Why FOX are the KINGS of Moto | The $200 Million Dirt Bike Super-Brand

What's up guys my name is Max and this is 999 Laser. In this video we're going to look into how one company has come to rule the land of cool in the world of dirt bikes. This is the story of the rise and domination of Fox and how this small family-run business turned into a 200 million dollar company. If I asked you to name one company that has totally transcended the sports of motocross, most likely you would have to say Fox. Over the years Fox have become the market leader and trendsetter in the moto world. In my opinion they are without doubt the kings of the dirt bike apparel game. But arguably they've become much bigger than just that. They are huge in mountain biking, they have a solid presence in both wake and surf and their logo has had pride of place in one of the most popular tv shows in history. Just take a look at Joey's fridge next time you watch Friends. Matt LeBlanc even wears a Fox head t-shirt blatant as can be in her season 9 episode. Oakley is the only other company that I can think of that has broken the shackles of the community and made it to the mainstream in a similar vein to Fox. Interestingly both companies have similar stories. They were both started in the 1970s by dirt bike mad Californians. Evolving over the years into giant corporations that have almost nothing to do with the business that got them started. Oakley started out life making handlebar grips and Fox, well we'll get to Fox soon. To this day the two brands still have many things in common. One being that my mum who knows nothing about motocross recognizes both logos and knows a little something about the products that they produce. Mums or grandmas are even better, truly are the best way to measure how popular and mainstream a brand or product has become. For example grandmas everywhere knew the gangnam style dance and granddads across the nation know all about Tony Stark and the Avengers. I think you get my point. All of these things transcended their niches be it K-pop, comic books or moto to become widely recognized by the mainstream population. But how did this small northern Californian company founded by a physics professor from the University of Santa Clara grow and develop to become a company that races everywhere idolized and mums across the world recognize? Well it's a fascinating story so when I went to visit their HQ in Irvine California last year, I sought out to uncover the history of Fox. As I pulled up to the impressive Fox HQ building which is situated in an influential part of southern California, it immediately became clear that the company had far outgrown its The front of house retail area represents what Fox call the optimum store layout for their brand and products. The general public can come here and shop until their hearts content. I was lucky enough to get a behind the scenes tour of the facility and go beyond where the general public typically get access to. As we moved on the tour took us through a zebra print tunnel to arrive in the heart of the building. A vast open plant atrium complete with ping pong tables, dartboards, museum pieces, memorabilia, artwork and more. The cool free spirited SoCal vibes were abundant. Our tour guide for the day was Mark Finley. Mark has been with the brand for over 20 years and is a key member of the Fox family. I sat down with him to find out why and how this logo has become so iconic. So just to start us off, how long have you guys been here? We've been in this building for about five years max. We've been in southern California for about a total of 10 years, solid 10 years down in southern California. The reality is though we slowly started moving down here with just a few people at a time back in like 2000, 2002, 2003. Before that you was up north. We were always up north up in the bay area near San Francisco. The original headquarters was in like San Jose area. The move from their ancestral home in the north and the subsequent emigration to southern California, the hotbed of American motocross, was a calculated step from Fox in order to stay in touch with the rest of the dirt bike industry. Pete Fox himself, that's the son of the founder Jeff, worked tirelessly to design the Fox HQ. And I think it's safe to say that he was able to create an inspiring workplace for the extended Fox family. But it certainly wasn't quite like this back in the day. During the 1970s I don't think Jeff Fox and his close-knit team had a backyard pit bike track to play on. We often hear the myths of how companies like Apple, Google and Amazon started out life in backyard sheds and dingy garages. Now a lot of the time that's not necessarily accurate, but for Fox it's pretty damn close. They were in like in a little rented space in a bigger industrial building. They literally, you know, there's like roll-up garage doors on a building. Theirs was like one of the doors that rolled up, yeah. And that was in Campbell, which is just outside of San Jose or San Francisco area. The first incarnations of the Fox business were unrecognizable compared to the Apple rail giant that we know today. But if we go back in early 1970s, the motocross world was very, very different. The whole industry was in its infancy and the infrastructure that we rely on today and take for granted was just not in place. Brands like Fox, Oakley and TLD weren't even germs of ideas at the time. In 1969 Jeff Fox uprooted his family from the Midwest state of Wisconsin, moved them to the Pacific coast of in order to teach physics at the University of Santa Clara. By then Jeff had already been bitten by the dirt bike bug and lucky enough for him, he had just relocated to the center of the American moto movement. Keenly staying up to date in all the new European trends and fashions, Jeff soon became the local expert in anything dirt bike related. During this time, Jeff also became more and more involved in his buddy's motorcycle dealership, Grand Prix Cycles. Eventually Jeff became a 49% partner in the shop. They