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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sporting goods |
| Founded | 1981; 44 years ago (1981) |
| Founder | Troy Lee |
| Headquarters | Corona, California, US |
Area served | 15 countries |
| Products | |
| Website | troyleedesigns.com |
Troy Lee Designs (TLD) is an Americanaction sports apparel and custom paint company founded in 1981 and headquartered inCorona, California. Troy Lee Designs is aprivately held company run by theeponymous founder Troy Lee and co-owned by investment partners Fasthouse.[1]
Troy Lee's products includedirtbike andmountain biking equipment (helmets, jerseys, gloves, pants),
Troy Lee was the son of an artist and motorcycle racer named Larry Lee,[2] and grandson of Bonneville Speed Trials co-founder Marvin Lee. Troy was an aspiring professionalmotocross racer inSouthern California in the early 1980s who had started painting themotocross helmets of several of his pro racing friends, eventually giving up the pursuit of racing fame to devote his full time and efforts to painting helmets. Besides custom paint, his early product offerings were limited to custom-made visors for motocross helmets, which hevacuum-formed in the oven in his mother’s house in Corona, California. Due to the constant smell of burnt plastic permeating the house, Troy’s mother Linda forced him to move the business out of her house, which he eventually relocated to a hangar at theCorona Municipal Airport.
The terms of the airport lease were such that Troy was required to dedicate 40% of his business to aviation related services, so he began paintingregistration numbers on private aircraft. The business remained at that location and Troy started to develop a line of mountain bike helmets in cooperation with Japanese helmet makerShoei until 1991, when operations were moved to a newly constructed building in a business park complex less than a mile away. The product line had grown tomountain bike apparel and helmets, helmet visors, stickers as well assportswear. By 1998 TLD started to develop a line of motocross apparel, which by 2004 had grown to a full line of motocross and mountain bike apparel, helmets and protective gear.
In 2001, Troy Lee formed asupermoto race team featuring himself andsupercross and motocross racing'sJeremy McGrath andJeff Ward to contest the newly formedAMA Supermoto national championship series with equipment support fromHonda and title sponsorsRed Bull.
In 2003, Troy moved the business into the unique and historic former Ganahl Lumber building, a 22,600 square feet (2,100 m2) facility that includes a 4,000 sq ft (370 m2) showroom and museum that showcases Troy’s collection of unique sports memorabilia.[3] The race team continued to grow in size with the addition ofDoug Henry, Chris Fillmore and Cassidy Anderson. The team won multiple AMA Supermoto titles between 2004–2006 in both the 250cc and 450cc classes with Ward and Anderson.[4]
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Troy Lee Designs products are sold worldwide by a network of distributors in 15 different countries that include theUnited Kingdom,France,Spain,Italy,Germany,Benelux,Switzerland,Australia,New Zealand,Japan,Philippines,Argentina,Peru andCanada. Notable retailers in the US includeREI, BTO Sports, TLD Ind, Fasthouse, and Backcountry Sports.
