Held Waterproofs (Like the Scotts, but better)

When Scott first told us in early 2024 that they were going to discontinue their Ergo Pro waterproof jackets and pants, we were a bit distraught. These were, after all, the best waterproofs the motorcycle world had ever seen. They were, of course, exceedingly waterproof. But it was the stretchy, yet robust nature of their outer fabric, in our view, that made them so popular.

You could buy the jacket and pant to fit snugly over, say, a mesh jacket and pair of jeans. Yet so much stretch did they contain that the same pairing would work equally well over a bulky, winter outfit. They were the most comfortable waterproofs ever, and by buying them a little on the snug side you could avoid all that noisy flapping that went with traditional waterproofs

We knew that we didn’t want to be without Scotts’ waterproofs. We offered the company a huge order to get them to continue making them for us, but it would seem that Scott wanted to exit the motorcycle market completely. And so we scouted around for somebody who might be prepared to make them for us. And that company turned out to be Held in Germany.

And I have to say that we couldn’t be happier. Here was one of the most technical brands in the market; and importantly a company with a Gore-Tex licence. And what that meant was that this was a company that understood the demands of making waterproof gear at the very highest level.

Our brief was very simple. We didn’t want them to re-invent Scotts' waterproofs. What we asked Held to do was copy the Scotts as closely as they could. What we did say to them was that we would be happy to improve upon their technical performance, but the basic design had to remain unaltered.