were selling motorcycles from Ducati, American Eagle, CZ and Mako. But the bikes certainly weren't selling in huge numbers. The big business for Jeff was in parts and repairs. The bikes just weren't built to the same standard that we would expect today. I mean, some of them didn't even come with an owner's manual. So Jeff Fox even went about creating his own manual for the CZ machine. He painstakingly took the motorcycle apart, took pictures and identified the part numbers. He then advertised this new manual in Cycle News and sold over 5,000 copies. This was the start of what would become Jeff's mail order business. He realized that a lot of people didn't know where to source parts for their machines and that they didn't know where to find the cool new gear that was being used in Europe. So while still involved at Grand Prix Cycles, Jeff set up a small mail order catalogue that he originally wanted to call Super Trick S***. But a pushback from the magazines that didn't want to run his advert, he renamed the catalogue to Super Trick Stuff. The catalogue became very popular and by 1972 it was the most profitable part of the dealership. Jeff saw the future in mail order, whereas his partner in the shop wanted to expand to new locations. This resulted in the pair going their separate ways in the winter of 1973. At the start of 1974, Jeff Fox together with his brother Bob started a new company called Moto X Fox. It was the start of big things to come for the Fox family name. The Foxes grew more and more frustrated with the quality of the products that they were selling and distributing. So using their new company as a launch pad, the brothers started developing, producing and manufacturing their own components. But apparel and gear was still a long way off, as Mark explains. Also, Jeff Fox was running a motorcycle dealership at the time as well. And they were also just selling other accessories like grips and spark plugs and things like that. So from 74 to 77, it was more of like suspension, but also aftermarket stuff that they were almost like a distributor for the aftermarket stuff. During those first three years, Jeff was very conscious about marketing. So he set up his own race team to compete in the AMA Championships in order to promote the new business. The legend goes that Jeff Fox wanted his riders to stand out from the crowd. So he went about creating his own bespoke set of Fox racewear. That gear turned out to be the infamous orange and yellow set that you will have seen time and time again over the years. The legend goes on to say that this kit was so striking, so different and so popular that a shop instantly had callers phoning up to demand where on earth they could get a set for themselves. And so history was made. And then in 77 is when they really made the clear split to go one brother doing just suspension and the other brother doing the bespoke. So the head and the tail make up the same Fox. If you didn't know that already, now you do. Fox Shocks and Fox Racing might share the same heritage and come from the same family, but ever since 1977, they've been two completely separate companies. Bob focused on suspension and he took that to new heights in the mountain bike and off-road worlds. Jeff, on the other hand, together with his sons, took Fox Racing or Fox Head as it eventually became renamed and turned it into the juggernaut brand that we know today. Since the end of the 1970s, Jeff and his sons, especially Pete, molded the company into an iconic brand. The Fox Head logo has become synonymous with the sport of motocross and subsequently has been sketched endlessly into school notebooks around the world. The family have been able to build a brand that invokes such a specific, idealistic lifestyle so strongly that many people around the world have decided to get the Fox logo tattooed on them permanently. Snaps and pictures of Fox tattoos line the walls of the Irvine offices. And it's such an honor. How many people do you see with other brands tattooed on their body? You see the Fox Head tattooed quite a bit, so we're obviously super grateful that the logo is that strong. One way in which Fox has been able to grow this level of admiration is through always being at the forefront of what's cool in the sport and being prepared to push the boundaries. The epitome of this forward-thinking, break-the-mold mentality came in 1988, when the madcap ambitions of Pete Fox finally came to fruition. It was called Image Racewear. There was a collection of image product at the time. There was zebra, there was spiderweb, there was polka dots, like that era right there. And it was kind of when Pete was really allowed to do a lot more of the designing. He was still really young at the time, but there was also, there was gear colorways in that image set of racewear that was inspired by the Miami Vice TV show. And it was a teal with pink. Yeah, exactly. So those were instrumental times for us. Personally, for me, growing up in the late 90s, early 2000s, I always viewed Fox as being the gear for champions. Not only did their gear look cool, but it was worn by winners. In the early days, they had the likes of Rick Johnson, Damon Bradshaw, and Jeremy McGrath on board. And continuing that trend of staying ahead of the game, Fox released the Terra Firma video in 1994, featuring the likes of future superstars James Stewart, Charles Mestrana, and Ricky Carmichael. Stewart and Carmichael went on to become two of the most high profile names in the history of the sport. The pair of them both winning perfect seasons dressed head to toe in Fox. Jamie Dobb won his world championship in 2001, sporting the Fox logo. Ken Roxson emerged as a new hero for a new generation. And Ryan Dungey took KTM to the pinnacle of American motocross, whilst rocking the Fox head. This high level of championship pedigree subliminally ingrained into our minds that Fox is for winners, and that if we want to be victorious as well, we need some of those sweet, sweet threads. But as we said, the brand is very