Telling Stories: Brand Revival, from motorcycle clothing to luxury fashion

Building on my previous paper 'Fashionable Bikers and 'Biker' Fashion' which examined fashion's love affair with the 'biker' image, this research explores the influence of 'fashion' on the brand revivals of Belstaff and Matchless. Tracing Belstaff's transition from functional motorcycle clothing into high end fashion and the more recent revival of Matchless, with its clothing line and subsequent motorcycle re-launch, it continues to examine the juxtaposition of luxury/heritage with fashion/biker. The paper discusses recent advertising campaigns that make use of the tools of fashion marketing to package powerful images, including celebrity endorsement, the Made in Britain tag and storytelling. What might have seemed like an unlikely alliance in the past, the coupling of luxury fashion and motorcycling is part of an ongoing 'gentrification' of motorcycling, telling stories that share common ground.