soulbike

Hi folks,

So, we've almost run out of jerseys and bibs and haven't done a run for awhile. As time has passed, and our reasons for cycling have changed, so have styling and preferences for what we wear. No longer are loud graphics and sponsor logos the choice of the day, replaced instead by bold colours and panels, much like classic/ vintage designs of the 60s and 70s. Of course Rapha has taken this formula to great success recently and we applaud their efforts, and let me just save you the hassle (or take your punchline away) of making the comparisons by saying that the following designs do take some styling cues from them, but no way are we trying to copy them. Inevitably, any plain jersey is going to be compared to them I suppose, but I will stress that it is a vintage inspired design to begin with, and we are not trying to steal anyone's thunder (nor are we capable of).

We have been toying with the idea of what constitutes a great jersey and a pair of bibs, and we have come up with a couple of opinions.

1) There should be a lack of sponsor/ logos.
2) Great materials, durable, comfortable and weather specific. We designed a summer jersey, but of course if anyone knows a material that can keep you warm in winter and cold in summer... well, you won't be doing cycling clothing....
3) Great fit, which we think is going to be very personal.

The jerseys have red as the accent colours because red has always been the colour we have used for our brand. We have tried to keep many things practical, like full zips, mesh back for heat dissipation, high quality chamois, flat lock seams, pump pockets and zippered pockets on the rear.

Anyways, we just want to seek everyone's opinions in whether we have missed anything out or if anyone has some great ideas to add.

Thanks,
Sean

YOJiMBO20

I like the design. I don't know how the embroidered logos would work or feel on a jersey since they're designed to be close to the skin. Also, and this is just something I prefer in jerseys, I like the neck to not come all the way up, but be more like a very shallow v-neck. I find it more comfortable that way if I'm riding with it zipped all the way.

If given the option, I would get number 3.

rpenmanparker 

Not sure whether your drawings are supposed to be to scale or not. If so, I would say both your jerseys and shorts are too short. Much like Primal, you aren't offering enough coverage of the lower torso with the jerseys and of the lower thighs with the shorts.

I don't object to your styling preferences, but I think you can't reach a broad market with such a limited design concept. The more variety you offer, the more customers you are going to please. One of the worst mistakes any business person can make is to think the entire market is of one mind, and that mind is coincidentally identical to his. Not so! My advice is to be less rigid in your views.

Blue Belly

I don't think they look terrible but, there's nothing calling me to it. Of course , everyone has different taste. How does it fit? How does it wear? What is the chamois?

Looigi

Separate (white) fabric panel across the front makes no sense structurally or functionally. Do it with sublimation printing (printing the color and leaving the stripe white) if deemed stylistically necessary. Agree with not having the zipper extend up the neck. I prefer extended separate long snug cuffs on the sleeves. I have no use for a zippered rear pocket.

dmcdam

I think they look pretty nice. Since you have the red band on the arm of all 3 designs, why not incorporate that same red band into the bib somehow?

THSdrummer

I like all 3 designs. In fact, my least favorite is the 3rd.

An offering of the bib with a right cuff around the left leg (to match the sleeve) would be nice, as mentioned above.

Very vintage. I enjoy the first one. It reminds me of one of my favorite Rapha jerseys (to look at - I don't own any). The second is cool and vintage. I'd like to pick up a subtle pink jersey. Subtle meaning not hot or neon pink. Overall good work. Just curious about prices and how they fit. I like my clothes to fit snug. Race style fit.

Burnette

Went to your web site and saw you last jesey/bib design and think they are way cooler. I mean, the name and logo shape are nice
and they are used to good effect there.
You say yo want to go "plain", but plain with loud colors is, well, loud. The light blue jersey and dark blue jersey don't play well with
the red accents. To go "plain" and be tasteful at he same time would entail toning that color choice mess down a notch.
And yeah, it does sync with Rapha way too much, you just have a brighter, louder, clashing version of it going on there.
You nailed it on the construction, like all of what you chose there. I buy way to much cycling clothing, some of it custom from Voler, Verge, an
I order kit with full zipper, high end pad, flat lock seams, etc...
Recently recieved 44bike kit from Voler, a jersey from Pactimo and a Sachs skin suit made by Verge.
If you want to be plain and different, work with black base/silver high light/white panel and use your logo graphic in red to better effect.
Alternate next set by goung white base/silver high light/ white panel and again keeping the logo red. The design and placement of the logo should be your focus.
If you're going powder blue, dark blue and pink, jazz that pallet up with some graphics
I think you're running from something like this, and rightly so, it's messy:

But taking the graphics away and leaving a white stripe doesn't sex that up.
Less grahipcs, but with a better design is what you're after.

RollCNY

General thoughts:
I like the rear zippered pocket, but prefer a vertical zipper.

I think the white stripe is sharp, but would put SOUL in the stripe, large enough to fill 75% by height, and to one side of the zipper. Probably over your heart. Then the jersey pops to people who just like the word, and don't equate it to you. They also wouldn't equate it to Rapha.

I would leave the high collar alone as it fits the style. Pump pocket to me puts it in a touring camp, and high collar fits that.

I would also put SOUL on the back, in red, on the middle pocket.

I would ditch the navy, and make a green one instead, similar in tone to the first two.

soulbike

Thank you all for the great feedback. It's very interesting to see for me how different forums/ regions/ demographics have completely different tastes and pov. For example in Singapore, the shift has been towards a cleaner esthetic, whereas in the US, there is still a choice for bigger graphics and louder logos. It's also interesting to hear that some consider single colour panels to be loud, which never occurred to me. Maybe the colours shown on the computer is not entirely accurate as the intention was a more pastel/ washed colour, than a bold saturated one.

