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This post on Off the Cuff , and this response on Name Development got me thinking about the issues of aspirational branding when it comes to developing clothes and accessories around bicycling.
Surf and skate have been thoroughly co-opted, as has the preppy New England lifestyle. The lumberjack/outdoorsman theme has been mined deeply as of late. The question is if the story of riding a bicycle is compelling enough to make people want to belong in the same way.
At least in the US, riding a bike has come to mean stretchy synthetics, silly shoes, and minimum style. Other than a brief lycra flare-up during the 1980s, there hasn’t been much impact on general fashion from the bicycle world. There’s been some cross-over with the track bike and fixed gear explosion, but nothing to qualify as widely aspirational as Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren, or Vans.
It doesn’t feel right to create a bicycle clothing brand as an “other”, since the goal of creating good riding gear for everyday people is to make clothes that function in the real world, rather than clothes that are acceptable at best when in a business environment.
However, at the same time, if bicycling becomes an aspirational activity at the level of summering on Martha’s Vineyard or surfing, then the branding will become self-perpetuating. More people will start riding to fulfill the lifestyle promised by the clothing, and hopefully, continue on to buy more of the clothing to meet their new-found needs as cyclists.