Following years of heavy losses and the departure of its founder Yanto Barker last autumn, British cycling clothing brand Le Col has been purchased by Head, the Austrian-American tennis giant announced on Thursday.
Head Group, which owns the American tennis racket brand of the same name, while also manufacturing equipment and clothing for skiing, snowboarding, swimming, and other racket sports, says it has acquired 100 per cent of Le Col from private equity firm Puma Growth Partners.
The purchase means Le Col, formerly based in London, will now be run from Milan, the Italian base for Head’s “continued expansion of its sportswear and apparel division”.
“We are pleased to have exited Le Col to such a strong counterparty and believe HEAD will be a superb custodian of the Le Col brand going forward,” Rupert West, managing director at Puma Growth Partners, which first invested in Le Col in 2018, said in a statement today.
The news comes four months after Le Col’s founder Yanto Barker resigned from his role as director, a Companies House filing from last month revealing that Barker had also ceased to be a “person with significant control” of the company on 7 October 2025.
Barker’s fellow director Harriet Rosethorn also resigned last May, while Justin Stead and Benedict Leslie – appointed to their roles in July 2024 and May 2025, respectively – stepped down on 30 January 2026.
Founded by Barker, a former pro cyclist, in 2009 and first entering the market in 2011, Le Col established itself as one of the biggest cycling clothing brands in the UK. During the 2010s, it partnered with Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pendleton, and supplied the kit at WorldTour level for Mark Cavendish’s Bahrain-McLaren team and Bora-Hansgrohe.
The company also sponsored the Le Col-Wahoo women’s squad, trebling its investment in 2021 to take on a co-title sponsorship role in time for the team’s participation in the inaugural edition of the revamped Tour de France Femmes in 2022. However, the company stepped back from this role later that autumn, with the team ultimately ceasing operations at the end of 2024.
In recent years, Le Col – whose kit is designed in London and manufactured in Europe – struggled to turn a profit as the wider cycling industry was beset by post-Covid headwinds. In 2022, the brand suffered a £6 million loss, followed by a £3.4m loss in 2023 and a £2.6m loss the following year.
In the company’s financial report for 2024, published at the end of last year, Richard Mills – appointed to a directorship role the same week Barker resigned in October – confirmed that Le Col had been undergoing a restructuring process.
“2024 continued to be a challenging year for the cycling industry, following the COVID boom in cycling,” Mills said.
“Le Col finalised the restructuring review of the Group that initially started in late 2022. The key restructuring action for the company in 2024 was the rationalisation of the overhead and headcount at the UK head office.
“This restructuring was finalised by October 2024 and has allowed the business to improve its working capital, mitigate its operating losses, achieve a more flexible and responsive supply chain, and provide a clear pathway to profitability in the coming years.”
Earlier this week, one Le Col shareholder, who invested in the company as part of its crowdfunding campaign in 2017, which raised over £1m, posted on Reddit that he received a notice informing him that his “shares were basically being wiped out”.
“In corporate finance terms, they are being sold (dragged as part of a wider transfer) to a BVI company for nominal consideration,” the poster said.
“Watch this space, I guess, but I very much doubt this is a good sign for their clothing quality.”
Following the news of Barker’s departure last month, a Le Col spokesperson said in a statement: “Yanto remains an important part of the brand’s story. Yanto is exploring new opportunities and we’re grateful for his vision and contribution to what we have achieved at Le Col.”
17 thoughts on “British cycling clothing brand Le Col bought by Head Group, months on from founder’s departure following years of heavy losses”
Sorry to see this. I have loads of LeCol kit , all bought on sale, like everyone else, so hope the new owners keep this going.
In my opinion (not that I have any particular insight or expertise), their constant discounting and sales was quite off putting. The “RRP” was entirely unrealistic – I suspect no-one ever paid full price – and if you had, you were being ripped off, because the products just weren’t worth that much.
For me at least, I felt that was fundamentally dishonest, and I largely avoided the brand as a result. Even if the products ended up being reasonable value when considering the actual price paid (after discounts etc.), I didn’t want to be part of their game where it felt like they were trying to trick you into thinking you had an amazing deal and “saving” loads of money when actually you were just paying what the price should have been to begin with.
I’m pretty sure the new Rapha CEO said similar things about frequent, heavy discounts eroding the brand’s value and hindering, rather than helping, sales.
I agree. All of this constant discounting just devalues a brand. Even Assos, who are renowned for expecting their dealers not to discount their products, send those who subscribe to the emails an email every single day, offering their products at between 30%-50% discount, thereby cutting out the dealers who have probably paid more for their stock than Assos themselves are jobbing it off.
How can any local bike shop be expected to compete with such practice? Remember, once your local bike shop is gone, it’s gone forever.
Agree. I really like their chamois, and have a bunch of their kit. I wouldn’t buy it at full price, though. I’d probably have more of their stuff and buy more frequently from them if their prices were consistently less eye-watering.
How can there be heavy losses? They charge so much, their markup must be mad! even with their so called SALES!? …unless the directors all gave themselves huge salaries to drain the business dry! a common theme in the modern age sadly.
Because it is average kit at premium prices which then get a guaranteed discount.
There are far more alluring premium brands and far better quality mid-market brands.
Frankly Im shocket it took this long
You could say similar about Rapha.
Not really. Rapha stuff its genuinely a cut above Le Col and the discounting isnt as insane.
How can there be heavy losses? They charge so much, their markup must be mad! even with their so called SALES!? …unless the directors all gave themselves huge salaries to drain the business dry! a common theme in the modern age sadly.
It’s about time for European clothing design and manufacturing companies to adjust their business models and pricing strategies to the current market situation before they all go belly up. The vast majority of cyclists can’t afford short-sleeved jerseys at 150 quid a piece. Who wants to burn 350 £ on a winter jacket? Even MAMILs have to pay their utilities bills. Stop the silly hi-tech stuff that saves 2 watts at 55 kmph, focus on the basic comfort, deliver on quality expectations, reduce depth of collections, design clothing for both male and female riders, or else you run your operations on a single cylinder. Think again.
In other words be more Galibier.CC
I love Galibier, but their offering of women’s specific kit is paltry. Unisex just means, “Designed for men. If it doesn’t fit your shape because you’re not one, too bad.”
At least Le Col has women’s equivalents of pretty much everything.
My missus got bibs a base layer and a winter jacket for £90 from galibier. The bibs are made in Italy! I think they are small so wouldn’t expect as big a range as some of the bigger names but the quality is as good as my Castelli
I’ve got several pairs of bibs, hats, and their leather gloves are superb. But look at their latest offering — the Extreme Pro jacket. Looks great. I might even be persuaded to buy one of them rather than a Castelli RoS. But it’s men only, so I can’t. Their women’s specific offerings are generally aimed at fair to cool weather cyclists riding up to 6 hours. I wouldn’t mind so much if their scant offering at least covered the same range of riding as their men’s collection does. It’s the focus on shorter distances and milder weather that bothers me.
£350 on a winter jacket? Try £630 for the top Assos winter jacket! Utter madness.
Last time I was in the Rapha store in central London I was looking for an ‘urban’ cycling jacket. Sizing is always a bit weird at Rapha, even their XL stuff is tiny. Anyway, I did eventually find a good jacket, that fitted (after trying half a dozen) but then glanced at the price – £650. C’mon I thought – £250 is OK for Rapha, what you’d expect. But 650?
Did that have a London weighting or something? That’s bonkers! That’s professional alpine mountaineering prices.