(Editor’s note: In an effort to provide some insight into the ever-popular Google search: “How to get a job in powersports,” and with college graduation right around the corner, this 20-minute read on KLIM’s senior motorcycle designer making a name for herself in the fast-paced motorcycle industry shows what success can look like behind-the-scenes. Settle in.)

The tl;dr version of this story’s tips:

- Seek out valuable internships

- Stack college classes

- Network before you need to

- Be ready for feedback

- Continue learning and improving

Kelsey Runge settles in for our late October interview, KLIM’s senior designer for all of men’s and women’s motorcycle and off-road apparel – hundreds of pieces – in between building a shop house in Swan Valley, Idaho, mothering two dogs and dozens of house plants, guest starring on podcasts and, in her spare time, working to empower and support the growing number of female motorcyclists. Did I mention she’s ridden a KTM 790 Adventure motorcycle cross country by herself? 

 

Growing up in Antwerp, Ohio, a one-stoplight-town just east of Fort Wayne, Indiana, the youngest of three with an older brother and sister, Kelsey remembers always wanting to hang out with her dad and brother, play sports and ride dirt bikes. 

“It's one of those towns, most people don't get out,” she said. “I have friends that still live in my hometown and never left and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh.'”

Around age 8, she remembers drawing girls' clothes and dresses, cutting up magazines and pictures of outfits, making binders of inspiring designs. With her dad and brother, though, she hunted waterfowl and shot her first deer at 15. 

“In Ohio, you can't use a rifle, so I had to do it with the slug barrel shotgun,” she said, “And it was intense because you have to be a little closer with a shotgun.”

 

She still has her first deer mount: “It’s actually my favorite memory growing up, probably outside of sports.” 

In high school, 6-foot-tall since eighth grade, she became a four-sport athlete, playing basketball, softball, volleyball and running track and field for the Antwerp Archers, plus a travel volleyball team, her parents dragging her all over the country for volleyball tournaments from Texas to Florida. 

“It was fun. It was really time consuming,” she remembers. 

This eventually led to multiple scholarship offers to play volleyball before senior year.

“For me to go anywhere with my career or sports, I decided pretty early on that I wanted to play college volleyball,” she said. 

She ended up enrolling in fashion school at Louisiana and signing on as a setter for the Ragin' Cajuns. 

“I like to lead, and the setter gets to call the plays and they get to choose what happens,” she said. “So that was totally up my alley.”

Moving 1,000 miles from home at 18 wasn’t scary at all, she said. In fact, she picked the school furthest from home on purpose. 

“I wanted to see how far I could move and if I could do it,” she said. “And I didn’t feel held back by my family at all, either.”

Plus, Louisiana had an art school and Division I athletics – a rare find: “Most art schools that offer a good apparel design program don't have sports. And most colleges that are really well known for their sports don’t always have art.” 

She chased both dreams for a year, until the fashion program folded in 2011, leaving her with a tough decision. 

“They told us, ‘You’ve got to switch your major,” Kelsey recalled. “I was stuck as this freshman kid trying to figure out if volleyball or my major was more important, because at that time, when you're a D-I athlete, that's all you care about.” 

Her decision came fast: “I was like, ‘Nope, I’ve known since I was 8 I wanted to design clothes. I can’t do that (change majors.) So I transferred to Buffalo State.” 

 

But not before studying abroad in Florence, Italy, for the summer with her fashion illustration teacher who grew up there. 

“He would basically sit us down in some piazza somewhere and be like, ‘Draw what you see.’ And everyone's drawing buildings and I’m drawing people walking around and clothes. It was very life changing to get out. It just helped jumpstart the whole process for me.”

Back in the states, Kelsey started her sophomore year at Buffalo State playing volleyball and studying apparel design and textile technology. In class learning about fabrics, dye and fiber focus, along with printing and design programs like Illustrator, Photoshop and CAD, she realized she wanted to design something more technical instead of high fashion. 

“I always laugh about that because these girls would show up to the nines – lipstick, hair done, high heels – to fashion class, and I'm in my volleyball sweatsuit,” she said. 

Within a year, she caught the attention of her academic adviser who called Kelsey into her office. 

