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team sky rapha collection1.jpgRapha boss reveals why sponsorship of Team Sky ended
The co-founder and chief executive of Rapha has spoken of why the upmarket clothing brand’s sponsorship of Team Sky, which began in 2013, came to an end last December.
Established in 2004, the North London-based business was announced as Team Sky’s kit supplier in August 2012, when the team was still basking in the glow of Sir Bradley Wiggins victory at the Tour de France the previous month, the first by a British rider.
> Rapha to supply Team Sky's kit for next four years
Rapha boss Simon Mottram said at the time that the company, which took over the role from Adidas, shared Team Sky’s “passion for performance and team ethic,” and that it was “enthusiastic to inspire and engage a wider fan base around the globe.”
Over the following four seasons, three more Tour de France victories thanks to Chris Froome, and the team also enjoyed numerous successes in stage races including Paris-Nice and also won its first Monument last year through Wout Poels at Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
Yet a couple of months before the start of the 2016 season, Rapha and Team Sky announced that the sponsorship would not be renewed at the end of that year, and Italian brand Castelli now supplies the UCI WorldTour outfit.
> Rapha and Team Sky announce parting of ways
No reasons were given at the time for the decision not to renew the deal, but Mottram has now given some insight into the background to it in an interview with City AM.
“We sold a lot of stuff, which made Team Sky some royalties and it was good for us,” he said.
However, he added: “The connection with cyclists and engagement and getting fans more connected with the sport never worked quite as well as we wanted.
“That was not a black mark, but disappointing.”
The announcement that the sponsorship would not be renewed came long before the controversies centred around Wiggins – whose own team Rapha still supplies – that have seen Team Sky investigated by UK Anti-doping and team principal Sir Dave Brailsford quizzed by a House of Commons select committee.
While some may view Rapha as having dodged a bullet in that respect, Mottram points out that scandal is nothing new in the world of cycling.
He said that negative headlines about the sport have not prevented Rapha, whose private equity backers are reportedly looking at appointing an investment bank to handle a sale of the business, from thriving.
> Rapha owners reportedly seeking advisers to handle sale of business
“It’s been crisis after crisis after crisis,” he said. “And yet we’ve seen our sales grow dramatically. And through recessions as well. We’re doing incredibly well with a broken sport. Sort out the sport and we can do even better.”
He hinted at another reason the company may have decided not to carry on with its backing of Team Sky, saying: “The proportion of team kit wearers is less and less.”
He added: “It’s another sign that pro racing is a little bit broken. We don’t even want to wear the team kit. That’s not good, is it?”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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57 comments
The rules seem to me just a satirical take on the world of modern club cycling and its unspoken etiquette. I believe the compilers are actually inviting you to consider, and then question snooty behaviour. Or am I wrong? Will any Keepers of the Cog break cover and care to comment?
Love wearing my 'blood, sweat & tears' Everesting Jersey because it's pretty exclusive and that's what it took to earn it!
Rapha recently sold off replica kit for just £20 for shorts and jerseys, and at the end of the day, the quality is first class. Personally, I wouldn't want to be seen in it it right now, but for the sake of forty quid I bought a set with the intention of keeping it in a cupboard for twenty years (in the original packaging). Quality retro kit I'd always cool.
... and I bought the Sram Canyon jersey because it's beautiful.
I'm still upset they pulled out of Rapha Condor Sharp before I bought the gilet. Now that was a pro kit.
My tu'pence:
I'll wear team kit if I like the colour scheme. Never liked the black of Team Sky. Tinkof yellow/blue on the other hand....
Have Rapha Arm Warmers as they were from the Paris Roubaix Challenge back in 2012. Which was my first go at cobbles, racing, 100mile ride, first time on closed roads.....
Other than that I wear what ever colour scheme takes my fancy regardless of who or what.
There is no way I would pay that amount of money for any clothes, far less something I can only wear on the bike. I won't even mention the size issue. I did buy a Lotto Fixall jersey this year cos I liked the colour (and the tube of glue picture) but I'll likely never wear it.
With the exception of club members, cyclists tend to be less partisan than other sports fans, opting to support individual riders than multinational teams. But the absence of team gear on Britain's cyclists probably has more to do with the age demographic and generic low-quality of these kits compared to premium brand alternatives.
More Rapha nonsense about passion and inspiration. In summary, we expect to sell more kit distancing ourselves from Sky.
Rapha are still struggling to sell their Wiggins kit - even at 60% off. Perhaps they could try mailing the shirts out in commemoration Jiffy bags?
Hand delivered, anywhere in the world.
The Canyon/SRAM kit is absolute class. It's also, perhaps not coincidentally, the most understated kit in the professional peloton (bar maybe Illuminate). I hope Rapha keep at that one.
Still, it's a personal call. For me, it still seems weird to wear it without a Canyon bike under it. Ditto for the Cannondale kit, which I also like. It's obviously a subjective thing, but since the team name is the sponsor's name, I feel like I'm endorsing the #brand with my choice of cycling kit. I do think I'll get around to getting a Cayon/SRAM jersey some day.
But that's a personal call. If you want to support a favourite rider/team, by all means. I encourage it. But for general riding, I just feel less like a billboard in an unbranded or retro kit. I don't really feel like I'm actually actually supporting Molteni (or Salmilano) salami, or Cafe de Colombia coffee, or Brooklyn bubble gum, and I don't much mind if it comes accross that way. I mean, if it was Kraft Foods, or Starbucks, or even Mentos (same company that makes Brooklyn bubble gum, BTW) I probably wouldn't feel as comfortable being a pawn in their global marketing campaign. Even with modern stuff, something like Lotto, Orica, Quickstep, Bora or Lampre feels fine. I don't mind supporting any of those companies; it doesn't seem like a bold stand of any kind. Yet I still haven't gone that route. Meanwhile, nothing against Sky, or any of the bike brands, or some of the country teams (visit Dallas or even Astana [where it not for Vino] feels fine, but Qatar or Katusha comes accross as a little chauvinistic IMHO) seem like more of a statement. But your milleage will most definetely vary.
