A friendly salesperson at Aether’s LA flagship swapped those pieces for a small - one of the first times I’ve found myself scaling down for a proper fit. Aether’s website describes the Divide jacket and pants as fitting “true to size,” so I was surprised to find the mediums longer and baggier than expected, especially considering the brand’s modern ethos. Watch Out For: I’m 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, and I usually fit squarely into medium-sized moto gear. Who It’s For: Style-conscious long distance motorcycle riders who don’t mind paying a premium for a functional jacket/pant combo equipped with abrasion resistance and proper, CE-certified armor. That sense of intrinsic cool puts them several steps ahead of competitors whose motorcycle gear looks, well, more like motorcycle gear than minimalist outerwear. The Good: Visually, Aether’s understated ethos pays off in spades: there’s no garishly contrasting outer panels or cheesy textures, and enough Velcro tab cinches on the jacket to ensure a trim fit. Aether’s Divide motorcycle jacket ($995) and Divide motorcycle pants ($695) are the brand’s latest salvo at the predominantly dreary motorcycle touring genre, so I spent several hundred miles road-testing the armored set to decide if they’re worth the steep price of entry. To fill that troublesome void, Palmer West and Jonah Smith went from producing indie flicks like Requiem for a Dream to forming Aether Apparel, a Melrose Boulevard-based outerwear company that seeks to strike a sweet spot between strict function and sleek form. There’s something intrinsically unsexy about jumpsuit-style ballistic nylon. While track day junkies manage to look like badass leatherbound ninjas from the future, long distance riders usually come off more like construction workers in a 1970s B-movie about asteroid miners. Serving as Aether’s response to the currently troubled state of the retail scene, the pop-up concept allows the brand to expand its retail footprint in a variety of open retail spaces in prime locations.Ah, the travails of finding decent motorcycle touring gear. Lightweight and easily packable, the pop-up concept can be transported around the world and be set up in just a single day. With this new pop-up, Aether created a unique retail experience that is both easily transportable and stays true to the brand’s trademark minimalist aesthetic. In addition, Aether worked with Neal Feay in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles to come up with textured aluminum T-stands - Gaugain created a balanced rack using a single piece of wood and two twisted aluminum legs to form a visually stunning way to showcase the collections. One of the flight cases also transforms into two tables which are used as a cash wrap or for additional product displays - the same case holds two full-length mirrors.

Gaugain and Aether created six custom flight cases to display the product on both shelves and faceouts, featuring a ring of LED interior lights and an adjustable center track. It is the second Aether location in Manhattan, with the other, permanent store located at 13 Crosby Street in SoHo, NYC.Īether once again teamed up again with the Paris-based designer Thierry Gaugain to create unique, versatile displays that were both aesthetically beautiful yet functional and easily movable.

High-end technical apparel brand Aether Apparel has announced the opening of its fifth retail store in the States.ĭubbed AetherOutpost, located on 1082 Madison Ave on the Upper East Side, the 1,000-square-foot store is a temporary pop-up shop that will be open through January 31.

Aether apparel