“She’s like, 'Hey, there's an internship at Under Armour for apparel design, and I think this would be perfect for you.’ And I was like, ‘There's no way I'm gonna get that.’ You know what I mean?”

Convinced to apply, she landed an online interview and was hired as the only apparel design intern that summer. 

“They have a rookie league of like 40 interns,” she said. “And I was the only one in design, but it was super cool because I think Under Armour noticed, ‘Oh, she's getting an apparel degree, but she's also a college athlete. This is perfect.’”

She designed men’s golf for the brand that summer, which wasn’t her first choice, but she made it work by networking with other departments trying to figure out where she would want to be if she came back. 

“I was very intentional about what I wanted to do after college,” she said. “When I walked through the Hunt/Fish department at Under Armour, and there's a boar head on someone's desk, I was like, ‘This is home. This is it,’ so I started networking with the people in that department.”

She came up with a plan to only use the printer near the Hunt/Fish boss’ desk.

“When I had downtime, I would research inspirational stuff and instead of printing it to the printer I was supposed to use, I printed it to the other one, so I could walk by – I wanted him to see my face. I would just print some stuff, and I would drop it off at his desk and be like, ‘Hey, I saw this today,’ and so he knew me. And I didn't even work for him.”

Fast forward to senior year, she had enough credits to graduate early – if she took a night class during volleyball season. 

“It was 6 a.m. weightlifting, and then class, and then four hours of practice, and then night class, and then I'd leave Friday morning for tournaments, which created Crying Thursdays every Thursday of the week,” she said. 

On the side, she started emailing the Hunt/Fish boss about once a month until she graduated. 

“I was like, ‘Hey, I'm just letting you know, if you need someone, I'm graduating a semester early.’ I didn't want him to forget about me.”

Two weeks after she graduated, she was hired as a designer in the Hunt/Fish department. 

“It was my dream job,” she said. 

Not for long. 

“I always wanted to live out west,” she admits now. “I've always felt more myself in the mountains. Louisiana was way too humid for me. Baltimore was way too city for me. I got a little claustrophobic. I just wanted to go hiking with my dog.”

So, in 2018, she accepted KLIM's motorcycle designer position and moved with her husband, Seth, to Idaho where she could be outside more. 

“I can hunt more, I can do all the things I want to do more,” she added. “I think that was what made me comfortable about coming here.” 

***

Four years ago, Kelsey was back in Italy, this time in Milan at EICMA for the first time, the world’s largest motorcycle show, where the KLIM booth featured a near lifesize photo of herself, along with the first-year Artemis kit, the industry’s first women’s adventure jacket designed for women by women – her design. It’s one of her favorite memories from the last six years: seeing her face in the KLIM booth pictured above. 

“That year the Artemis came out was the first year I went to EICMA,” she recalled via text from this year’s show; she attends every year now. “I walked in and saw it, and no one had told me they were going to feature me on the display, so I was really surprised. I definitely had a moment of accomplishment sweep over me, because I knew in that moment that people were going to start recognizing me for my work at KLIM.” 

She realized then how much designing for motorcycles and developing women-specific features would mean to her. 

“It also boosted my confidence as a designer because you always dream of designing something worth getting that recognition and having people know your name for all your hard work.”

It was the validation she needed in that moment to keep going down the path she’s still on. 

“I knew I was doing what I was meant to be doing,” she added. “It was awesome.”

The timing, too, could not have been better with the number of female motorcycle riders growing every year – it’s one of the fastest growing motorcycle markets – the Artemis was a hit. 

“That was my first memorable moment at KLIM – just the amount of recognition and feedback from focusing on the women for once,” Kelsey said, adding that it was a late season add to the line and “super intense.” 

“We had to get it right,” she said, “And I know it's a great piece, but I know it can always be better, because that's what designing is, right? It can always be better. So I've learned that, too, and we're trying to make every generation better.”

It’s been six years last September since she’s started here – problem-solving yearslong customer feedback and finding women-specific solutions. She’s figured out how to improve the collar holdback and is especially proud of what she’s accomplished for KLIM Women, having not used pink on any motorcycle piece since she started. 

“I can't say for off-road, I've used pink in off-road, which I think is different, but I have not put pink on a single motorcycle piece,” she said. 

