The story of AXO Sport in American motocross is really a story about what happens when one country's design philosophy meets another country's sport. Italy had been making motorcycle gear since forever — leathers, road racing suits, boots that actually looked good. America had been making motocross gear since the 70s, and it mostly looked like something you'd wear to clean an engine.
Photo by Martin Pettitt / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
AXO changed the conversation. When their gear started showing up at American tracks in the late 80s and early 90s, it was immediately obvious that something was different. The fit was different — leaner, more tailored, less "one size fits nobody." The graphics were different — designed rather than decorated. And the materials were different — AXO's Gelprint process meant that the graphics on their gear were heat-bonded rather than printed, which is why you can find 30-year-old AXO pants with graphics that still look crisp.
The brand's impact on the sport went beyond aesthetics. AXO pushed the entire industry to think about gear as something that could look good AND function. Their Italian manufacturing meant that construction quality was a given, not a selling point. Seams were tight because of course they were. Panels were precisely cut because why wouldn't they be.
At their peak, AXO was sponsoring factory riders across multiple disciplines and their gear was the thing you bought if you wanted to look like you took the sport seriously. Not seriously in a humorless way — seriously in an "I care about what I'm wearing on a motorcycle" way.
The brand's legacy in vintage moto circles is significant. AXO gear from the 90s has become genuinely collectible, partly because the construction quality means pieces survive in good condition, and partly because the design work has aged incredibly well. What looked cutting-edge in 1994 looks classic now.
We have a pair of vintage AXO Sport racing pants in the shop right now. Italian construction, original colorway, the real thing. Take a look.
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Header image: Photo: Manningmbd, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons