'A lot of people think slavery is something in our history books, and they don't necessarily think about how much it can touch our lives now' - the cycling jersey fighting slavery

What’s in a cycling jersey? Is it just an aero tool to help you shave off milliseconds of speed, or simply the uniform of the sport? Lily Rice reckons it has the potential to be much more.

Last month, she launched an anti-slavery jersey in collaboration with creative agency BUCK and cycle CIC Ride for Freedom. It is bright-white, and plastered with large, graphic, multi-coloured stickers: in one, a cyclist morphs into a giant helmet-wearing shadow-figure in the back pockets – “Freedom” balloons in crescent writing above it.

Want a way to challenge modern-day slavery? Wear it on your chest.

“I think a lot of people think slavery is something in our history books, and they don't necessarily think about how much it can touch our lives now,” said Rice, the co-founder of custom cycling apparel company, The Long Run Club.

“We think it's really great that so many clothing brands are using recycled fabrics and trying to improve what they're doing,” Rice said. “But what a lot of brands are not doing is looking holistically at their entire supply chain and impact. Making sure that your garment workers are treated fairly and ethically is a really big part of saying that you're ethical and sustainable.”

Today almost 50 million people worldwide are victims of slavery, including one in four children. In the UK, over 17,000 people were referred to the National Referral Mechanism in 2023, with 14,500 children here identified as being at risk of exploitation.

Ride for Freedom helps get survivors of modern day slavery in the UK into cycling, and works with primary schools across the country to enable children to spot the signs of modern slavery. Every jersey sold provides education for twelve children, with one whole-school programme funded with every fifty jerseys sold.

Cycling offers a unique opportunity to lead the way in tackling slavery in supply chains, Rice tells me. "I think that sport has a massive kind of role in society, and it stretches much further than perhaps kind of other sectors - you've got athletes, spectators, weekend participants. So I feel like sport can really be a mirror for wider society, but also lead on setting trends within sport. Athletes and sports people are role models for so many people. So if we see people within sport doing better, I think it rolls out into wider society."

Pushing through the streets on your bike, traffic whistling past, your jersey is a small billboard of whatever company, club, race-name happens to be slapped on it. It’s a conversation starter. But sometimes the way that jersey is manufactured may be at odds with the good-cause you could be challenging via your kit.

“A lot of companies are wanting to become more sustainable, and then saying to their employees, go out and do this bike ride raising funds for a really good cause, but they don't think about the piece in the middle - the jerseys that they're purchasing, or the way that they're getting their employees to that event, or, the water bottles that they're using."

During our conversation, Rice and I turn to chatting about why we love cycling - for the simple joy of being outside, of moving our bodies, and understanding how good the whole process can feel, at this most basic level.

"I think whatever your reason to get out on a bike is valuable, important and positive," she said. "Some people do it for the medals. Some people do it for the Instagram. Some people do it for the freedom. I think getting outside, moving your body, and doing it in a way that's ethical for the planet as well, and considering your impact when we're taking benefits from the outside, is all really positive."

“With this limited-edition jersey, people can wear the impact," Ride for Freedom's COO, Vicy Hvartchilkova, said. " [It] turns awareness into action and helps us protect the most vulnerable through education.”

To find out how to support the project, and buy a jersey, head to The Long Run Club.