History Text Part 2

GRIFFS was founded by Stanley Arron in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Stanley thinks he began in 1974, but he was 84 when I interviewed him and his memory was a little fuzzy. Stanley was constantly tinkering with clothing, isolating performance issues, and then solving them with apparel technology. He was very prolific, securing four separate patents for electrically heated apparel - in 1968, 1969, and two in 1970.

Then he turned his attention to motocross. At the time, MX pants were made from leather. They worked fine for northern Europe in wintertime but were hot and uncomfortable during American summers. Stanley had found a new high-strength nylon fabric from DuPont called “Cordura”, and believed that this new fabric would be great for riding gear. He started talking around the industry about his idea and the buyer from Maico, Tom Steele, introduced Stanley to Steve Stackable. The pair hit it off, and began testing prototypes. Steve found the new pants much lighter and more breathable than leathers and discovered he could ride faster and longer as a result.