Alpinestars

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This article is about the Italian clothing company. For the electronica group of the same name, see Alpinestars (band).

Alpinestars S.p.A

Type	Private
Founded	1963
Founder	Sante Mazzarolo
Headquarters	Asolo, Veneto, Italy
Key people	Gabriele Mazzarolo
Industry	Motorsport clothing Extreme sports clothing Casual clothing
Website	www.alpinestars.com

Alpinestars is a safety gear manufacturer for several types of racing (Moto GP, Motocross, Formula 1), as well as extreme sports. They also produce casual mens and womens sportswear lifestyle apparel for motorsports enthusiasts. The company takes its name from the English translation of the Italian word for "edelweiss" (stelle alpine). When translated into English, stelle alpine literally means "Alpine stars".

Founded in 1963 by Sante Mazzarolo in Asolo, Veneto. The company started out making hiking and ski boots, but quickly focused on making boots primarily for motocross racing. In the 1990s, the company branched out into manufacturing all types of protective and technical gear ranging from gloves and jackets to full leather suits. Today they have offices in Los Angeles as well as the original headquarters/factory and main research & development labs remaining in Northern Italy. The company today is headed by Sante's son, Gabriele Mazzarolo.^[1]

Their claim to fame is the Tech 8 boots that have been worn on the feet of some of the best motocross and supercross racers. Alpinestars has recently branched out into other sports and now have leather gear for superbike and GP riders, driving shoes and flame retardant gear for race car drivers, as well as casual clothing.

Alpinestars riding gear is generally less expensive than its other Italian competitors, such as Dainese and SIDI.

[edit] Sponsorship

The list of sponsored racers and athletes include:

MotoGP: Toni Elías, Carlos Checa, Dani Pedrosa, Nicky Hayden, John Hopkins, Casey Stoner, Kenny Roberts, Jr.
World Superbike: Troy Corser, Noriyuki Haga, Karl Muggeridge
Motocross/Supercross: Ben Townley, Chad Reed, Eric Sorby, Joe Oehloff, Kyle Cunningham, Nathan Ramsey, Mike Alessi, Kelly Smith, Jeff Gibson, Davi Millsaps, Brock Sellards, Darcy Lange, Jason Lawrence, Justin Brayton, Michael Byrne, Branden Jesseman, David Vuillemin, Jeff Alessi, Justin Keeney, Michael Lapagila, Chris Gosselaar, Grant Langston, Josh Hansen, Martin Davalos, Paul Carpenter, Richie Owens, Matthew Goerke, Joshua Hill, Ivan Tedesco, and Christophe Pourcel.
World Rally Championship (WRC): The Late Colin McRae.
Formula 1: Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Franck Montagny, Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Ricardo Zonta
FIA GT: JetAlliance Racing (The Whole JetAlliance Racing Team use Alpinestars racing suits), Philipp Peter.
NASCAR: Dale Jr., Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Casey Mears.
Rally America Championship: Travis Pastrana.
Indy Racing League: Danica Patrick, and Enrique Bernoldi.
BMX: Ryan Guettler, Chad Kagy, Kevin Kiraly, and Ben Snowden.
Surfing/Wake boarding: Sunny Garcia, Makua Rothman, Chino Sue-a-Quan, and Jeff Weatherall
Mountain Bike: Greg Minnaar and Matti Lehikoinen
Snow Boarding: Chanelle Sladics