Cold hands end rides. Not dramatically, not all at once, but they end them. You stop enjoying the road, you start counting junctions to the next coffee, and eventually you leave the bike at home until March. Solving that one problem is the whole reason KEIS heated apparel exists, and it has been the brief since 2004. This is the story of how a single heated motorcycle glove turned into the UK's number one heated clothing brand.
2004: DAVID GATH AND THE ORIGINAL SNUG HEATED GLOVE
KEIS was founded in 2004 by David Gath, who spotted a gap that riders had been complaining about for decades. The brand began with the original Snug heated glove in the 90s: one heated motorcycle glove, aimed squarely at the part of the body that gives up first. Wind chill hits your hands before anything else, and once your fingers go, so does your throttle control and your concentration.
The Snug glove sold the way good technical products tend to sell. Nobody bought it for the branding. Riders bought it because a mate at a service station said it worked, and then they came back for whatever was next. That word of mouth built the customer base that KEIS still recognises today, and plenty of those early riders are still on the list.
MICRO CARBON HEATING AND THE ENGINEERING BEHIND IT
One heated glove became a full range of heated motorcycle clothing, and the range forced a harder question: how do you put heat exactly where a rider needs it without adding bulk to a garment that has to fit under a riding jacket. The answer was Micro Carbon Heating, the panel technology that sits behind every KEIS heated jacket, heated vest, heated glove and pair of heated trousers. Thin, flexible, spread across the chest, back, collar and sleeves rather than concentrated in hot spots.
Everything else followed from that decision. Garments are cut slim because they are worn as a layer, never as a replacement for your outer gear. Power comes either from the bike, through a supply lead wired to the battery, or from KEIS fast charge portable packs for riders who want to walk away from the bike and stay warm. Controllers went from basic to wired to Bluetooth, so heat levels can be set without taking a hand off the bars for longer than a second.
The range now covers heated jackets, heated vests and bodywarmers, heated gloves, heated trousers, heated socks, and even a heated seat, plus the batteries, power leads and controllers that run them. The heating panels carry a lifetime warranty. That is not a marketing line, it is a commitment to the one component people worry about most.
WE DON'T JUST SELL HEATED APPAREL. WE LIVE AND BREATHE WINTER MOTORCYCLING.
2023: MARTIN KING TAKES OWNERSHIP
In 2023 ownership of KEIS heated apparel passed from David Gath to Martin King (His son in law). Handovers like that can go two ways. A brand either gets stripped for parts, or it gets the investment it has been waiting for. KEIS got the second one.
The product philosophy did not move. Heat where you need it, built to layer, powered properly, warrantied honestly. What changed was the pace around it: a wider range of heated clothing, a refreshed brand identity in 2024 and 2025, a stronger dealer network, and a proper support operation for riders who need a size swapped or a question answered before the first cold snap. The brand became easier to buy from and easier to talk to.
TWENTY TWO YEARS, FOUR MOMENTS
2002: David Gath founds KEIS. The original Snug heated glove is the first product.
2014: Heating elements move onto a lifetime warranty, covering every garment sold from September that year.
2023: Martin King takes ownership. Same product brief, considerably more ambition.
Today: The UK's number one heated clothing brand, designed and supported from Hook, Hampshire.
HEATED CLOTHING INNOVATION, AND WHERE IT GOES NEXT
Being the UK's biggest heated clothing brand is a reason to work harder, not a reason to settle. The current work on heated motorcycle apparel sits in three places.
Power, because run time is what riders ask about first and battery technology keeps moving. Control, because heat you can adjust in one movement, at a glance, is worth more than another setting nobody uses. And fit, because a heated garment that bunches under a jacket is a garment you leave in the wardrobe.
That thinking is also taking KEIS past the bike. The KEIS Heated Motorcycle Cushion came out of a simple observation, that riders get cold in places a jacket cannot help with. Dog walkers, race marshals, photographers and spectators have been buying heated kit for years. We design for riders first, and the rest of the cold weather world is welcome to come along.
BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF WINTER RIDERS
The best thing about this brand has always been the people who use it. Riders who tell us exactly what the kit got right and what it did not on a February commute. Riders who talk other riders into their first heated vest or heated jacket. Riders who send photos from the Alps in October, from a wet Welsh B road, from a car park at six in the morning.
So we are building around them properly: honest guidance on choosing between heated gloves and a heated liner, or a 12V and a portable battery setup, real answers from people who ride, ride outs and events, and the space to share the kind of tips that only come from thousands of cold miles. Our support team exists to keep you riding, not to close tickets.
Twenty two years on from one heated glove, the ambition is unchanged and slightly bigger. Make cold weather motorcycling something you look forward to, and keep the season open all year.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY / EMBRACE THE WARMTH
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