Personally I couldn't give a flying fuck about Rapha. I've never met anyone who's been disappointed with their kit. That may be because they are too embarrassed to admit they paid way too much for the stuff in the first place. All credit to Rapha for managing to con so many people into thinking they are getting something more for their money. Capitalism and advertising at their best. Who was it who said " a fool and his money are easily parted"?
MASSIVE RESPECT for actually saying it, Kev...all of these Velominati "rules" are for sheep & although most cyclists like to see themselves as mega-individuals, I've been riding road bikes (& following road racing for longer than that by a few years, when my beloved Dad - RIP - introduced me to the sport via watching Le Tour when I was 10, back in '84 - La Vie Claire & my über-hero Greg Lemond's premiere years at Le Tour!) & have noticed that cyclists have become far more pretentious & mainstream as each decade has passed since then, sadly. So many cyclists nowadays seem to slot perfectly into the bitchy version of a "Mean Girls"-on-wheels clique - the complete anyithesis of what I loved so much about being a cyclist way back in the '80s, especially in Australia, where although our "Skippy" Phil Anderson had shocked everyone in Europe in 1981 (first non-European to wear the maillot jaune) & 1982 (won a stage, wore yellow for 9 days, won the white jersey), the sport was still incredibly underground down here & no one who did ride followed any infantile "rules" about what you could & couldn't wear - if anyone had told me not to wear my beloved La Vie Claire/LOOK or Systeme U kits (or my Oakley Eyeshades/Blades) that I wore back then, I'd have told them to f**k right off in a heartbeat.
This pretty much says it all:
Rule #17//
Team kit is for members of the team.
Wearing Pro team kit is also questionable if you’re not paid to wear it. If you must fly the colors of Pro teams, all garments should match perfectly, i.e no Mapei jersey with Kelme shorts and Telekom socks.
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/
The only thing worse than wearing pro team kit, is quoting from the rules.
My Rule #1//
Rules are made to be broken & are followed by SHEEP.
Rapha is just a brand. Why buy branded clothing at a premium that might have been made by *say* Castelli or by *say* Sportful? So much more sense to buy kit from a company that makes thier own stuff.
No, what? And why?
None of that makes sense to me.
I mean, I see the words forming something like a sentence, but not sure it actually makes sense.
If you work at SKY HQ they have a cycling club and they have always used Castteli kit, I have a Rapha SKY branded top, that altho is the biggest size they do it is small on me ( I am a big lad ) and the only reason i have it is due to an event I was part of last year as a out source employee for sky
I would love to own more Rapha gear but the sizing is too small and the Castteli stuff has better sizing and pricing
I don't /won't wear team kit, for the same reason I don't wear the world champions jersey. I'm not a world champion, and I'm not in the team.
Persoanly I like understated subtlety. Black shorts and an event Jersey. The only team kit I own is "road CC"
+1 for this.
I think also for me its because if you wear a pro kit there is an expectation that you should be good. No point looking like you should be fast if you're not
The crux of it really. It's about confidence. If you're a fast, strong rider, you do what you like and wear what you want. If you're sort of middling then a more conservative mindset naturally sets in.
That said, some people are naturally confident and always do what they want regardless. I respect that which is why I make a point of giving riders who stand out a heartier Yo! at the weekends
Dollar for dollar that Rapha's spend on marketing and it's impact on me, I would say that the order is:
1) Gentlemen's rides (although I've never done one, hopefully they'll have more and one will line up with my location/spare time)
2) Coffee van at events/races like etape du tour
3) Club rides
4) Pop-up shops etc
To appeal to me and my wallet, more of the above things matter, and the Team Sky deal had zero impact at all. In fact it sort of felt like they'd left their core users behind in order to chase a different market.
@maldin - it's just another reason to love Dimention Data - great team
I don't see anything wrong with wearing team kit, and think we really need to get over the culture of it being "wrong". Cycling is a financially precarious sport, and if fans were buying team kit it would go towards us helping to keep the sport going.
Also some of the teams are walking billboards... but compared to some 90s kits!? And no more than a football/rugby shirt. I think Sky (rapha more than castelli though if i'm honest), Orica, Bora, and Sunwebs are all quite nice.
I just think it's a terrible shame. Where will people get a Va Va Froome!!! t-shirt now?
Apart from the bargain bin at Evans, obviously.
true stoopid, i was merely pointing out the irony of the hyperbull being spouted - i'd have more respect for the fella if he said "fat rich white men buy our stuff regardless and team sky fans buy copies from China".
So, if Rapha are saying team kit doesn't sell, CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN CANYON SRAM, eh???
http://pages.rapha.cc/canyonsram
Or should that team be looking for kit sponsorship elsewhere too?
I hope not , I like the Canyon SRAM kit alot,as a total fangirl I'd buy more of it if Rapha actually extended their available range for it. I think that to me, other than the general snobbishness alot of cyclists had towards Team kit & Team Sky kit specifically (ie it's all dentists & city types wearing it round the hills of Kent), was part of the problem sell a few jerseys/shorts in limited stock size runs & not much else. Looking at Castellis Team Sky set you can pretty much FKW yourself if you chose, though at least Rapha recognised there were female fans of Team Sky who wanted the same kit choices in their sizes, which for Men's world tour teams kit was and still is unique I think.
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