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news
FRAHM.jpgVulpine founder returns with Frahm jacket range
Nick Hussey, founder of cycle commuter clothing company Vulpine, has revealed two new jackets under a new brand called Frahm, and we've had the chance to take a quick first look at them.
"There still seems to be real need for high-end commuter kit [so] I've made two new bike commute jackets," said Nick.
"The Harrington Racer Jacket is designed more specifically for urban cycling (though the subtle point is that these are jackets you can cycle in, not cycling jackets), whereas the Utility Field has a broader range."
The Frahm Harrington Racer Jacket (£295) is made from British Millerain Staywax cotton fabric and it's designed to be showerproof, wind resistant, breathable and fast drying.
It has reinforced shoulders and upper arms, a vent at the rear and comes in a ‘tailored athletic’ fit that's intended to be neither loose nor tight, but somewhere in between.
The Harrington is designed for temperatures from 6-20°C and is machine washable.
The Utility Field Jacket (£395) is constructed from the same Yorkshire-made fabric with an odour resistant, fast drying lining.
It comes with eight pockets and is intended for more general use in temperatures from 0-16°C.
"[The jackets] aren't cheap, they’re built for long-term value; tougher, easier care, higher quality, more detail, styles that don’t go out of fashion," says Nick.
Vulpine went bust in a very public way in 2017 after several years of producing urban-focused apparel that was generally well received by both reviewers and consumers.
Nick reports that he experienced a nervous breakdown following the collapse of Vulpine and that Frahm will give £10 from every jacket sold to the mental health charity Mind.
Listen to Nick's podcast telling the story of the new venture here.
The jackets are available only through frahmjacket.com.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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In fairness Clarkson's name is taken in vain everytime a motorist does something stupid. So maybe not the best example
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Effective little things. Even have them on my Good Bike, my least reflectored. Still working through packs of them I got very cheap at Tesco.
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27 comments
Can't say I have ever really seen anyone cycling at night dressed in black with no lights or reflec.........
Oh let me think about that for a moment
I used to see a couple of fellas riding around on matt black bikes with black insulation tape on all the chrome bits, a total black out and top to toe dark clothes. it was almost as if the poachers didn't want to be seen.
Davel, have you ever been out in the car and thought "get some lights on!"?
Or at least worried that person go home ok as you could barely see them?
I have... And then I've gone home and birched myself in my iron maiden for being a dirty, impatient driver. And because I like it.
is the Vulpine brand dead and gone? The website still has a "coming soon" message.
It's been through a few owners since Nick. Just recently it was sold to Sportpursuit.com
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2018/10/31/sportpursuit-subsidiary-acquires-cycle-apparel-brand-vulpine/#1c312ee62f99
I feel that the founder of and last man out at Vulpine might have to work a little harder to rebuild consumer confidence in his brand/name...
Looks like weekend wear for Jeremy Corbyn down the allotment.
A black jacket. What a great idea for cyclists. Maybe we'll see one featured in "Near miss of the day".
My ass, looks as well fitting as those plastic bags Pro Vis sell. Is he about to slime his way through more shady business practices with this latestest venture?
If you can't see black, stay the fuck off the roads and whilst off the roads get yer eyesight and attitude checked!
So you can see a person dressed in black, at night, on an unlit country lane can you? What a wanker.
I imagine that the hypothetical person in black cycling along an unlit county lane at night would have lights and reflective bits on their bike so it doesn't really matter what they're wearing, surely?
You'd certainly hope so. But, what if their lights had run out of battery and said bike didn't have any reflective bits? I speak from experience here after being an idiot and not checking my lights before i left. I was plunged into darkness 25 minutes later and became utterly invisible!
How many times were you driven into?
I'm being facetious, but it shows how polarised the debate is. I get the 'be seen' argument, but on your unlit country road, the tarmac will be black-ish, the trees, bushes and picturesque dry-stone walls will be dark and unlit, and American werewolves and lost tourists will definitely be unlit. The onus always seems to be on those twatty cyclists to stop getting themselves killed.
I was clipped once if that counts as being driven into? Needless to say that I now always check the charge in my lights.
I see a small number of people with no lights and no reflectives on their bike.
Hard to see pedestrians on unlit roads who wear black and have their back to traffic.
My eyesight is more than good at the moment (had some operations that actually worked) and IMO wearing black now the days are darker is not a smart move. Saw (just) a guy out in black with black and white bike as the light was fading and without lights he was moving into invisible territory.
Defend your 'right' to wear black all you want just remember for every eagle-eyed Action Man there's a someone with cataracts and 50% blindness still driving.
Wear black but wear black with scotchlite on it.
£295 for something not waterproof - err, right.
How is it an urban cycling jacket? What does it do that my berghaus lightweight jacket does not ?
"There still seems to be real need for high-end commuter kit [so] I've made two new bike commute jackets," said Nick.
How did that work out before?
The country gent look for cycling.......err, no.
If you want to look refined you won't be cycling anyway.
2nd hand car salesman jackets.
Might just be - me still bitter at him pissing away my investment in Vulpine, but I fail to see one feature that would warrent the inclusion in a cycling review.
I still can see Fast Tony in Hackney Auto centre sucking in thru his teeth, wearing that second one.
We're not going to be reviewing them - not really cycling enough, but we reckon they are worth a story.
Very smart looking, and the black certainly helps this, but immediately counts me out because I will not wear plain black while riding, except at night when I don't mind black so long as it has reflective bits everywhere.
I realise that sticking reflective bits all over this will just put it in with all the commuter jackets, but there's a reason they tend to be similar.
If Frahm add some form of 'hidden' but highly effective reflectiveness (see Proviz performance range) then while that may increase the price somewhat, it will likely open the jacket up to a much wider market.
I doubt going north of £300/400 for these will open up anything, except my gob.
dammit! Very tempted to change it
can't believe you didn't go with: "new jacket frahm the founder of vulpine"