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May
26
Levi’s Entering the Bike Apparel Market?
Filed Under Industry News | Comments Off
Saw an interesting post yesterday from the NYC Velo bike shop blog about Levi’s and bike-specific apparel. Since they’re both located in Manhattan, Levi’s invited the shop down to their meatpacking district company store to preview their line of commuter-focused jeans and to provide feedback on a new cycling jacket design. I think this is another great sign that bike commuting is becoming more mainstream and is a viable market for mainstream businesses to profit from. This also fits right into the theme for the urban fashion show we’ve been holding at Interbike for the last three years: casual, functional, everyday cycling apparel that looks just as good off the bike.
The writer of the post had a great quote about how Levi’s fits in the bike market:
Levi’s garments are so stitched into the fabric of our culture and work-a-day life that extending the brand to casual cycling was a no-brainer for us.
Also, seems like I missed Prolly’s post about the line and his involvement with it last month. Check it out here if you missed it, too.
Heard from Joe over at Paved Magazine who got a pair and they’re capri style. Anyone else know if they’ll all be capri’s? Seems like the company is basing the cycling line off their 511 skinny jeans.
One funny observation given the simple, “work-a-day”, durable, apparel-for-the-masses appeal that Levi’s jeans have, the technology that they’re incorporating in their bike line sounds suspiciously typical for a high-tech bike industry product: “Levi’s is utilizing Swiss fabric brand Schoeller Technologies, and their Nano Sphere Technology + 3X dry textile treatment.” Maybe that’s just tech sweet talk intended for us tech-obsessed cycling enthusiasts. Better living through over engineering, right?
Welcome, Levi’s.
To see some great bike-specific jeans from two companies that specialize in the category, check out Osloh from New York and Swrve who are based in Los Angeles.
May
19
The Art of Bike to Work Day
Filed Under Advocacy, Cycling, Green Efforts, Interbike | Comments Off
On my commute to work, I ride through two counties, San Diego and Orange, each with their own government and transportation authority agencies tasked with promoting Bike to Work Day. I’ve signed up in that past with both the San Diego Association of Governments’ and Orange County Transportation Authority’s BTW programs, so I receive postcards and emails inviting me to participate each year. Being a marketing guy, SANDAG’s effort this year stood out as especially nicely done. They definitely have a real graphic designer work on it, and it made me think about how other regions do on the design front for bike to work day.
Here’s this year’s San Diego County logo from a postcard they sent out to promote the day. I also like their tag line for the program: “Bike to Work Day: Give it a Spin!” Cute, right? Local SD bike company, Electra, is a sponsor.
Orange County has a more generic, on-going bike to work theme. They seem to do nicely with the local OC-based bike industry sponsors, though, with Jax Bicycle Center, Nirve and Oakley on board. Not the most stellar of efforts from a design standpoint, but I’ll give them props for past efforts where I’ve received buttons from them along the lines of those “I Voted” stickers you get on election day letting you feel smug and superior among your coworkers. At least in the bike industry your coworkers will consider you superior for biking to work.
And let’s not forget our friends just south of us in Tijuana who are also promoting bike to work day this year in conjunction with San Diego’s. About 90,000 people cross the border into San Diego on their commute to work every day. Some of those must be on bikes. Judging by the border wait times I hear on the radio each morning, I would definitely try to ride as much as possible to avoid the 2 hours sitting in traffic. Anyway, back to the design element, I think TJ’s work is great. Very clean and professional:
Have you seen any other good design efforts for Bike to Work promotions in your area? Let me know and I’ll share and help recognize and celebrate the quality work on our behalf.
May
16
Are We There Yet?
Filed Under Deep Thoughts, Green Efforts, Interbike, Photos | Comments Off
Now is it high enough now to get people to step away from the car?
Happy Bike to Work Week!
May
13
Interbike would like to wish all the NICA high school MTB league racers that will be heading to Los Olivos this weekend for the California state championships the best of luck. Seems like it’s been another great season for a great organization. If you’d like to check out the racing action, you can get race info here.
