Alpinestars MSE Tartan Jacket

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The Tartan shirt from Alpinestars is a part of their MO. ST. EQ or MSE or Moto Streetwear Equipment line, the point of this line is to provide Moto gear that is super casual looking and that would easily be mistaken for regular street wear. With that said, I am just shaking my head at Alpinestars naming conventions, seems like they always have the most complicated names for their products and lines, not sure why that is. Moving on, overall construction on the Tartan shirt is a combination of an internal 9% elastane, 4-way stretch material with attached and exposed armor, and a high-resistance polyamide checkered pattern outer material. The Tartan shirt is also treated with a water-repellent finish and for impact protection features exposed CE Level 1-rated Nucleon Flex Plus shoulder and elbow armor. Overall the Tartan shirt earns a CE Level A rating.

Additional features include a zippered main closure with external snaps, zippered hand pockets, an internal waterproof compartment, pant connection loops, a detachable hood and a sublimated internal mesh liner. Overall the Tartan jacket has a unique look as it basically looks like a short sleeve plaid shirt being worn over a hoodie, but in reality the hoodie has armor on it and the two are attached as one piece rather than two. Definitely a unique design and style for a piece of protective motorcycle gear.

Overall the Tartan shirt from Alpinestars fits the urban look during the milder weather months, it probably would perform super well in the cold or in the high heat, so most likely vest in spring and fall. At a price of $329.95 you are getting a good CE Level A with Level 1 armor riding jacket, but you are paying a good bit of that money to the unique style rather than fully towards functionality and safety. In that price range there are jackets that are AA rated, and that in my opinion both look and function better. Also to note, the interior liner is LOUD, think blazing fire gradient transitioning from yellow to orange to red loud. So again I think the key with this jacket is style, if it fits your style, then you will most likely love it, if it doesn’t fully fit your style I would say look elsewhere. Another thing to note, is that the Tartan jacket doesn’t at all fit like an Alpinestars jacket normally does, its honestly quite loose, and when I put on a size XL, what I normally wear, I felt like I had plenty of room in all areas and could possibly get away with going down a size. :: Damir 8/2/24.