Inside Alpinestars HQ
Inside Alpinestars
WORDS & PHOTOS Matt Wragg
Follow racing and chances are that you know about Alpinestars. Whether you follow World Cup downhill, Formula One, MotoGP, Supercross or a motocross series, Alpinestars are there. The company was founded 50 years ago in Asolo, North-Eastern Italy, when Sante Mazzarolo began making shoes for the mountains near his house. Soon his attention turned to the emerging sport of motocross. From there the company flourished and grew and today, operations are split between Italy and California. Alpinestars are involved in nearly every type of racing you can imagine, and are one of the world's leading performance motorsport apparel and protection companies.
We were invited to their headquarters in Asolo to take a look at their 2014 mountain bike range, but here at Pinkbike most of us are big racing fans and we felt it would be a crying shame not take a closer look at a company who are involved in so many things that we get excited about...
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 From humble origins... Alpinestars' Italian headquarters is still the same unassuming building where the company was founded in 1963, on the edge of the small town of Asolo in North-Eastern Italy. Once you step inside the 50 year old building, it looks anything but antiquated: clean and white, with their mission statement and products, the first things you see. |
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| Memorabilia and photos from racing deck the halls, from some of the biggest names in racing, among them is this floor-to-ceiling shot of Anneke Beerten. |
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| Behind these blinds are the marketing, sales, race support and prototyping teams. |
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| While it may look like almost any other office, this is the heart of Alpinestars' racing program. All special requests from drivers, riders and athletes from the many sports Alpinestars are involved in, come through here. |
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| As a man, this is one of the rare occasions in this life when you are allowed to be jealous of a shoe collection. The names among these shoes and boots are mind-blowing to anybody who follows racing - on two wheels or four. Standing out are this pair made specially for Fernando Alonso. Admittedly, you need to be a two-time Formula One world champion to get away with wearing a shoe that looks like this. |
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| In this office, new products are born. What they were working on was so secret that we weren't allowed any closer with a camera. |
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| We're only including this for pure professional jealousy, it'd be great to have enough space to have a studio like this... |
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| The graphics department may look subdued, but some of the most iconic images in racing were shaped here. Throughout the room, you can see mementos from every type of racing: Formula One, MotoGP, World Cup downhill, Supercross, you name it. |
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| To apply graphics to racing leathers, Alpinestars have the unique capability of printing them directly onto the leather. Normally, graphics need to be applied to the leather as patches. Printing them directly looks sharper and saves a noticeable amount of weight for the rider. |
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| When the panels are printed and ready, they are passed through to here, where the leathers are assembled by hand. |
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| On the day we toured the factory, they were working on kits for the Honda MotoGP team, for the final race of the season in Valencia. There's a fairly good chance that one of these will be worn by 2013 champion, Marc Marquez for that race. |
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| The man who won the MotoGP last year, and pushed Marquez hardest this year. Jorge Lorenzo's leathers were also being prepared for the Valencia race. |
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| At the time as they were readying the kits for the Valencia MotoGP, Alpinestars were doing the same for the Austin, Texas, Formula One race. 2013 champion, Sebastian Vettel's race suit was just completed and ready to go out the door. |
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| Just a few kilometers from the main office is the Safety Development Unit, where they carry out their product testing. |
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| On your way into the Safety Development Unit, many of their drivers, riders and athletes have signed the wall in appreciation for the protection. |
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| In the basement of the building is their development facility, where Alpinestars puts every component that goes into their products through rigorous tests. |
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| Whether it's testing their protectors against EU standards, checking the waterproofing on seams, or the flame retardence of materials, Alpinestars are meticulous in their approach. |
Alpinestars
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No, the only excuse for wearing these boots in public is if you are walking behind your guide dog.
If only I had a Ferrari and some matching leather Astar driving shoes....
By the way, I cant stand every so-cal bro that wears or has the Astar logo tatted on them, when they don't even race, or even own a motocross bike.
Its great that the marketing has hit the scene that hard, I just cannot stand the Freestyle motocross scene and 99% of the followers.
Freeride DH is still the shit
Two things - why no more coverage on astars mtb gear?!?! After all they are fairly new to the sport and could be a nice write up for those who didnt know about their mtb gear.
2nd - is this arricle a repost? If not, why was it released up until now?
Thanks in advance!!!