It recently came to our attention that ladies are a different shape to men. We might be a little slow in realising this – perhaps we sniffed too much Castrol R in our youth – but finding out what is needed to design and manufacture female motorcycle clothing already feels like I’ve wandered into a minefield.
Along with the basic shape difference between men and women, there also appear to be multiple variants of the female form compared with the average two-dimensional male. Most men know – or rapidly discover – that avoiding any situation where commenting on women’s clothing might be required is the safest way to make it through life unscathed.
Nonetheless, scared witless and armed with the knowledge that I’m inadvertently going to write something inappropriate, here is what happened when we looked into female motorcycle clothing.
Ask a Woman
My first problem is that I’m not female. As a standard, bald, should-have-skipped-lunch bloke, I have no reference point for how well female motorcycle clothing would fit. To overcome this, I borrowed a female motorcyclist and promptly started falling over myself, trying to ask delicately worded questions.
Thankfully, our female motorcyclist, as someone who is used to modelling clothing, has conversations about her legs, chest sizes and whether pockets are in the right place every day. So, the comments below on how female motorcycle clothing fits come from her. My job was to write them down.
Ask an Expert
My next realisation was that if I wanted to understand motorcycle clothing designed for women, I’d better find someone who knows what they are talking about, or I’ll be bringing male thinking to a female problem.
Julie and Chris Easterford – Hood Motorcycle Jeans – have been making motorcycle jeans for over 25 years and come from a family that has been in the clothing industry for generations. Being the helpful people they are, Chris and Julie kindly highlighted a few of the extra hurdles you need to clear when designing motorcycle jeans for women.
“Producing jeans for the female form is a complex, and some say mystical, task. My father had a chain of jean shops, selling the garments produced in his own factory. He always insisted that you ultimately need seven styles or fits of jeans if you wish to accommodate all the different female body types.
Sadly, producing seven variants of jeans doesn’t make economic sense for any motorcycle jeans manufacturer, so our Ladies K7/AAA (S) jeans are cut using the most popular female pattern my father developed, adjusted for evolution (women are changing shape) and for motorcycling.
Be they male or female jeans, the best blend of style and practicality for motorcycle jeans comes from the classic five-pocket western denim jean. When creating motorcycle jeans, following the current trend isn’t practical.
The jeans must be designed and made for motorcycling, and the classic western five-pocket is just that – a classic.
The rise of our jeans is high, and they sit on the waist rather than cut low and sitting at the hip. The legs are also cut wide enough for comfort on the bike and will accommodate most women’s motorcycle boots worn inside the jean leg.
Stretch denim helps with comfort, but protection is always the priority when choosing the fabric. There are lighter single-layer jeans on the market that have a different style, but blending comfort, fit, and AAA protection is how we arrived at our Ladies K7/AAA (S) jeans.”
Weise Dakota Ladies Jacket
Typically, women have smaller backs, a narrower waist and flare more at the hips than their male counterparts. There is also a need for the upper front panels of the jacket to provide extra space.
In comparison, a jacket designed for the average male motorcyclist is more tubular, providing additional space lower in the jacket.
Going beyond the normal abrasion and CE ratings, our female motorcyclist chose the Weise Dakota Jacket because it fitted in all the right places.
The basic design is waisted for the female form and has additional Velcro adjusters at the sides. The trade-off is that large patch-style pockets can’t be accommodated and have been replaced with shallower angled integral pockets on the hip line.
Internally, the removable quilted liner has a well-placed pocket low on the left-hand side that easily takes a large mobile phone (iPhone 12 – Samsung A50) and places the top of the phone below the chest line.
- 600 Denier polyester outer construction
- Removable 120-gram thermal liner
- Waterproof, windproof and breathable
- Removable CE approved armour
- Stretch panels for added flexibility
- Adjustable Velcro® waist belt
- Adjustable Velcro® cuffs
- Adjustable Velcro® retained collar
Remove the quilted liner, and the Napolean pocket is the only inside pocket. It is large enough to accommodate the same phones, but the placement isn’t ideal for ladies with established upper curves.
That is, though, the only misgiving our lady motorcyclist had about the Weise Dakota jacket. It is a comfortable, well-cut three-season jacket that is shower-proof and AA-rated. The CE-approved armour sits in the correct places, and the sizing translation from inches to the required size on the Weise chart worked well.
Our lady motorcyclist opted to swap the standard back protector for her preferred Forcefield protector. It was the normal struggle to get the Forcefield rolled up tight enough to go into the back protector pocket, but once achieved, it is snug and a well-placed fit.
Weise Motorcycle Jeans
Whereas sizing the Dakota Jacket was easy, getting the right size for the AA-Rated Weise Ridge women’s motorcycle jeans was slightly more complicated.
Typically, our lady motorcyclist says she would be a size 12 in most of the clothing she models. This will vary depending on the cut, and with motorcycle jeans, an allowance for hip armour needs to be made.
The cut of the Weise Ridge Jeans places them more across the hips than at the waist. With a 30-inch waist, the Weise size guide suggested size 12 for our lady motorcyclist – as usual – whereas size 16 gave the best fit for the cut.
The Weise Ridge Jeans are close fitting and are cut from 390gsm stretch denim with a 210gsm Aramid Fibre lining. If accentuation of curves is one of your requirements from motorcycle jeans, then these are a good choice.
- Stretch 390gsm denim
- 210gsm Aramid Fibre lining
- CE Level 2 knee and hip armour
- Double and triple stitched seams
- Zip fly with button waist
- Semi boot cut
- Classic five-pocket design
- EN17092-3:2020 AA certified
Ankle boots fit inside the leg. Anything more substantial, and the tight legs on the Ridge jeans will comfortably slip inside a traditional motorcycle boot.
As with the Dakota Jacket, the CE Level 2 armour was in the correct places when on the bike and wasn’t obstructive or uncomfortable when walking around.
Female Motorcycle Clothing
A third manufacturer we spoke with highlighted that female motorcycle clothing represented 5-7% of their business. They had a strong desire to serve that market more but had to balance the investment against possible sales.
A quick trawl through SportsBikeShop’s website shows a slightly different story. Of the 683 pairs of Kevlar, Aramid or Denim motorcycle jeans they sell, 409 were unisex, and 274 were specifically female motorcycle jeans. A 60% – 40% split from male to female.
The story with women’s motorcycle jackets isn’t quite as rosy, with 643 of the 2,750 jackets they sell designed for ladies – 24% female compared to 76% male.
For less than 10% of the overall motorcycle clothing market by sales, it is impressive that manufacturers such as Hood and Weise are investing as heavily as they are in the female motorcycle clothing market. Anything that attracts more people to motorcycling – particularly with roughly 50% of the planet being female – can only be a good thing.
