Building on their clothing partnership with Fiat Auto (which has seen the arrival of men's and women's leisure jackets), Italian protective sportswear manufacturer Dainese have presented four unique Fiat Pandas on their stand at the Bologna Motor Show this week. The four cars - which each represent a different theme - form the backdrop to the display, and are eye-catching as they are suspended vertically. Dummies clothed in Dainese's motorcycle and ski outfits pepper the brightly-coloured stand.

Specialist firm Dainese, is an Italian company that is an undoubted world leader in the manufacture of protective clothing for motorcyclists and other dynamic sports. Its headquarters are at Molvena, a province of Vicenza, where the Management, Research & Development, and Production Departments' are all located. They boast a total of twenty-one thousand square metres accommodating 310 employees and a company turnover of around 83 million euros, with 60 percent of these revenues coming from exports. In addition to its leadership its home market, today Dainese has a top-ranking position in many countries including Germany, England, France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and the United States. Dainese can count bike stars Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi and Troy Bayliss amongst its clients.
 

The validity of protective concepts perfected in the world of biking though has permitted Dainese to earn itself an important position in other sports disciplines as well, such as skiing, mountain biking, snowboard and in-line skating, and it has collaborated with world champions in these sports, such as the skiers Kristian Ghedina, Luc Alphand and Deborah Compagnoni.

Dainese have also co-operated recently with Fiat on the design of male and female leisure jackets, one of the recent branding concepts pushed by Fiat's marketing boss Lapo Elkann, which has led to strong branding synergies developing between both the parties. Dainese's research and development arm, D-TEC, are leaders in lightweight materials and are constantly developing international projects, ably supported by a network of collaboration with research institutes, such as the CNR (National Research Council), and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), with architects and designers, specialists in the definition of technological platforms, such as the Israelian Merhav AAP, with whom Dainese perfected the D-AIR project, a revolutionary Air Bag for motorcyclists.