THE GENEOLOGY OF HOOD JEANS INNOVATIVE JEANS OF TRUE HERITAGE
2019 sees the Hood Jeans brand enter its 21st year; below is how we became one of the world’s leading specialists of motorcycle jeans.
Hood Jeans are a family company based in Norfolk, England. Chris and Julie set up the company in 1998 but the roots of Hood Jeans go back a lot further.
Chris’s parents (June and Tom) first started making Jeans back in 1955 at the Lee Cooper factory in Harold Wood, London. They met at the factory, Tom being a mechanic and June a machinist, they married in 1957. Over the following years they helped to set up other jean brands but by the late sixties they were ready to set up alone. They called their company Motown Jeans and based this in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. It was almost twenty years later at the Motown Jeans factory that Chris met Julie and history repeated itself. They both worked there for a further ten years before leaving to set up their own clothing company.
They spent the next few years 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 on the race kits for two years before combining these new fabrics with their own background in denim Jeans, the seed for Hood Jeans was planted. Chris and Julie worked on these ideas over the next two years before launching the Hood Jeans brand of Motorcycle Jeans in 1998. When launched the Hood K7 jean was one of the first motorcycle jeans in the UK, it has since become one of the bestselling and most respected motorcycle Jeans on the market.
2015 saw a major leap forward for the Hood Jeans brand with sales increasing by an incredible 70%. This was credited to many reasons, some being the inclusion of a more comfortable K‑tech Para-aramid lining, the adding of a ‘Free Worldwide Delivery Service’ and a ‘Free UK Exchange Service’. Later that year a ‘Subsidised Worldwide Returns Service’ was also added.
2018 witnessed the biggest changes in their products since Hood Jeans first entered the motorcycle jeans sector back in 1998. As from the 21st April 2018 all motorcycle clothing had to be certified to the proposed European Standard, prEN 17092. For a family business like Hood this brought many questions; how would they cope with the test processes, could a small family business such as Hood Jeans afford the costs involved with certification and how would their jeans stand up to the demands of the new standards. All these factors favoured the larger manufacturer so to survive the Hood Jeans business and products had to change.
Development, testing and certification processes for the new PPE certified jean took around two years and brought some major improvements to their products. It was the first motorcycle Jean to be certified in the UK to the new PPE Regulation 2016/425; prEN 17092-3, AA rated protective clothing for motorcyclists.
The new CE regulation certification process introduced Hood Jeans to some new partners. These partners brought huge improvements in the manufacture of CE approved garments and their knowledge was of much help to Hood Jeans during the certification process. This new expertise added to the Hood Jeans heritage, knowledge, and experience of the reinforced denim motorcycle jeans sector has helped to create some great products. The main production will now take place in China but the development, design, sales team and most importantly heart of the Hood products will remain in the UK, as will a small production capability and finishing workshop.
NEW FOR 2019
Hood Jeans do not rest on their laurels. The new K7 Infinity Jean has been praised by the motorcycle press and customers alike. It has also won industry awards, however Hood were still trying to improve the Jean further. As has so often been the case over their history their loyal supporters provided them with the answers.
Customers asked for the following:
The option of no impact protectors?
For 2019 we offer the K7/B Jean.
A version with knee protectors only?
For 2019 we offer the K7/A Jean.
Can the ankle restraint stirrups be optional?
For 2019 they are optional.
You told them what you wanted, they listened and acted.
The original 2018 K7 ‘Infinity’ Jean continues as the K7/AA Jean and includes D3O® hip and knee armour.
The same, proven, trusted, independently tested and certified K7 Infinity jean, with more options to match your requirements and the demands of your motorcycling needs.
Hood Jeans remains a family business; Chris states “this helps them to give the personal service to their customers” 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”.