It’s something she takes seriously as a non-pink-wearing consumer and just another comment she’s heard repeated from female riders all over the world.  

“It's not a personal thing,” she said. “I try not to push for just my personal preference. I'm trying to do what's right for the industry, and if I get enough women's feedback that says the same thing as me, then this is what it should be. So, that was a big accomplishment.”

The first year of the Artemis, Kelsey used a corral red color. 

“And they asked me for pink, and I’m like, ‘I’m not doing anything pink. This is the closest I’ll get.’”

And she was right. “It was so well received,” she said. “Everyone loved that colorway.”

She likes making a difference. 

“I want to stand out,” she said. “But not as a female. I just want to stand out as a designer and a rider.”

At 31, she looks back on other memorable moments since starting at KLIM. 

“The first one that comes to mind is just getting thrown into being the sole motorcycle designer,” she said. 

As a former Division I athlete who admittedly “loves change and loves a challenge,” she thrived. Within weeks of moving, she purchased a dirt bike, a month later, her motorcycle license and a few months after that, a motorcycle to ride around and to work. 

“When I got here, I was the only one on the team not riding, so I was like, ‘OK, I gotta do this, and I gotta do it well.” 

From there, she started figuring out what the gear needed to be like, working to develop the first-ever purpose-built women’s only adventure kit, conducting market research from women in different countries. 

“I was doing everything I could to get as much feedback as possible,” she said. “But I had never designed for motorcycle, let alone this very needy group of women that don't have anything to wear, so I had to get it right.”

She learned quickly – about fabrics and protection – how to be a professional in motorcycle design and align with KLIM’s mission to drive premium quality, performance and innovation that enhances the riding experience. 

“I became very valuable to the company very quickly, because I took on that role of learning,” she says, naming off a list. “All of that stuff really intrigued me, and I like designing really technical gear. I like the challenge of function first, but you still have to make it look good, which you can't get in every company. And so that challenge kept me interested.”

So valuable that in less than two years Kelsey was promoted to senior designer, owning the category and pushing herself to run the line and become the best at designing motorcycle gear. After that, a whole new world was born that also fit her personality and childhood memories growing up riding dirt bikes with her dad and brother and always hanging out at the motocross track. 

Once more of her designs started coming out and making enough of an impact, people started reaching out to personally thank her. 

“That's the continuing factor that keeps me wanting to do it,” she said. “I think working for a company where you feel like you're making that impact is what's keeping me here, because I do feel like I have a purpose. I think you’re impacted completely differently as a designer where you’re like, ‘Wow. I actually matter.’”

Plus, she feels rewarded by being able to push the boundaries with brighter colors and cooler combos. 

“KLIM does a really good job of making sure we're providing the best of everything for our consumer. So we spend a lot of time finding the best – GORE-TEX, stretch, protective fabric, zippers, reflective film – which is what drives our prices up, but it also ensures that the riders are going to have a good experience.” 

As a designer, she learns what all of those bests are, applies them to the garment and then makes it look good – “It's a challenge,” she said. 

The team works together, relying on having good riding experiences to stay on top of function and trends. 

“I do utilize a lot of people in the building for that,” she said. “And it's fun in that aspect. It creates a cool work environment to be able to rely on your coworkers and other designers who also ride.” 

Another unique aspect of working at KLIM is receiving direct feedback from customers and being able to make changes based on that feedback. 

“When anything pertains to an actual design in the motorcycle category, it gets forwarded to me,” she said. “I do actually get those emails, and I will read all of the feedback that comes through, and sometimes it's really bad, but that's most helpful.” (Email: feedback@klim.com) 

She’s joined motorcycle Facebook groups to find helpful feedback from female riders talking about fit and comfort, and that was the birth of the chest vent. 

“I'm like, 'OK, where do women sweat the most? And where does sweat collect the most? It's right under the bust. And this is where we need airflow.' A lot of comments were pumped on that because no one's ever thought to do it.” 

She enjoys attending motorcycle shows and riding events, solo riding a motorcycle to Portland for a three-day moto camping ride with 60 women — “It was the coolest thing ever.” — along with concepting innovative products to push into the line that customers have been asking for.

