends on what you put into it. I saw this work countless times for world champion athletes and this continues to be the principle behind Alpinestars.

What are some of the major challenges the motocross industry faces today?

The economic challenges are the same for everyone in the developed economies, but full of opportunities in the developing markets. Motocross and Street motorcycling have strong advantages though: Motocross is a great sport with a strong following: whoever tries it and does it enough to get the hang of it, loves it and is a rider for life. Road motorcycling is in a great position for a different reason: with congestion and parking issues worsening around the world at an obviously accelerating pace, motorcycling as practical, enjoyable and environment-friendly transportation continues to be more and more needed. Whoever starts riding and commuting on a motorcycle discovers a sense of freedom and pleasure that it is very hard to give up. Of course there is the issue of safety: this is our task to address. Our airbag technology – which has been on track since 2009 and will be on our road riding jackets in the first half of 2014 – is a big step forward in making motorcycling much safer and therefore more mainstream. Alpinestars is at the forefront of this technology.

The next step that will strongly benefit motorcycling soon is the coming generation of anti-collision technologies that are already implemented in some cars today and that will be mainstream soon: cars and motorcycles will communicate with each other to prevent collisions with each other. This will again increase the popularity of motorcycling.

What untapped opportunities exist within the market?

The worldwide audience for these sports— whether Formula 1, NASCAR, or MotoGP— is among the highest of any sports. Our brand presence and visibility in them is extremely high: in the latest studies we have, the Alpinestars logo was the most visible logo in MotoGP broadcasting (of any brand, including the main sponsors on the motorcycles) and in the top 10 in Formula 1, again out of any logo. Every other brand in that position are billion-dollar consumer brands like Vodafone, Red Bull, or Santander. Having that kind of brand visibility and credibility, through our technical position, puts us in a great position to sell casual apparel to a very large audience internationally. This is the opportunity that we created for Alpinestars.

What is your strategy for positioning the brand to move into the next 50 years? 

To continue to have the leadership in technical racing apparel through technology, which in turns gives very high visibility to the brand and supports the growth of casual apparel.