FMF Racing’s plotting an apparel comeback it hopes will bring its well-known red-and-yellow logo to every major motocross market globally.
The game plan took a few years post-licensing deals to rev up, but FMF executives have aspirations to grow the soft goods arm of the business in a big way after celebrating 50 years in business in 2023. Those plans are buoyed by recent deals with Tilly’s and Zumiez, which were struck last year after both chains reached out to FMF as vintage- and racing-inspired designs continue to trend in the broader market.
“So far it’s been great,” Donny Emler Jr., FMF marketing and apparel director and son of founder Don Emler, said of working with the larger retailers. “It’s done really well. They might have recommendations of what they’d like to see on a blank or may ask, ‘Can we try this on this color blank?’ So, it’s been great to bounce ideas back and forth. We’re so nimble that we can make those changes for them very quickly and we’ve kept the business pretty small at printables, hats, and accessories. We haven’t really jumped back into a lot of the cut-and-sew pieces yet.”
FMF ended last year with direct-to-consumer up, while wholesale was down. Part of the contraction in the latter was due to cleaning up distribution as FMF cut ties with certain retailers that no longer made sense for the brand.
“On the apparel side, we feel like the apparel and accessories side is underperforming globally,” said Alex De La Peña, general manager of apparel. “The motocross industry’s global. For 2024 and 2025, we want to make sure that there’s not a country that supports motocross where you won’t be able to buy a hat, a T-shirt, backpack, pair of socks from FMF. That, as I look out, is low-hanging fruit.”
De La Peña, who founded Ezekial and Mada with brother Vince De La Peña, has been with FMF for more than eight years. He was originally hired with the La Jolla Group and continued with the brand when the business was taken in-house.
FMF sees big potential in growing its apparel and accessories business. Photo courtesy of FMF Racing.
Taking Back Apparel
While the hardgoods side of FMF – the exhaust pipes, mufflers, and other parts – has always been made by the company, apparel had historically been licensed. Most recently, there was a deal in place with the La Jolla Group.
The Emler family amicably cut ties with La Jolla in 2017, with both deciding that was in the best interest of the brand. The apparel team was consolidated and also shrank through natural attrition, and SKUs were streamlined.
FMF worked with a third-party logistics provider for a few years after parting with La Jolla as they transitioned the business in-house until management decided it was time to fully bring it under the FMF roof.
“We’re not just an apparel company; it’s an arm off the FMF brand,” Emler said. “We make everything out of metal and we manufacture everything in the United States. It just really didn’t make sense to bring apparel fully in-house until we understood it and could wrap our arms around running it with a small team.”
During the pandemic, the company made space for apparel in its 100,000-square-foot Rancho Dominguez facility, transferring all the product in one day from the 3PL using a U-Haul and an FMF-owned vehicle.
In 2018, post-La Jolla Group, FMF launched The Drop subscription box program which offers members a monthly box with an exclusive T-shirt designed in collaboration with an artist or athlete, along with a surprise gift. Each box retails for $29.99.
The box, while not a major revenue driver, partially speaks to why bringing apparel in-house made sense as a way to connect directly with brand loyalists and also do co-branding plays with those from elsewhere in action sports, such as surf or skate.
The company declined to say how many subscribers it has, but the number exceeds the original expectations at launch.
It’s also a passion project for Emler who, to this day, prints the labels for each box that goes out to members.
“For us, it’s not something that we’re trying to make a lot of money on,” Emler said. “It’s delivering something that makes the person feel like they’re part of our brand.”
From FMF’s The Drop subscription box program. Photo courtesy of FMF Racing.
Staying Core
Even with apparel’s growth potential, the idea isn’t to move outside of the core or start producing a fashion line with no utility among a motocross consumer.
The company’s banking on brand loyalty that’s been built over the last 50 years through the original parts side of the business.
Late last year, by way of example, FMF released a limited-edition exhaust package retailing for about $1,800 that sold out in two days.
“Some people are probably going to use (the parts) and some people aren’t, but it really showed how much we have fans of our brand,” Emler said. “They’ve been around for so long that those things sold out faster than I’ve ever seen.”
Last year marked a return to normalization for the business in comparison to much of the artificial growth that came with the pandemic surge. As FMF management looks at continuing to expand apparel through new accounts, one of the largest plays will see FMF reclaim control of distribution on Amazon with a launch on the Amazon platform.
FMF, like many other brands, is already sold on Amazon through authorized or unauthorized resellers. FMF’s decision to officially launch with Amazon is about taking back control of how the brand appears there and which of its products are sold there.
“Donny and I couldn’t see any other way around it. He actually texted me, ‘It is the future no matter what we do about it,’” De La Peña said.
Emler added, “For us, especially on the exhaust side, brick-and-mortar stores are No. 1 and that’s why on the exhaust side it will never go on sale. We try to get people to come to the website to learn about the product and then go visit a local dealer. For Amazon, hate it or love it, 70% of people that are searching for something are starting on Amazon, so we really need to control the message from our side,” Emler said.
FMF founder and owner Don Emler. Photo courtesy of FMF Racing.
Family Owned
Moving forward, FMF sees its ability to move fast as one of its greatest strengths.
“Decisions get made very quickly,” Emler said. “Other companies, they’ll have a board of directors. Here, it’s my father and I that run the business. He’s still here. He’s 72 and absolutely loves what he does and that’s why we are where we are today.”
Part of the company’s speed can also be chalked up to its domestic manufacturing.
The Southern California factory that makes all FMF parts is what De La Peña described as “the soul of the brand” and another benefit of being privately owned.
“FMF still operates as a startup brand with a garage mentality – like a one-car garage mentality,” De La Peña said. “There is no extra fluff. You won’t find a receptionist at the front and a five-story building with executive parking. It’s a very disciplined business.”
The Emlers recognize they could take the business down a path that many others in motocross and action sports have done, bringing in outside investments or even a sale. But, that control factor baked into the brand could be lost.
“We control everything from top to bottom,” Emler said. “When you see companies that sell to VCs or whatnot, you tell me one that actually has done really well. It’s great for the person that might have sold at the right time, but I know that in the motorcycle world, everyone that’s been sold has had major issues because it doesn’t become about the product anymore. It becomes about the dollars and cents. Obviously, that’s business and you need to maintain that to be successful, but it’s less about the product and what you want to give to people.”
At the end of the day, Emler is more excited talking about the factory and building in the U.S. or putting together the subscription drop boxes than by the idea of scale by any means necessary.
“That’s where we’re at and why we like to maintain where we are,” he said. “We can grow by doing something else maybe, but we’re really happy with the continued growth we’ve had over the last 50 years.”
Take a look inside the FMF factory and warehouse:
