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Fashion houses jump on the cycling bandwagon

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Associating your brand with a movement that is seen as cool is a well known marketing trick. Increasing participation in leisure cycling is seeing a whole host of companies jumping on board to try and associate themselves with the lifestyle that cycling is perceived to give.

High end fashion houses are taking note and are increasingly collaborating with cycle manufacturers to market bicycles as part of the products they offer.

Ralph Lauren’s Tweed Run

Ralph Lauren has this week been pushing its tweed line of clothing and teamed up with UK bicycle maker Pashley to produce a limited edition run of 50 custom-designed Pashley bikes. As with all high end fashion, the bikes are not cheap, coming in at a hefty $2,200 per bike.

Ralph Lauren Pashley bike

To launch the bikes and associated clothing range, Ralph Lauren’s Rugby division organised New York’s first Tweed Run last Saturday.

On trend

Designer bicycles seem to be the on trend item to have this year. Another recent collaboration is Italian fashion house Missoni’s work with US retailer Target. Among clothing and houseware items, Missoni’s range included a $399 dollar bike (see pic below). Target quickly sold out when the bike was launched on September 13. The bikes are now exchanging hands on auction sites for three times that figure.

Missoni Target Bike

Paul Smith

Of course, some designers have been vocal in their support of the cycling movement before the current trend. British fashion grandee Paul Smith love of cycling as a sport is well known and it has seen him create bike and bicycle-related products in the past. He collaborates routinely with the original cycling style freaks Rapha, including this season’s windproof cycling shirt from Rapha.

Other notable fashion cycling collaborations

Acne & Bianchi
G-Star & Cannondale
Kate Spade & NYC boutique bike shop adeline adelin
Gant launched a single speed city bike for their Rugger range

See also

Beat the cold with a cycling jacket

Style and substance in women’s cycle clothing

from Going Going Bike – Auctions, Bike News, Cycle Stuff

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