Actor Norman Reedus Just Took Quasi-Hipster ADV Gear To Mongolia

Let's be real: it’s somewhat hipster ADV gear. But according to our own EIC, it's also pretty damn good.

Photo by: Aether Apparel

By: Enrico Punsalang

Jul 3, at 7:11am ET

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There’s a very specific kind of rider this story speaks to. You know the guy. Architect. Owns a vintage Defender. Rides a Husky 701. Drinks coffee that costs more than a valve adjustment on a small scooter. Somehow returns from a dusty off-road ride looking like he was styled by a Scandinavian furniture catalog.

Yet, that’s more or less the universe Aether Apparel lives in, and now the LA brand has taken that whole hipster aesthetic to the other side of the planet. [Editor's note: Whoa, whoa, whoa, I have an Aether jacket that I love, and I'm most definitely not a hipster. Wait...am I? JK]

Aether recently brought a small invite-only group of riders and friends of the brand to Mongolia’s Orkhon Valley for a six-day off-road trip. The crew included actor and totally legit motorcycle guy Norman Reedus, along with Bryan Greenberg, Justin Chatwin, David “Shadi” Perez, Alex Earle of Earle Motors, and others. The route threw them into the good stuff: open steppe, river crossings, deep sand, rough trails, and the kind of landscape that makes your phone camera panic because every direction looks like a movie poster.

Photo by: Aether Apparel

The trip was guided by Nomadic Off-Road, a Mongolia-based motorcycle adventure outfitter and official Husqvarna partner. That part matters because this wasn’t just a group of pretty people standing near ADV bikes for a lookbook shoot. The terrain was real, the riding was real, and the setting gave Aether exactly what it needed: a dramatic place to show off its newest motorcycle gear without making the whole thing look like a trade show booth with better lighting.

The gear in question is Aether’s new Mojave Motorcycle Jacket 2.0 and Mojave Motorcycle Pant 2.0. On paper, these pieces sit in an interesting space. They’re not trying to out-KLIM KLIM, and they’re not trying to out-Dainese Dainese. Instead, Aether is playing the premium adventure-lifestyle card, with real protection baked into clothes that don’t make you look like you’re about to storm a weather station.

That’s the key difference here. KLIM is the hardcore ADV tool for riders who want Gore-Tex, high-spec abrasion resistance, huge ventilation, and the kind of garment engineering that makes sense when your ride plan includes bad weather, worse roads, and questionable decisions. Helstons, meanwhile, lives closer to the retro-urban riding world, with a more stylized, sophisticated attitude. Aether is somewhere in between. Still ready for all types of weather and adventure, but with the polish and aesthetic that makes you look twice.

So it isn’t fake gear. Not in the slightest.

Photos by: Aether Apparel

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The Mojave Jacket 2.0 (which you can buy for around $600 USD) uses heavy-duty cotton canvas, mesh lining, vents, reflective details, and removable D3O armor at the elbows, shoulders, and back. The matching pants (for around $475 USD) use the same general idea, with D3O armor at the knees and hips, plus vents and riding-focused articulation. So yes, it’s stylish. Very stylish. Painfully stylish, depending on how allergic you are to expensive minimalism. But it’s not just fashion cosplay with a zipper and a motorcycle photo shoot attached.

That’s what makes this Mongolia trip a clever launch. Aether didn’t just put the Mojave set on a model in a studio and call it adventure-ready. It sent the gear into a place with sand, water, dirt, heat, long days, and actual riders. Then it wrapped the whole thing in the kind of brand storytelling that makes you want to quit your inbox, grow a better jacket collection, and daydream about riding in some forlorn corner of the globe.