Now granted, I don’t own any Shift stuff, in fact I’ve never even seen it in person because I’ve never even heard of a retailer that sells it–are they online only? anyway…
I don’t like Shift personally because their pricing puts them on the level of a lot of the higher-end designer brands such as RS Taichi, Alpinestars, and almost at the level of even Dainese stuff. I just don’t understand where they can get the gall to charge that much for something made in Korea. $500 for a leather jacket?
I had a lengthy discussion about this with Brian Van, owner of Sportbiketrackgear, who is a fan of Shift gear. But while he couldn’t directly come out and say it, he did strongly imply that Shift isn’t worth the money they’re charging for it. He said that while they are good quality stuff, he feels they should be priced more in line with Teknic’s merchandise as Teknic is a much closer competitor to them. He stated that while Shift certainly does have its strong points, they’re not at the level of quality and safety of RS Tachi and Alpinestars, who are both comparably priced.
I wouldn’t have any problem buying a Shift jacket that was on sale/closeout, but I won’t pay $300 for a hybrid leather/textile jacket when I could get a full leather jacket from Teknic of comparable quality for less. And I certainly won’t pay $500 for a jacket that wasn’t made in Italy (exception being RS Taichi).
EDIT – The bottom line is this: Kias and Hyundais are great cars for what they are. But I’d never pay BMW prices for them, and I feel that is what they are trying to do: Sell Kia and Hyundai equivalent merchandise at a price point that puts it in direct competition with BMWs.
Also, WTF is up with that one textile jacket they have that looks like someone puked confetti all over it?