Weekend WTF: Triumph's Scrambler Clothing Collection

While we wait for an official announcement of pricing for the Scrambler 1200, Triumph has teased us with the Scrambler Collection, a line of clothing designed specifically to provide the wearer with the "instant 'classic scrambler' look." Who needs an actual motorcycle when you can dress up for the occasion to impress everyone at the local coffee shop?

WE PREFER THE ACTUAL BIKE

Meet the Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC and XE

Triumph To Christen the New Scrambler 1200 at the Baja 1000

Don't get me wrong. We're excited about the actual Scrambler 1200. Finally, someone is giving us a scrambler with some real off-road capability rather than a street bike with high tailpipes and no actual performance improvements whatsoever. The Scrambler 1200 is the real deal, and that's wonderful.

The top offender of branding, Harley-Davidson, does offer some cheesy merchandise. A great deal of its clothing is genuine riding gear, though. A decent Harley-branded leather jacket will actually protect you in a crash. I have no issue at all with real riding gear that happens to advertise your preferred brand, whatever it is, while offering the protection that riding gear should.

Triumph's Scrambler Collection is not gear. It's fashion. Blatant unadulterated fashion. From t-shirts to tank tops, do-rags to coffee mugs, the Scrambler Collection is a step backward to the days of the Street Scrambler which was all about looks and not about off-road performance. At least Triumph put the word "Street" in the name to indicate that the bike's true intended purpose was not tearing up the trails.

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It seems like Triumph's Scrambler Collection is looking to pull a DC Shoes, becoming a brand for the sake of being a brand rather than as an appropriate tie-in to the actual motorcycle. Name brands tend to come at a premium price, but we have no idea what that price is. Triumph hasn't listed any prices on its website. We don't even know what its specific offerings will be, other than the vague marketing photos that currently fill the page. It's hype for the sake of hype, which is too bad considering that the actual bike looks genuinely good.

If the Scrambler Collection had some leather jackets, gloves, boots, or even goggles with a Scrambler branded elastic band, that would be fine. It would be Scrambler gear you could wear while riding your Scrambler 1200. The biggest irony of the Scrambler Collection is that if you're wearing proper riding gear, nobody's even going to see the Scrambler branded clothing you're wearing underneath.

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