With Marc Pro stepping up as our new title sponsor for the 2018 season, it was clear we were going to change up the look and branding of the team. Luckily for me I had Nick Shaffner of Orbital Labs on my side, willing and able to take the lead in designing and mocking up the kits.
He worked closely with the marketing team at Marc Pro to hone in on an overall team branding strategy for the team. Gone was the all black kit of h24cycling, and in was the much brighter color palette of Marc Pro. Our look would feature a green and white top along with our classic orange bands on the left side of the jersey and short cuffs to represent KTM. After lots of back and forth between me, Nick, and all our other sponsors, the design was finalized and approved. The kit you see the riders wearing today was born!
Jakroo Custom Apparel has been a sponsor of the program for 5 years. The company owns every step of its process end to end. Jakroo USA has a base of operations locally here in the Bay Area, in Pleasanton, CA. They entered the cycling space under the Jakroo brand name 8 years ago, although they have been producing and designing custom clothing for 20 years. They have nailed their niche in the market: top quality, low order volume, amazing customer service, and an absolutely incredible turnaround time. The experience I had ordering our team kit exemplifies their smooth operation.
Our sponsor liaison at Jakroo is my good buddy and former teammate, the cycling legend Ben Jacques-Maynes. Nick sent Ben a proof of our kit, and the designers at Jakroo quickly imported the design into their system. They went out of their way to give a few much appreciated suggestions, like making the color of the jersey green rather than white, which can get sweaty and gross at the end of a long season, and to remove the white from our rain jackets, making them a solid green to stand up better to the effects of foul weather.
I simple online portal was sent to me, and I approved each and every different piece of kit to ensure all the details were done right. They nailed it the first time, and everything was quickly approved. Ben opened up the online store for us, and the ordering window was opened. Five days later, the team store closed and our kit was production.
Twiddle my thumbs for 2 weeks annnnnnnd ding dong. Kits are here! That’s right. After just 2 weeks all the team kit arrived at the store, looking better than I could have imagined. Out of the box, the colors really pop. The attention to detail is incredible. Reflective tabs. A zipper pocket on the back. A super quality chamois. A perfect fit. The detail on the photo of the Marc Pro device on the back is stunning. Both myself and my riders couldn’t be happier with our Jakroo experience
And get this, we’re able to reorder new kit every two weeks that will be delivered 14 days later at 3-5 piece bulk pricing for a single piece. No more having to reserve a stock of kit for riders that go down, I can always just order more!
You can wear the exact same kit as the team by ordering from our online team store: http://shop.jakroo.com/Marc-Pro-Cycling-2018
