By Chad de Alva
Mosko Moto was born from an experience. Specifically, a less than good experience with soft luggage. Co-Founder Pete Day had just quit his job of ten years, and he was off exploring a remote corner of the world by motorcycle as he often did during his free time. Pete’s moto-travel resume is extensive, to say the least, and his ideal moto trip involves exploring a distant part of the world by getting as deep into the backcountry as possible. On this particular trip, he was making his way through Central America while working through the shortcomings of the soft luggage he was using. Every time he identified an issue, he would shoot a message to his good friend Andrew, who was then working as a senior designer at a well known action-sports company. When Pete got back to the US, he and Andrew made the choice to start a company that would produce motorcycle luggage. Mosko Moto was officially a thing.
From the start, Pete and Andrew took a different approach to business than other moto companies – a choice that would set the trajectory for Mosko’s success. They would sell directly to consumers and strive to be transparent in what they were doing. On their website, Pete started a blog where he would a share a great deal about what was going on within the company. While other companies keep what they’re working on as close to the chest as possible, Pete’s blog provided a huge window into the collective minds of Mosko Moto. He also started a thread on ADVRider.com, and in one sentence set a defining statement for the company: “Feel free to chime in with ideas.” In reading the first few pages of this more than 800 page thread, as well as the early blog posts, one can gain much insight about the company and their process of learning to make motorcycle luggage. In a blog post from late 2013, Pete outlined something else that Mosko Moto was starting to work on – Apparel.
To be a player in the moto industry, Mosko Moto knew that they would have to do more than just make outstanding luggage. The crew decided to develop apparel and commenced what would become a multi-year development process. Pete had started riding on liter plus adventure bikes wearing riding gear with integrated armor, but over the years he had gone through an evolution in bikes and riding gear to where he was now riding smaller bikes and wearing separate MX-style armor. This experience made the choice easy for the apparel Mosko would create – armor would be separate, and the goal was to make the best shell they could. To help make their apparel project a reality, Mosko Moto hired Scott – the guy who had Andrew’s old job at the action sports company.
Scott is a talented designer, and at Mosko Moto he has something few designers ever get to enjoy. Other companies direct their designers to never design for their own gear closets. Yet everyone at Mosko Moto rides, so the company encourages designing the gear that they would want to create the ultimate riding gear closet. Mosko product development is also influenced by sources outside of the moto industry, as Mosko has found fresh ideas and innovations in other industries. The open development process has also proven to be extremely valuable, and there have been a number of instances where customer feedback on products in development has directly influenced a product order. Mosko Moto loves to tinker on their products, and as Scott says “the design is never done.” Each product order placed with the factory gives Mosko the chance to revise an existing product. For example, the Basilisk Jacket going from version 1.0 to 1.2, which incorporated a few revisions from v 1.0. Instead of having to wait a few years for a complete redesign, Mosko is able to improve their products with every factory order.
It’s obvious that Mosko is continuing to create unique products that fit the ethos of “what’s the perfect kit for the type of ride I’m going on.” Mosko is a stand out innovator in a sea of reversed engineered products from other brands. Hearing the stories of how these new products came to be makes one thing quite clear – the crew at Mosko loves to ride, and each piece they develop is a passion project fueled by an effective mix of internal and external influence that leads to great product development. Mosko Moto is working to bring more than just new apparel to market.
What do you do when you’re Mosko Moto and you can’t find the exact armor you want? You develop it. For the past year, the team has been working on developing the exact separate armor pieces that they want. Having had the chance to wear some of the prototypes, I can tell you Mosko armor is going to be next level. Expect CE level 2 protection in armor that is impressively light weight, and that moves with your body better than any other non-newtonian armor on the market. Mosko is targeting an early 2023 launch date for their first armor products.
It’s been really fun to watch Mosko Moto grow from a couple of guys with one product and some hay bales for a show booth, to the massive production that they bring to shows now. Mosko Moto has done things differently from day one, and that has clearly contributed to their success. By selling direct to consumer, they don’t have to deal with dealers and other middlemen, enabling them to make changes to products from order to order. By sharing their development process with the industry, riders and customers are able to weigh in on new and existing products, thus building relationships with customers and helping make every product that gets put up for sale more successful. One of my favorite things about Mosko Moto is that everyone in the company rides, and the entire team takes extended trips together to hang out, team build, and discuss how to improve their products. Mosko Moto has clearly figured out how to apply their passion for riding and their complete comfort in forging their own path to great success. It’s going to be fun to see what the future holds for this company. Check out the latest at Mosko Moto.
