CHPT3, the cycling clothing brand founded by former pro racer David Millar, has entered liquidation and ceased trading with immediate effect.
The brand’s website now just displays a statement communicating the news, the notice saying that Wilson Field Limited has been instructed to assist in the liquidation and CHPT3 has “now ceased to trade”.
It states: “The Directors of CHPT3 Limited have instructed Wilson Field Limited to assist in the formalities of a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation. The Company has now ceased to trade. Creditors will be contacted by Wilson Field Limited in due course. Any queries can be directed to Wilson Field Limited who can be contacted on +44 (0) 114 2352 6780.”
The news comes just three months after the launch of the brand’s Transit shoe, a £200 urban commuter shoe that aimed to combine the “power of a pro cycling shoe and the comfort of a luxury sneaker” and was brought to life by ex-Adidas designer James Carnes.
It was a product launch that made plenty of noise in the cycling world and the Transit received an impressive 9/10 score when we reviewed it. We’ve contacted Millar for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.
Back on the other side of the autumn when the Transit was released, Millar told the road.cc Podcast how the last few years have helped him “rediscover my love of cycling” and that it had “given a whole new impetus to what we want to do, which is to start to change people’s perception of all types of cycling”, through CHPT3.
“It’s very easy to find yourself locked in and only think about people who are in your ‘area’,” he told us. “Whether it’s road cycling, mountain biking, or urban commuter cycling, it’s a really strange world, cycling, where every niche has its moat around it, and everyone stays very firmly within their island. And with CHPT3, we really wanted to start to bleed out of that and transfer across, not only those different ideas within cycling, but to start thinking of things outside it that we can bring in.”
While the exact circumstances around CHPT3 have not been disclosed, it has been a turbulent and challenging time for the bike industry in recent years.
Just last month, Scottish cycling clothing brand Endura posted a £14m loss, while we recently revealed that fellow clothing manufacturer Rapha’s losses had doubled to £22.7m, the brand’s seventh consecutive year in the red.
More recently, the major UK cycling distributor I-ride entered administration, although its British bike brand Orro was subsequently saved following investment.
In August, Evans Cycles posted a £22.8m loss, while last week we revealed that Wiggle’s administrators reported the beleaguered retail giant made £10.4m profit during its administration, the intellectual property and brand subsequently being bought in a cut-price deal by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.
28 thoughts on “David Millar’s cycling clothing brand CHPT3 enters liquidation and ceases trading immediately”
An ultra trendy brand that no
An ultra trendy brand that no one knows how to pronounce? Reminds me of Prince turning himself into a symbol…before turning back into Prince when everyone started calling him Symbol ?
I’d assumed it was “Chapter 3
I’d assumed it was “Chapter 3”?*
*Like “Aberdeen” / ABRDN
Cheap Tour 3?
Cheap Tour 3?
Chop a tire 3 (perhaps some splinter group of the tyre extinguishers)?
Ache Patria?
Probably cruel but I always
Probably cruel but I always thought it was a bit foolish of Millar to associate with a brand whose name, at a quick glance without the reading glasses on, can easily be mistaken for CHEATS.
I believe the CHPT3 name was
I believe the CHPT3 name was intended to acknowledge, albeit indirectly, the cheating. As in, it was the third chapter of his life after the cycling and doping. Don’t have a source to hand, but I’m sure he has spoken of it that way. It’s not so much him associating with the brand as the brand being entwined with him.
EDIT to add, e.g. here
EDITED again to add that Fenix already said this a day ago. Read first, comment later!
brooksby wrote:
Reminds me of Colin Angus of Aberdeen band The Shamen (famous for “Ebeneezer Goode”, banned by the BBC for its “E’s are good” chorus) on Standard Life Aberdeen’s rebranding as ABRDN. He said “Ditch Standard Life and drop three E’s, indeed a most commendable notion.”
He made a good tennis racket,
He made a good tennis racket, I’ll give him that.
Anyway, CHPT3 always struck me as a bit of a vanity project.
Chapter 3 innit? Like the
Chapter 3 innit? Like the third chapter of his life. I’m sure it was explained on the site.
