It was a simple time. Team kit was understated, with black shorts and a few colored panels on the jersey. Race Leader and National Championship jerseys were plain, and often even lacking in the name of the sponsor. National Championship jerseys in particular were a matter of national pride more than sponsorship; it was an honor to fly the colors of your country in a jersey that payed homage not to the team’s branding, but to that of the nation’s flag. The jersey was worn with standard team kit, often in garish contrast to the colors of the sponsor. It was gloriously Casually Deliberate.
Then, as more money came to be at stake and the sponsors became ever more loosely tied to Cycling’s history, it started to change. First with the shorts, which were modified to match the jersey, either with different accent colors or with an entirely matched design. Then teams started discouraging their riders from winning national championships and, if left no choice in the matter, they chose a design which matched the standard team kit design as closely as possible in order to maximize sponsorship investment.
The first time I noticed this trend was an account from Roger Hammond, the reigning British Road Champion, who had just signed with Discovery Channel. It was a matter of pride for him, of course, to wear the jersey but his new sponsor was not so keen and certainly held no special respect for the history of his jersey. After all, a national championship jersey has very little room on it for Discovery’s branding, and that meant a smaller return on their investment in the rider as a billboard. If I remember correctly, he was strongly discouraged – if not barred – from entering the race.
The Tricolore jersey is my favorite of any jersey available. If I were a Pro, I would carry a Dutch and not American license for no other reason than for the chance to race in the red, white, and blue stripes of the Dutch flag as opposed to the vertical stripes and star-spangled design of the American flag (however cool that jersey is as well).
To declare this In Memoriam is perhaps premature, but we are moving inexorably away from this glorious jumper; shorts are too often matched, bicycles too often repainted. I have nothing against maximizing a sponsor’s investment, but I worry over the consequences. I worry for the loss of standard team shorts, standard team kit, and the tricolore jersey. Will all teams follow Team Radiosanschelck?
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What two Markos?
@Marko
There I was thinking @frank had demoted you for trying to get the vintage jersey thing off the ground while he was stuck in transit.
Bike Snob NYC eloquently sums up the Cipollini training camp.
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2012/03/conquests-another-notch-in-belt.html
Has anyone ever read Cipo's twitter?
@DerHoggz
F'n awesome! I'm sitting across from the VMH laughing, and she thinks I'm crazy because I can't explain what's so funny about it. If I had any say in it, I'd give you the +1 badge myself.
@scaler911
Seconded for the V Badge, that had me giggling like a schoolgirl & all my colleagues wondering why I'd gone nuts.
@DerHoggz
Brilliant! All the women have a "can we finally ride?" look on their faces.
@DerHoggz
"My team's bike sponsor gave me an STD."
Nipple Lube.
@DerHoggz
Brilliant.
Couldn't help myself, what with all this talk of tricolore jerseys. This is one modern example of how it should be done.
@jimmy
I'm not groovin' on the Brooklyn ripoff (sorry guys) and the throwback jersey is a very difficult thing to call. It has to be completely original but totally old school at the same time. Very hard to do. I think the guiding principle is what could you do with the technology of the day (i.e. sewing panels together) and design it based on those principles.
But to do it in modern materials seems half-cocked to me. Why are you doing it? Its just a gimmick then, kind of like designing the calendar app on the Apple to look like a notebook; you're using cloud technology to sync your calendar across dozens of devices in realtime and then making it look like a notepad with poorly-torn pages. Its idiotic.
I'm all about looking the part, but I'm all about authenticity as well. I would be much more inclined to leave our modern jerseys as they are, but have an authentic wool jersey made in an oldschool design. You want a throwback jersey? Do it for real and go wool. two colors. Orange in a panel across the shoulders and to just above the breast, and then a black trunk. The Velominati logo sewn across the chest.
@scaler911
Done. And, DerrHoggz likely lucks out now too as I'll forget to change it after a week and he'll get it until I get back from Belgium and I go, "WTF?"