different today compared to its origins and the first few decades of its existence. For starters, the Fox family are less involved with the company. After Jeff retired, Pete did take over as CEO. But as of today, the family aren't involved in the day to day running of the business, and Pete is off doing his own thing, as Mark explains. About four years ago, the Fox family sold the company. It's owned by private equity now. There's quite a few of us still here that have worked with the family for years. So the culture has definitely changed a bit. In a lot of ways, I think there were some good things that came out of the change, meaning growing up a little more as a business and getting that more in line. Certainly we missed some of the family insights, specifically with Pete and Jeff Fox. Pete's older brother, Greg, was also super instrumental in running the company. They have a younger brother, John. John Fox, for a number of years, was designing racewear and lifestyle product, but also he was our videographer in the very beginning. John Fox was... Was he like Terra Firma? Terra Firma. And they call him Scrap. So his nickname is Scrap, and John is a super avid skater, surfer, moto guy. He's one of those guys that's just talented at everything he does. So he was really instrumental in the Terra Firma series of videos. A company with as much history as Fox is obviously going to have gone through many changes and evolutions. Today, it seems as though the company is in good, safe hands, and they have their eye on the ball. Reportedly, the company was purchased for somewhere between $100 million and $200 million. And a quick Google search indicates that annual revenue comes in north of $200 million each year. But it's not always been so focused in the Fox offices. The brand has understandably tried to diversify as much as possible, but that's not always for the best. There was definitely a time where surf wakeboarding took a little bit of a higher priority in the building. And I would say in the last five or six years, we've really tried to focus back in on moto and mountain biking. In the front shop, it's a big picture, right? And don't you say, we are moto, It's very intentional, Max. We realized we took our eye off the ball a little bit when we were diversifying and doing more in surf and wakeboarding. Those were great times, but the reality is we're a core two-wheel brand. And we just, like our lifestyle apparel, as we move forward, we're really trying to understand how to service this lifestyle, meaning a two-wheel lifestyle. We're not necessarily trying to chase a surf business or a wakeboard business. We want to really focus back in on the core of the business. So if you could say in one sentence, what are the core values of Fox or what's the whole ideology of the company? Yeah. So our internal mission statement is to equip and inspire our communities to experience the best ride ever. Mission statements are corny. They're kind of weird. And it took us a long time to come up with that one, but for us to equip and inspire, to equip, that means the equipment that we're making. It's what we all work on inside this building, the helmets, the boots, the chest protectors, but also inspiring people to want to be a part of this family. That's really what we're trying to do here. Fox really does have a fascinating history steeped in the legend and lore of the early American motocross scene. And the brand has become so iconic and so beloved for a multitude of reasons. To this day, Fox live up to that mission statement that Mark explained. A prime example of this is how they came in to support and save Pala Raceway, which is one of Southern California's top riding locations. It kind of goes back to our mission statement to equip and inspire our communities to experience the best ride ever. To experience the best ride ever, we realized there was a need to elevate the track experience anywhere in Southern California. Jeff Taylor, our marketing director, heard that Pala was potentially in some trouble or could use some title sponsorship help. He had always had the dream, he lives down near there, and he'd always had the idea or the dream of like, let's get involved with a raceway and let's try and create the best experience in Southern California for a racetrack. So that was really the mission and the goal, and we're slowly getting to where it's a great experience. What Jeff's trying to promote, and I love it, is Pala or Fox Raceway. Right now, there's maybe like three tracks there, but in its prime, there was six tracks. There was a mini track, there was a kid's track, vet track, pro track. So we want to promote riding for everyone. So if you bring your wife or your girlfriend out there, there's a beginner track she can ride. You bring your kids out, they can ride a kid's track. We put in a playground out there. There's a full grass field, there's a swing set. You can bring the whole family and have a great experience. I think getting new people riding, as I mentioned earlier, the wife or the girlfriend, the kids, it's our job to get more people on motorcycles. Whether it's track or trail riding, to your point, getting new people on bikes, making sure they have a great experience when they first start riding. That's what we're looking to do. It's so awesome to see Fox reinvesting in the community and giving back to the people that helped them become the iconic international brand that they are today. Now that's a sweet conclusion to a story that's been 40 years in the making. So there we have it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into the one of our most iconic and influential brands. Let me know in the comments down below if you enjoyed this style of video and if you want me to jump into the history of any more brands or topics. For now, though, remember to like, share and subscribe. Head over to our official Instagram page at One Minute Moto for bonus action. Until next time, though, I've been Max. I'll see you at the track. Right on, Max. Thanks for coming out.