I have a couple of their things bought in sales and they’re excellent quality.
Shame the business didn’t work.
Not a great few weeks for
Not a great few weeks for Millar, one way and another.
Another one for Mike Ashley’s
Another one for Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group to snap up and besmirch?
Was never a fan. I think the
Was never a fan. I think the fact that he cheated in racing stoped me from buying his brand kit, which was mostly rebranded Castelli clothing in the early days. His commentary, was like big Maggies- self indulgient. Hope he can move on and away and find peace
Holding his hands up and
Holding his hands up and admitting that he cheated, once caught, makes him a better man than a lot of his contemporaries. There were a few who did more to blow the whistle, and didn’t get the rewards he did, but I don’t know of any evidence that he actively participated in their exclusion.
As for his self-indulgence, I can see that a bit, but all former sportspeople who turn to commentating tell stories based on their experiences, which are subject to the same selective memory most of us have. I thought he was quite good, once he learnt to stop saying every racing scenario was “perfect”, after the first year or so in the job. But everyone is entitled to their personal preferences.
At least he isn’t palling up with Lance Armstrong to do a bit of casual revisionism to pay off his debts.
I liked the clothing. Very
I liked the clothing. Very good quality and great customer service. Guess it’s a very crowded marketplace though.
FWIW, I could handle his former association with the sport’s murky past. What did for me was when he got one of those RIDICULOUS Grenadier tanks.
I stopped following him on
I stopped following him on Twitter when he started promoting that car while simultaneously having a page on ther CHPT3 website about sutainability.
Last time I looked they’d deleted the commitnment to sustainability from the website, so at least he made a choice and stopped being a hypocrite.
Shame it didn’t work out;
Shame it didn’t work out; pity some people on here make jest out of someone elses misfortune. His books are very good and he put his hands up to cheating; shouldn’t be a reason to damn him for his post-cycling career. Given the effort they put into the shoes (rated highly on this website), it sounds like top-quality kit. I like the way he shows that there is more to cycling than drop-bar, carbon, deep-section wheeled bikes and black lycra; even made a Brompton look cool. Need a bit more of that if we want a continental style approach to cycling in the UK and more people riding bikes.
Shades wrote:
Given the eye-watering prices they were asking for those shoes and all the other Chpt3 clobber then it damned well be ought to be top quality. But I couldn’t ever see the brand getting much traction, certainly not enough to compete with the other premium / boutique brands we are familiar with.
As for the ‘continental style’, that would be easier if we could have some ‘continental weather’ (the dry, warm and sunny kind). There is definitely far more to cycling than the ‘pro’ look, you just have to look beyond the ‘pro cycling’ focussed media.
I think that some of the vitriol and disdain aimed at Millar is partly because he opened up about his doping, which made him an easy target for anti-doping sentiment (especially among those who didn’t want to confront the fact that loads of the pro peloton, including their heroes, were juiced up). We all make mistakes and, in my opinion, anyone who is genuinely contrite deserves another chance.
But I think the negativity towards him also stems from the fact people could easily dislike the way he speaks, how he dresses and carries himself. A form of inverted snobbery, perhaps. I like what I see of Ned Boulting and Ned seems to like David a lot so I suspect that maybe he’s a more decent person than some people want to think.
Shame as I have a lot of time
Shame as I have a lot of time for him despite his past, the ineos grenadier thing and the pic of him drinking madri with ned on a podcast ? was always a bit pricey for my pocket but if anyone sees those chpt3 shoes or bromptons going cheap let me know!!!
Should have lead with
Should have lead with
> CHPT3 files for Chapter 11
(Though not technically correct as it’s not a US company)
Perhaps not unexpected – a
Perhaps not unexpected – a recent and very candid podcast with Matt Stephens revealed that David Millar has undergone a somewhat turbulent few years. It makes for an interesting listen, so won’t reveal it here.
As for the man himself, I really admired him as a young pro and remember his fall from grace. Anyone remember IMT? His return to cycling was welcome but… he appeared to become a face not only for anti-dopjng, but a newer and wealthier cycling clientele who enjoyed curated Rapha cycling holidays and drove Maserati’s. Not sure that’s a bad thing, but I guess CHPT3 was somewhat embelematic of that.
