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53 comments
I love it. After years of complaining that Rapha is over priced and elitist the Rapha Bashers are now complaining about Rapha selling cheap stuff to the masses....
My club kit made by Vermarc but I suspect that as pro kit it's actually not designed to stand repeated washes beyond a season. That's why I buy Rapha shorts. That and because I don't like the way I'm supposed to act a billboard for our club sponsor who have completely smothered a fine club jersey with their brand name. That's another story though...
I gladly wear replica kit but only on the condition that is a) cheap in the sale b) of discredited teams riddled with cheats, dopers and whingers c) makes me look slightly thinner.
Seem to recall Cav got a bit of abuse from beered-up Sky fans during 2010 Tour de France...?
(Yup, didn't imagine it: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/475511/cavendish-jeered-by-sk... )
Guess when he signed for Sky at end of 2011 they must have felt like football fans whose team signs a star player from local rivals... all forgiven very quickly.
Does it come in size FB?
Don't forget to stop in at helmets
'if anyone feels they need to speak to me about it i will endeavour to show them the error of their ways. '
ooh, scary
Lots of things to pick up so far that are wrong assumptions.
1. Rapha doesn't have shareholders, it's owned by private equity.
2. Burberry never went out and tried to cheapen their brand. In the UK and worldwide the classic print (which they used for nearly 80 years unbothered) was bootlegged to an unprecedented level based on items from a couple of seasons. Their response was to stop using it in their designs until that passed. In case you hadn't noticed, they've been growing considerably in the last few years.
3. I had a look at the various Rapha lines in Evans cycles this week. The supporters range (40 quid stuff) isn't replica kit in the sublimation print on a cheaper fabric model. It's look is identical to the rest of the sky identity but it is distinctly different item which looks to be carefully targeted at people who feel they would look like a dobber wearing a normal cycling jersey in the pub.
4. You don't make a great deal of money putting kit on teams. It will have cost them several million to do so and it looks like they've had to acquire a bigger distribution centre to deal with predicted volumes. 30 riders, 800 items or so per rider, all a cost to the business.
5. Every successful luxury brand relies on principles of accessible luxury for its sales. Or lipstick and perfume as it commonly happens to be. Burberry and Chanel make a hell of a lot more from those than their clothes.
Any road, I'd far rather see Rapha providing kit for Sky than see cyclists wearing Adidas. That just looks wrong for so many reasons.
HAHAHA LUSH, you want to hear what my wife says as well
Think I might join you in this! When I got back into cycling I rode for a few weeks with trainers on while I got my confidence back. I passed some of the Academy squad going the other way in their GB kit. They nodded an acknowledgement, but the one at the back looked at my trainers like I was wearing polka-dot furry wellies or something.
Does that mean the old ones aren't retro cool?
'HAHAHA LUSH, you want to hear what my wife says as well Laughing '
[avoids the obvious response]
@fretters- you were doing so well, but let yourself down with citing some poxy 'rule'.
TBH I am not into wearing pro team kit but I am comfortable with it. Was marshalling a time trial last October to see Mark Cavendish's doppelganger cross the junction. Yep, the Sky world champs jersey. And I thought "Hey, that looks good. He must be a Sky & Cavendish fan". The potential for a faux-pas was negated by the facts that it looked great; it was our supertastic Cav's jersey he so admired he bought one; and that yes, Sky is a British outfit with many supporters in a country which has shunned and mocked cycling for so long.
It's Rapha's brand, they can 'cheapen' it any way they wish (though I doubt Mr Mottram would do it). Let them charge what they want.
My stock answer to "You don't pay road tax" is "Neither do you". But in the end you can't fight wilful ignorance.
Who would of thought a British company selling goods and actually doing well would get so much debate.
Choice is a wonderful thing, lets use it, to buy or not to buy, but don't criticise choice, it would be a horrible world is only one thing existed, imagine... only one brand/model/colour of bike !
I have a replica Omega Pharma Quickstep jersey that I wear quite regularly.
Not because of the team, I'm just really into drugs and laminate flooring.
I've always thought it was slightly hilarious that a pharmaceutical firm should choose to sponsor a cycling team - what are they trying to sell, and to who, precisely?!
Even more curious was Omega Pharma choosing its Predictor brand as the one to lend its name to Lotto-Predictor a few years back. Products? Pregnancy testing kits.
The one that has me scratching my head is Amgen sponsoring the Tour of California.
Here's a Washington Post article about how Amgen made huge amounts of money through EPO...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/amgen-anemia-drugs/index.html
Bit late to the party on this thread but this totally deserves another quote
Can't people just cycle with whatever they want to without being given the stink eye?
I quite like the EBH Jersey, as a faithful Norwegian I might buy it and wear it proudly on the English roads where I live. Ha take that! Championship jersey AND replica!
1. All UK limited companies have shareholders.. In the last report filed they have 15 shareholders including Nicholas Evans, wonder why Evans Cycles in the UK are the only retail outlet for the Sky Kit wonder no more...
2. Burberry went to attract a younger market by providing garments to mainstream celebrities in the UK and it went a bit wrong from what I read in the NYT. But that is only an opinion...
3. The samples we were sent in the US look and feel decidedly poly cotton like a polo shirt.
4. So Rapha is now a charity? Surely its picked Sky as the top team to sell kit, there are 47 Sky items available on the US site.
5. Yep, I understand the principle of the on ramp product, Rapha already had plenty of these before the sky kit went online.
As a Sky Rider said recently...no one died;-).
Take it easy peeps.
The list is endless
I might put it in my sig.
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