The fashion of motorcycle riders has long been driven by practicality. The quintessential motorcycle clothing accessory, the leather jacket might make riders look metaphorically “tough,” but it is the physical toughness of cowhide that made the material an ideal match for the biker lifestyle. In scientific tests that recreate a motorcycle spill at 60 miles per hour, animal hides far surpassed other natural fabrics such as cotton, as well as synthetic materials such as nylon. So the leather jacket has reigned supreme in the biker world for decades. However, this trend may ultimately be upended by the rising popularity of an even tougher material: the modern marvel that is Kevlar.
Featuring an incredibly high tensile strength-to-weight ratio, Kevlar has been used to make everything from body armor to drumheads. Pretty much anything that must be both extremely lightweight and incredibly strong has benefitted from this revolutionary synthetic fiber… and motorcycle gear is no exception.
The wool version of Crave’s original Kevlar-lined shirt jacket, the Montana Kevlar Lined Shirt Jacket offers both superior warmth and total ventilation with an outer shell of 100% natural wool, an inner shell of 100% Dupont Kevlar fiber, and a liner of 100% breathable acrylic Lycra microfiber. In addition to its full-coverage Kevlar liner, the shirt jacket offers additional protection with extra aramid lining on the front, back, and sleeves. It also features pockets for the insertion of CE protectors at both the shoulders and elbows.