“It is fun on our end to say, ‘I think we really need this.’ And sometimes they don’t know we need it until they see it in front of them. We’re just trying to always push the boundaries and stay on trend.”

Looking back, it hasn’t always been easy though she remembers more breakdowns on the trail — “I’m in over my head. What am I doing with my life?” — than in the boardroom. 

 

“It was tough coming here,” she said. “Just the change in the level of perfection that KLIM demands. I love it, but I definitely felt like I had to earn that trust, which isn't a bad thing. But I never backed down from what I thought was right. And I think that helped push the line forward a little bit.” 

Getting critiqued is part of the job, too, and something she’s dealt with as a designer, leaning on her experience playing different sports for different coaches and her natural abilities, admitting how she didn’t have anyone pushing or guiding her but was instinctively driven to make a name for herself: “I just figured it out.” 

 

“I’ve gone through a lot of critique in my life, and I think that’s helped me in my career here,” she added. “I feel like the critique process is part of the design process. You just have to keep pushing through it.” 

Being confident in what you're doing helps, too. 

“If you’re not super confident, and you give up a lot, it's harder to be in this career path,” she said. “You have to believe in yourself, have really good ideas, think things through and do your research. Then you’ll have less critique.”

But it still happens. 

“I just push through it,” she said. “You just have to know that anything you do in the design world will get critiqued, whether it is internally within your company or externally after the designs are out. It will still continue to get critiqued for years and years and years, so you just kind of have to accept that and take the good stuff as wins and celebrate the good stuff.” 

***

An hour goes by and there’s still so much to cover – COVID, future goals and her being unaware that Women ADV Riders called her “KLIM’s secret weapon” in 2018 – we end up extending this interview over two days. 

Right now, she’s in different parts of two or three seasons all the time, finishing up samples and buttoning up production for one while designing, coloring and handing off another and developing the next. 

“Luckily we get to wear test a lot of the new stuff, which is good, so I know what I can fix pretty early on,” she said.  

It’s hard to look back on the last couple of years with the pandemic and changing work environments and not talk about the benefits that came with record year-over-year growth. 

“Nobody gave up the outdoors during all that,” she said. “Everybody’s still committed to getting outside and getting dirt bikes, so it was fun to see the industry grow through that, even though it sucked for everybody. It was definitely beneficial as far as getting out more.” 

Last fall, Kelsey took on a leadership role as a KLIM ambassador for Polaris’ Women Leaders in Powersports group, a professional network to explore and advance women in the powersports industry, and started taking initiatives in the office to get more women on bikes. This May, in conjunction with the 17th annual International Female Ride Day, she organized a female-specific motorcycle training course, led by two female instructors, for a dozen KLIM female employees to learn the basic street strategies of road riding.

Her purpose, she said, became putting time into showing other females how to ride and expanding women’s involvement.

“It’s an expensive sport and there's a lot of women, especially here, who want to ride, and they just don’t have the resources or the people to help them do it," she said. "I wanted to be that person and bridge that gap.” 

In 2022, she was rewarded with an assistant designer to manage and train how to build motorcycle gear durable enough to last that doesn’t need to be replaced every year. She talks about a 10-year-old Badlands Jacket in great condition without a single hole that is still waterproof. 

When I ask about her favorite thing to do outside of work – paddleboarding or snowshoeing with her dogs, teaching her husband how to ride motorcycles, camping by the fire at her new mountain house on the banks of the Snake River – she hesitates. 

“I don't know how to answer this,” she said. “It's just the lifestyle we lead. There's so much freedom there right now and I think that’s my favorite part.” 

At the end of the day, it’s the KLIM Lifestyle she’s talking about.

“We’ve both worked to a point where we can live the lifestyle we want,” she added. “It's really fun and exciting and adventurous, and I think putting ourselves in that position is probably my favorite part of our journey because all the choices I made that led up to me being here has allowed us to create this really cool lifestyle. That's my favorite part – just knowing the work I put in has gotten me here.”

 

***

For graduating seniors looking to kickstart a powersports career, seek out internships outside of your comfort zone, network ahead of time, put in the work like Kelsey did, and don’t let people forget about you. 

. 

#KLIMLife