(Go SoCal!)
May
6
The Industry Loses a Legend
Filed Under Industry News, Interbike | 1 Comment
When you need to hire a new sales rep in the bike industry, my favorite method was to call the good shops in the area and ask who they like dealing with. “Who treats you right?” I’d ask. You sign a rep because of the relationships they have with the retailers. Cynics might say that you’re buying (or renting) their relationships with the dealers. And, in many ways, it’s like the role of your broker when you’re shopping for a new house: on the surface it may seem like they’re working for you, the buyer, but they’re officially representing (and getting paid by) the seller.
Back in 2000, as national sales manager for a previous employer, I was in need of a new rep in the Illinois area. “You want Larry the Legend,” was the response I got from the most of the shops I called. Over the years people who knew well would joke that he was a “Legend in his own mind’” but he truly was a great rep for us, became a good friend and he seemed to be universally respected by the stores he served in Chicago and the Midwest. (Even though he loved to poke fun at his neighbors to the north in Wisconsin…)
Over the years and since I’ve been at Interbike, I’d call him occasionally to chat about the industry as he drove his territory. He was never shy about voicing his opinion or sharing the criticisms or comments he’d been hearing from retailers about a particular issue. He was opinionated (boy was he opinionated!), but always reasonable in a discussion.
Thinking about times I had spent with him, I remember working with him in 2000 at his booth at the Chicago Bike Show. It was a consumer event at the Rosemont Convention Center outside Chicago where the old CABDA show used to be. As a rep for Sinclair Imports and Profile back then, he had the coolest booth at the show with lots of great high end and Euro road brands like Campagnolo and DeRosa. His exhibit was always one of the most popular at the show.
I also remember that he loved that Merlin he’s on in this photo. Back at that show he was proud of the Profile fork he had just installed on it since it was one of the first all carbon models and crazy light for the time.
As is always the case when someone you know passes away, you realize that you didn’t stay in touch with them enough. I last spoke with Larry about 3 months ago looking for his take on show dates and location (he always lobbied for Chicago, of course) and I was looking forward to more discussions on the subject with him. I’m glad that I was able to connect with him recently after a few years of only really speaking to him at Interbike each year. We’ll miss him and his insight. Rest in peace, Larry.
You can read his obituary and leave a note here.
Here are some of the brands that I know of that he represented over the years: Sinclair Imports, Profile, Sportworks, Shimano, Pearl Izumi, Speedplay, Lone Peak Bags, Haro, Spinergy, Serfas, and Yakima.
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(I borrowed the photo above from another blog and I’m not sure who took it originally, but it’s the only one of Larry I could find. I like that it shows him with his bike.)
May
5
Industry Veteran Pat Hus Takes Lead Role for Interbike
Filed Under Industry News, Interbike, Press Release | Comments Off
We’re proud to announce that longtime industry veteran, Pat Hus, will be leading Interbike in the newly created position of managing director. Pat will bring a wealth of industry experience to Interbike with a career that has included executive, sales and marketing leadership roles at Cannondale, American Bicycle Group, Titus Cycles and, most recently, at Easton-Bell Sports.
Pat had some great comments about Interbike as he prepares to take the reigns of the bike industry’s annual gathering:
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“Interbike is much more than just a tradeshow in Las Vegas in September in my mind. It’s really the hub of the market. With consistently solid attendance levels and the huge interest from the media, Interbike is truly the global center of the cycling world each September. I’m looking forward to working with show director, Andy Tompkins, and the whole team to create an even more relevant and compelling event going forward.”
Pat will use his vast experience on the manufacturing and supplier side to better connect with brands to help establish ways to make Interbike and OutDoor Demo provide even more value and be a more positive impact on the businesses of our exhibitors. Pat also has strong and deep relationships with retailers – both nationally and internationally – and will use those lines of communication to keep bringing a broad range of the best retailers to the show.
Read the full press release by clicking the read more link below.
Read more