2022 sees the Hood Motorcycle Jeans brand enter its 24th year; the style, quality and protection of their award-winning motorcycle jeans is widely known, as is their friendly customer service. Below is the story of how this small family company became one of the world’s leading names in the CE and UKCA Approved, protective motorcycle jeans sector.

Chris and Julie set up the company in 1998, however the roots of Hood Jeans go back a lot further.

Chris’s parents (June and Tom) first started making Jeans back in 1955 at a Jeans factory in London. The couple met at work, Tom being a mechanic and June a machinist, they married in 1957. Over the following years they helped to set up and develop a major jean brand, but by the late sixties they were ready to go it alone. They called their own company Motown Jeans and based this in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. It was around twenty years later at the Motown Jeans factory that Chris met Julie, and history repeated itself. Julie and Chris worked at the Motown Jeans factory for a number of years, before leaving to set up their own clothing company.

They spent the early years of their own business designing jeans for major high street names; during this time, they were asked by a motocross team to design their race kit. They were given fabrics such as Cordura, Ballistic Nylon and Kevlar to use within the kit, and gained much knowledge about the strengths of these hi-tech fabrics.

They continued working for the race team for a couple of years, before combining the hi-tech fabrics with their own knowledge and background in denim Jeans, the seed for Hood Jeans was sown. Chris and Julie worked on these ideas and designs for the next two years before launching the Hood Jeans brand of Motorcycle Jeans in 1998.

When launched, the Hood K7 jean was the first ‘seamless’ motorcycle jean in the world, this means there was no tell-tale stitching on the outside, making the jean look just like a normal authentic denim jean, this same design philosophy remains the same to this day. The Hood K7 has since become one of the bestselling and most respected motorcycle Jeans on the market.

Over the years competitors have come and gone, but the focus and emphasis on protection for Hood Jeans has never changed, Chris says “protection has to be top of the list of priorities; we can then develop the design, and work on the comfort from there”.

2018 witnessed the biggest changes to Hood Jeans for many years. As from the 21st April of that year all motorcycle clothing had to be certified to the then proposed European Standard, prEN 17092. The Hood K7 Infinity Jean became the first Jean in the U.K. to be certified prEN 17092-3 Rated AA. In 2020 the standard was published in full, EN 17092:2020. Hood Jeans continue to lead the way in development, testing and certification. They not only test and certify to EN 17092:2020, but also run abrasion tests with accordance to the tougher EN 13595-2:2002 standard. This means they can use test data from their previous twenty-four years for the development of new products.

Whist researching and designing the new CE certified products in 2018; Hood Jeans were introduced to new partners. These partners brought huge improvements in the technology of machinery used in the manufacturing process, and in materials and components, they also added much experience in the manufacture of CE approved motorcycle garments. This new expertise, added to Hood Jeans heritage, knowledge, and experience of denim motorcycle jeans has helped to create some highly protective and award-winning products. The main production now takes place at their partner’s factory in Shanghai China; however, the development, design, sales, dispatch, and most importantly heart of the Hood Jeans remain in the UK, as does a small production capability and finishing workshop.

In 2020 D3O^® introduced their amazing  Ghost™ armour. The Ghost™ is so comfortable, a real game changer for impact protection and for Hood Jeans. Simply fit and forget.

2021 witnessed the first new Hood product since 2018 with the release of the slim-fit SK11 Jean. That year Hood Jeans also became the first company to be awarded UKCA certificates by Satra Technology Ltd. Satra Press Release

During the design and testing of the slim-fit SK11 Jean, Hood Jeans developed new stretch denim. Not only did the new stretch denim make the SK11 jean more comfortable, but it also added to the protection, resulting in the SK11/AAA Jean being certified to the highest level of protection, Class AAA: EN 17092-2:2020. Improved comfort and increased protection can only be a good thing. So in 2021 Hood Jeans decided to also produce their award winning ‘easy-fit’ K7 Jean in the same stretch denim. Unsurprisingly this decision also raised the CE Certification of the new K7 (S) Jean, up to the highest-Class AAA, hence its new name the K7/AAA (S) Jean. Research, development and improvement of Hood Jeans never stop. The 2022 stretch denim, K-tech para-aramid and Airflow mesh construction; tested in accordance with the tougher EN 13595-2:2002 impact abrasion test on the Cambridge Machine, recorded a 7.2 second result, putting it in the highest EN 13595 ‘Level 2’ category for abrasion protection. In the Hood K7/AAA (S) and SK11/AAA, you have a seriously protective pair of motorcycle jeans, in fact the highest level on the market.

Hood Motorcycle Jeans remains a family business; Chris states “We are a small family business, I believe this helps us give our customers a personal and friendly service” something that Hood Jeans are well known for. Julie finishes by saying “Our customers have given us so much support, encouragement and custom over the years; it’s this backing that’s made us the company we are today”.

Hood Motorcycle Jeans are renowned worldwide for protection, quality, value for money and customer care. As a family run company for over 23 years; we are just as proud of our customer service as we are of our motorcycle jeans. Trust our jeans, trust our service, and trust in our company. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.