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It was during the Royal Enfield and Happy Socks collaboration event when I saw the company’s new gear store in Bandra, Mumbai. As soon as I entered the store, I understood that Royal Enfield wants to be more than just a motorcycle manufacturer. They’re now an apparel and riding gear seller too. So I decided to experience this store for two reasons – know more about their store concept and try out some of the gear.
These stores are owned by Royal Enfield and not by their dealers. These stores stock up anything related to motorcycles and more– jackets, pants, boots, gloves, helmets along with cool apparel like t-shirts, pants, socks, wrist bands, sweat-shirts, knits, belts and wallets. In short, visit any big apparel stores like Levis and Wrangler, and it’s the same feeling you’ll get inside this gear store. In fact, chances are you’ll stumble upon more options and varieties inside the RE store. The most interesting aspect of this place is that, while a motorcycle enthusiast gets to buy his protective gear, a regular consumer also has the option of getting some cool apparel home. And that’s what Royal Enfield is trying to achieve. They want to become the one-stop store for everyone. However, all this experience doesn’t come cheap. The pricing is on par with most of the lifestyle apparel makers if not more. A t-shirt will cost you around Rs 1,499, a denim pant is priced around Rs 3,000 and a pair of leather boots will set you back by Rs 4,000. But the brand value of Royal Enfield is very strong and that’s what will attract a lot of customers into this store. A cool RE branded t-shirt with some cool graphics is appealing, right?
The overall design of the store reflects the cool attitude of the brand along with a premium feel. The store is quite big, with decent place to sit and spend time with your friends. No, they don’t serve coffee yet, but your friends can wait for you in the sitting area while you shop for yourself. Maximum space has been taken by the apparels while the protective gear gets a different section. The different coloured helmets have been nicely stacked up close to the entrance. There’s no provision of taking their bikes for a test ride, but the customers have the option of booking any Royal Enfield bike from there.
The second reason I visited the store is to check our gear sizes. Royal Enfield has sent us the Himalayan riding gear along with a couple of luggage bags for review. So before they could send us our test gear, the sizing needs to be right, so Charles, Vikrant and I went there to sort out of the sizes. So in the next couple of months, we’ll be testing out these gear and accessories and share our experiences with it.
So we’ve below things to test out.
Kaza Jacket, Kaza Pants, Moto Pants, Gloves, Riding Boots, Octopus Backpack, Octopus Duffle Bag, Backpack.
You can find out the on road prices of the Royal Enfield bikes here.
Photography by Kapil Angane
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Royal Enfield Gear Store Review
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