Le Col by Wiggins cycle clothing range launched

Sir Bradley Wiggins has collaborated with his former teammate Yanto Barker, owner of the Le Col brand, to launch the new range today at a low-key event at the back of an Italian café in Soho. They say that the new collection is inspired by cycling’s history and trade teams from the 60s to the 90s, for a classic vintage aesthetic.

Wiggins says: “Cycling clothing has always been very important to me. It’s become a real status for people to try and be a bit different on the bike.” He says that cycling fashion was something he’d always wanted to work on when he stopped cycling professionally.

Wiggins stresses his knowledge of what works when out riding for six or seven hours through a variety of weather conditions. He says that the range is aimed at all riders, and that he wanted to avoid the snobbery and exclusivity you can find in cycling nowadays.

According to Wiggins: “I wanted to create a range of cycling kit that captured my cycling world so I partnered with Le Col, who make the best technical kit on the market and then added my personal style.

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“Everything that I’ve experienced, achieved, and loved as a kid, as a junior racing in London, as a spectator watching my heroes, everything I’ve made in the Le Col by Wiggins collection goes back to a point in my history ”.

Wiggins and Barker were juniors together on Team GB and, says Barker: “I would often speak to Brad in the peloton about performance, style and design, so in a sense he was involved in Le Col from the very start.” The idea for the current collaboration goes back four years, to when Wiggins and Barker were riding together and discussing cycling clothing at the Tour of Britain.

Details on the Le Col by Wiggins collection include embroidered logos and simple designs, in a nod to cycling tradition and a time when advertising was less prevalent in team kit. Wiggins says: “You very rarely see people out on club runs in trade team kit now. People want personalisation, they want subtleness and brand loyalty.”

There are three ranges in the Le Col by Wiggins collection: Hors Categorie, Pro and Sport. The HC jersey costs £155, while the bibshorts are £185. Move down to the Pro range and prices are £125 for the jersey and £155 for bibshorts, while the Sport range’s jersey costs £85 and the bibshorts £125. There’s also a Le Col by Wiggins gilet at £140 and socks and musette, both £15.

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Barker is keen to stress the quality details, like the embroidered logos on the kit and its functionality, durability and practicality. Le Col includes pre-dyed fabrics in its pieces, so that the colours look good even when the fabric is stretched.

The designs are available in both men’s and women’s fits, but without different women’s designs. The Le Col by Wiggins range will be sold on line through Le Col’s website as well as through a growing number of retailers, such as Sigma Sport.