As for the brand, Millar spoke of its demise in the podcast. However, the implication was one of a withdrawal from the business and not its collapse. You were left under no doubt though that it wasn’t long for trading. I do hope that there were no purchasers and suppliers who have been left high and dry by this announcement.
If the likes of Rapha and
If the likes of Rapha and Endura are losing millions, then small businesses like CHPT3 are almost certain to fall by the wayside. Most new businesses fail within the first 2-3 years. At least they gave it a go, something the vast majority commenting negatively obviously haven’t tried.
It’s extremely hard times throughout the industry regardless of which sector you actually sit within. For me within the logistics industry you’d think Black Friday and Cyber Monday would be a licence to print money, but we are being screwed so far down by the likes of Amazon, that any profit there previously was, has now disappeared down the pan.
God knows what it’ll be like next April when increased employers National Insurance contributions will need to be factored in. It’s going to cost my business over £30k and eat into what is already a shrinking profit margin every year.
I have a nice set of arm
I have a nice set of arm warmers and skull cap from chpt3. Sorry for David, great recovery from his past troubles. Tough, tough business cycling retail.
Chpt 3 clothing is of a high
It seems to me that David Millar got bored with it. It wasn’t long ago. He set up an online club called Sporting Club Chpt3.And started selling club kit. I found his comments on the podcast,very dismissive of Chpt3. So I feel sorry for the employee’s.Who may be out of work,and have worked very hard to keep Chpt 3 afloat.
Who would have thought
Who would have thought charging £50 for a pair of socks, or £120 for mitts wouldn’t be viable? Although, if people spend £12k on a Specialized anything is possible.
A pity, not least because for
A pity, not least because for a while CHPT3 was turning out some really good kit – certainly the casual/off-bike range was higher quality than most: CHPT3 Yorkshire spun Tees versus Rapha’s Made in Vietnam Tees for the same price did make me ponder the long term viability.
But in the last couple of years it got a bit odd – the casual range went off on a strange tangent, and the on bike seemed to have fizzled out. Felt like the energy had gone from it, and the Transit shoe seems to have taken longer than expected. I think it had run its course – I’ve heard that the collaboration with Brompton had become a bit terse as Brompton morphed from small volume/quasi-bespoke/customisable to mainstream during 2020. The v4 Chpt3 Brompton feels a lot more phoned in than the three previous editions.
As a long term repeat customer of CHPT3 I had some dealings with Millar on occasions when they were seeking customer feedback or launching new things. Always found him personable, allowing for his natural personality type. I’m always slightly bemused by people getting bent out of shape when professional athletes come across as arrogant, hyperfocused, self absorbed, and singleminded.
TE;DB
TE;DB
Too expensive; Didnt buy.
I dont see how anyone who makes kit way above the £100 mark expects or deserves to survive when there is marginal difference between them and kit that costs under £100. You are paying for the millions they waste in “establishing a brand”.
Sorry/Not sorry they are gone. They had no USP apart from price and a funky colour pallette. Sorry for the employees.
Any budding business tycoons
Any budding business tycoons amongst the peloton will do well to watch how Millar emerges from the wreckage compared to Wiggins. I am confident that Millar will have much less exposure to CHPT3’s liabilities than dear Brad.
Watch, learn and imitate!
Looking forward to picking
Looking forward to picking the shoes up on Sports Pursuit soon.
The first generation CHPT3
The first generation CHPT3 items made in concert with Castelli were fantastic quality, and when purchased on sale were a reasonable investment. I have things from back in 2016 that have held up well. I have a 2019 CHPT3 V2 Brompton that I absolutely love to ride and take on trips, too. After David and CHPT3 broke from Castelli, the products were not as special, not as technical, and more expensive. Years ago I used to comment on his FB posts and he would respond. I have one last CHPT3 Fabric ALM seat that was a bargain. The first one lasted over 3 years on my road bike. There are so many brands out there. Sometimes they “speak” to you. Sometimes they don’t. I wish him well.