Uncharted Territory: Our First Gravel Club Kit
GETTING INTO GRAVEL?
Gravel riding is a discipline born out of pushing boundaries on your bike and quite literally riding into unpaved territory. Whether you're going fully off-road enduro style, or just heading to your favourite backcountry single track, gritty terrain is hot right now, and bringing new challenges on the trails.
These sort of seismic changes in the cycling world are few and far between, and we don't often get the chance to work on designs that focus specifically on the thrills and spills of gravel, so when we set about reimagining this year's bespoke jersey (with a gravel-specific twist) for the lovely riders of Outlands Fausto, we went all-in on the detail...
Challenging norms is in our DNA, and our clients know that if they commission PARIA to design their performance cycling kit, they'll receive a design that takes them beyond everything they think they know about spandex.
When we collaborate with clubs, collectives, and individuals, we always look for common ground - be that in attitude, objective or expression - and with Outlands, we found it in spades.
A team that challenges the usual rigid cycling club structure to build something fresh, they were the perfect partners to work with on our first bespoke team gravel jersey.
DEMOLISHING DESIGN DICHOTOMIES
The creative challenge was clear. How could we create a gravel jersey which stood out, whilst sitting comfortably in the existing Outlands family of designs?
Wanting to preserve the cleaner aspects of their brand identity, whilst combining this with the more rugged aspects of the discipline, we arrived at our solution: A digitised texture that give this little number a gritty feel inspired by gravel surfaces, and a fresh new teal base.
Pink accents on the collar and cuffs keep the jersey in line with the current Outlands team kit, highlighting the second generation logos. Big, bold branding and a hi-visibility back pocket have become a staple of the Outlands attire this season, so we kept that going with added texture to match the flecked base. The introduction of shadowed logos makes the white elements pop, bringing clean lines to an otherwise hectic (in a good way) pattern, and a new stripeblock graphic gives a nod to the striking sleeves on this year's Outlands race jersey.
Huge thanks to the Outlands crew for trusting us to share their amazing vision!
The only question now is: Should we release this beast as part of our Winter '22 line up for the gravel-hungry masses...?