VESPA AND SEAN WOTHERSPOON ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN ONE OF THE MOST CREATIVE AND INFLUENTIAL YOUNG DESIGNERS AND THE ICONIC BRAND FOR STYLE ON TWO WHEELS

A CAPSULE COLLECTION AND A LIMITED VESPA EDITION FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2020, TO BE PRESENTED AT THE EICMA SHOW IN NOVEMBER 2019 MICHELE COLANINNO: “THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF COLLABORATIONS TO CREATE CLOSER TIES FOR OUR BRANDS WITH THE WORLD OF DESIGN AND FASHION”

Los Angeles (USA), 6 September 2019 – Sean Wotherspoon and Vespa have announced a partnership to create a new style: bold, irreverent and fun, for those who express a unique and youthful spirit in and beyond the urban environment.

The Piaggio Group has always had a keen eye for the ever-changing trends and experiences that motivate and inspire today’s generations. Sean Wotherspoon seemed like the perfect partner to share and implement innovative ideas.

Sean Wotherspoon is one of the rising stars of youth fashion in the USA. Pure energy, unstoppable and curious; a forerunner, an experimenter, a fanatic of street culture and of everything it can encompass.

Instagram is the world through which he communicates and shares his passion, and his almost one million followers adore him. As the Nike Air Max 97 sneakers that made him famous testify,Wotherspoon plays with colors, mixing them together and adding innovative and sometimes unlikely materials together with the most disparate fabrics.

Promoting this culture of color Sean Wotherspoon’s mission and the endeavor with Vespa came naturally. The idea that immediately fascinated the designer starts from a “vintage” soul perfectly revisited in a contemporary key, as the DNA of the Vespa brand demands. The partnership aims to create a community of individuals around the brand who want to have fun not only with personal fashion tastes, but also, and above all, by making style and carefree enjoyment their primary colors on the streets. No brand outside of Vespa could interpret this challenge better and more consistently.

So Wotherspoon will define the aesthetic standards of a special and limited-edition Vespa Primavera further complimented with a dedicated helmet and an exclusive streetwear capsule collection. The first results of this creative process will be presented in November 2019 at EICMA in Milan, with the collection, that is already exciting Vespa enthusiasts and fans of Sean Wotherspoon, being released globally in Spring 2020.

 Sean Wotherspoon did not hide his enthusiasm about the partnership: “Based on their immense history and heritage I’m beyond excited to start work with Vespa/Piaggio. I’m going to dig as deep as possible to help re-create these memories and re-imagine them through my lens to share with everyone! This is going to be insane! Stay tuned!”

“We are delighted to begin working with Sean,” said Michele Colaninno. “He is one of the most gifted and creative designers in the USA. We immediately struck up a great rapport and there is no question that something spectacular will come out of this….This is only the beginning of a series of collaborations starting soon that will bring Vespa and our other fantastic brands like Moto Guzzi and Aprilia into even greater contact with the world of design and fashion, where they naturally belong.”

About Sean Wotherspoon

In 2013, Sean along with two friends opened Round Two in Richmond, Virginia, a store destined to become legendary in a matter of months. Today, there are Round Two stores in all the leading US cities. The passion for sneakers and sportswear of the past decades, the love for creativity and color that characterized the 80s and 90s and then a revolutionary and irrepressible creative verve are the basis of a global success that led Sean to collaborate first with Nike and then with giants like Disney, Prince, Lacoste and Galleries Lafayette.

About Vespa

It was 1946 when Vespa made its debut on the roads of a Europe devastated by the recent conflict but, equally, full of creativity and a desire for renewal. After seventy-three years of history and over eighteen million scooters, Vespa is a global reference for style, elegance and technology. A brand known and loved all over the world that, with more than one and a half million vehicles produced in the last decade, is experiencing one of the most fortunate and dynamic periods in its story.

Auto Trader has named the Vespa GTS 300 hpe SuperTech as the Best Scooter in its annual Best Bike Awards.

As the judges’ favourite in the hotly contested Scooter category, the GTS 300 hpe SuperTech beat competition from BMW and Honda to win the award. When asked about the winning bike, Guest Judge Jon Quirk said, “Vespa is the only scooter company that manages to elevate a seemingly ordinary device into a functional art form. The GTS 300 remains the definitive scooter with its unique style and, in HPE form, improved performance. It remains a class act.”

Simon Greenacre, Marketing Communications Coordinator at Vespa/Piaggio Group in the UK said, “It’s great to see the newest member of the Vespa GTS family getting this kind of recognition. The GTS 300 hpe SuperTech is the most powerful Vespa we’ve ever made and is also packed with technology to make it a joy to use own and use, so we're pleased that it carries the GTS name forwards with this award.”

New for 2019, the SuperTech is the flagship GTS 300 hpe and the latest addition to the Vespa GTS 300 range. Featuring a colour TFT display with smartphone connectivity and a new high-performance engine (hpe), the most powerful seen on a Vespa with over 23 hp, the new SuperTech is the flagship Vespa, a model that carries Vespa’s style, heritage and hostroy of riding pleasure in to the future with while being packed with technology and innovation.

Tuono V4 1100 Factory recognised as class-leader in annual Motorcycle News Awards

Aprilia is proud to announce that the Tuono V4 1100 Factory has won the award for Best Super Naked in the 2019 MCN Awards.

The Tuono V4 1100 Factory beat competition from rival manufacturers including BMW, KTM and Yamaha to take the prize for Best Super Naked in the 2019 MCN Awards, the results of which were announced today.

For 2019 the top-spec Factory model benefits from the addition of Öhlins Smart EC 2.0 semi-active suspension and steering damper. After riding the bike at its launch in Italy Michael Neeves, MCN’s Chief Road Tester said, “Aprilia have somehow managed to improve the unimprovable.” Read his full review here and watch the review here.

Simon Greenacre, Marketing Communications Coordinator at Aprilia/Piaggio Group in the UK said, “The Tuono V4 1100 Factory is a sensational package. It’s all there on paper – an astounding V4 engine complimented by a suite of cutting-edge electronics and high-spec parts from the likes of Brembo and Öhlins, all built around the frame from the RSV4 superbike. The result when riding is a perfect blend of power, poise, precision and pleasure. The Tuono V4 1100 Factory is often hailed as the perfect sports road bike and Aprilia is delighted that MCN has recognised its excellence with this accolade.”

Representing state-of-the-art in technology, the Tuono V4 1100 Factory is equipped with sophisticated electronic management that includes an advanced dynamic controls package with APRC, cornering ABS, quick shift active even in downshifting, pit limiter and cruise control. The unique 175 hp 65° V4 engine and racing frame provide unparalleled performance. Simply unrivalled, the Aprilia Tuono V4 has consistently been voted as one of the most exciting and exquisite motorcycles ever built.

The award for Best Super Naked from MCN is the second to be bestowed on the Tuono V4 1100 Factory in 2019, with the first coming from Auto Trader, which decreed the top-of-the-range Tuono to be its Best Naked in its 2019 Best Bike Awards.