The point of this round of jerseys/ bibs was functionality over graphics. As some of you may have seen, our previous designs have always been about large graphics and big logos, so this time we wanted to focus more on larger zips and mesh openings as an example. Not to say that this can't go hand in hand with our previous stylings. It's just something different and cues we have picked up from what we see around us. The drawings are not representational of the proportions of the cuts, the fit will only be obvious once the final product comes out.

I agree that a vertical zipper on the side maybe is a better option. The band across the front is just for styling, the first design didn't have that and someone commented that it looked better with a stripe (the same as our previous classic jersey). I feel it does break up the monotony of the flat panel.

Again, very appreciative of all the comments thus far.

rpenmanparker 

I am a little embarrassed to not know this. Who are the OPs? What do they have to do with kit supply? What are they talking about with regard to their design of cycling clothes? I tried Googling them to no avail.

soulbike

So, we cleaned up the design on the front, removed the strip/ stripe from the left arm and chest. sublimated printed the rear pocket (to mask dirt/ splatter which worked really well for the first iteration of the jersey). Included the red strip on the left leg, which we are still a little unsure of.





We don't supply kits anymore, we supply wheelsets and frames of our own designs. Occasionally we like to dabble in designing other things which are just a little more fun as we can't sit still and try to get them made and offered as an alternative to what is available out there. We had a small local racing team many moons ago and many customers asked for our brand jerseys/ kits which which is when we started making them to sell. Each iteration sold very well, so we just kept making them. Some people asked for some custom designs so we did that for awhile but that market has gone so we don't do much of that anymore, so we only do stuff for our wheels/ frames customers.

soulbike

Here is another iteration, just with a red strip across the top of the pocket, and removed the black pocket paneling which was looking alittle heavy.



And here is what a kit would look like together.

rpenmanparker 

So OP, you are the Soul wheels people?

Burnette

Like it, good, good. Still think you should go bigger on the SOUL logo and change the placement though.
What remains as a sticking point is the color choice. .
Love what you have, work the logo size/placement and pick better base color.
I don't care what corner of the world you come from, powder blue with a dab of red on it is terrible on the eyes and on the
dark blue the red just gets lost.
Your wheels are red/black/white/silver, your frames are black or silver, who the heck is bringing pink and powder
blue to the table? There is nothing wrong with Belgium or breast cancer awareness, but your kit should represent the company's
colors and style/theme. What is that light blue/dark blue and red saying? It's somebody elses story, and it's ugly kit on top of that.
Don't run from your logo, enlarge it. If you minimize it too much, people may mistake it for Rapha, or much worse, people would see
it as a bad, clashing color imitation of it. Let Rapha have their bland brand loyalist audience. Spice that up with what you have now.
Keep the red band on the arm/leg, love it, keep the sublimate rear pockets, love it, and work with black/silver/white for the main colors.
SOUL is a cool name, you can use it tastefully. Logo slightly larger on the bib, silver ghost printed on the back of the jersey.

soulbike

Well, took a step back, re-evaluated why we are making these jerseys and took on board what has been said on this thread and redesigned it along the original lines but on a more modern and purposeful take. Here's what we have thus far:

generalkdi

These are definitely more appealing to me than the first ones. In fact, it's a setup really near to my Castellis jerseys. I'm not sure about the logo on the arm being embroidered, but other than that, it's a nice kit.

KantoBoy

Yeah, step away from the Rapha "minimalistic schtick". Everyone's doing it.

Burnette

I really like what you've done with it, it's still tastefully understated. The chevron is a nice touch and your logo is located and sized right too.
I like the red/black and the white black kits. You did good.
Hope these will be race fit.
Keep us posted as to how much these will be and when they will be available, they look great, good job guys.

jaxgtr

I like the last iteration of the dark blue...

vwchad

I like the last two versions you posted. Just personal preference, but I like a slightly longer inseam on my bibs/shorts. Not sure what you plan for yours though. Info on where to buy when you finalize?? Oh, and I really like the pump pocket idea.

RollCNY

I liked the larger black back panel of post #12 , just covering the pockets. Seemed like a nice touch, and unusual.

I am also a fan of the pump pocket, and the pastel colors as a retro touch.

soulbike

Well, took a completely different approach. Keeping the base colour white just like our other designs and just changing the accent colours. Leaning towards the top left corner one as it is the simplest design. Your thoughts....

bianchi10

There ya go! the last set is very appealing! I like the bottom two designs best. I would like to see more design to the shorts.

Burnette

Well, I gotta say that the last iteration is even better than the one before, and I liked that one a bunch.
But does the last design force me into pink and sky blue colors?
Again, the design side of your team has made better adjustments each time.
Whoever is pushing you guys to go with pastel colors, lock that guy out of the room.
To be productive, I like the white base jersey on the top left, if it had a dark red or dark blue stripe instead of sky blue one.
I also like the black base jersey on the bottom left, if also had a dark red stripe instead of pink one.
To pick one, the top left is the one, but make that bottom left jersey in black/red too.
Did you consult with a custom kit outfit like Voler, Verge or Pactimo? Ask them about what colors
sale. How is pastel doing? You don't put pink or pale blue stickers on your wheels do ya? Ha!
Again, good job guys,