I hear you and understand what you have in mind. I am of opinion that buying tights with a chamois is impractical since you only ever bring them out during deep winter. Anything warmer and its usually BibShorts with leg warmers.
We do have plans to release long winter tights that work well with The Bibs under them! Using some very special fabrics from our friends over at MITI. Keep a look out!
No problem at all! I do understand where you are coming from.
We're not denying the quality of Castelli and other brands of course. I myself have ridden on these brands and do enjoy them!
But, we are doing something very different by creating a niche within the apparel industry. And this shows in the choices we make during the design process.
excessive sweating isn't an issue at all. The fabrics used throughout the cyclewear industry have undergone significant developments as recently as 5 years ago.
The main principle is "moisture wicking" , where sweat is pulled away from the skin towards the outer layer of the fabrics where they evaporate, keeping you dry.
Our main fabric supplier, MITI, has been in this game since the early 20th century and they are always at the forefront of fabric technology. We are currently enjoying the advantage of "trickle down tech" where fabric technology that was currently only available on the really expensive BibShorts are now available at a lower cost - largely due to economies of scale and process efficiency.
Its been a rather long discussion and I can't thank everyone enough for joining this conversation with us. I'm Yuva, one of the co-founders of RedWhite Apparel.
I hope I've clarified all questions, but please keep them coming! If I don't reply quickly, it means that i'm likely in bed given the massive time difference.
We've made some tweaks and it should load better now :)
I'd like to reiterate that we aren't competing with any of the big boys. Each brand is unique with a different philosophy and brand voice.
We are focused on making a BibShort for long distance cycling. We want you to come to us, knowing that you will walk away with a product that will help you ride those long base miles in comfort.
Every element in the RedWhite BibShorts has been curated and through through to achieve this end goal.
I couldn't reply on Product Hunt sadly because apparently I need to be recommended by the community.
Your choice in BibShorts is a highly personal one. Perhaps other brands resonate more with your wants and aspirations and tastes.
We are focused on what we do - A BibShort for long distance cycling. Our website has only 1 product that's built from the ground up to enable you to ride that century or that AUDAX in comfort.
Okay, simply put, many brands have offering at multiple price points. Obviously to cater to different budgets, tastes, aspirations, wants etc (its a rather long list).
We are different. We chose to focus on a BibShort specifically for long distance cycling. This is our niche and what the RedWhite brand stands for.
That is a personal choice :). Castelli do make great products - undoubtedly.
However, we are a different company. Our niche is - Long Distance BibShorts.
When you come to us, we want you to have absolute confidence that what we give to you is a BibShort that is designed specifically for your long ride. No compromise has been made in achieving this end in the design process.
For example, we don't print on our lycra because its a nylon based fabric that's softer and more luxurious than a printable polyester based version. Comfort reigns king over graphics and that's a choice we made happily to achieve the end goal - long distance comfort.
The chamois isn't one that's used by many other brands. We searched for a non mainstream manufacturer. The chamois is manufactured using a Thermic Moulding process - no one else makes a chamois this way and what you get is a plush, breathable chamois that lasts and doesn't flatten out after long hours.
We manufacture in Romania. The fabrics are supplied to us by MITI from Urganano, Italy. The Pad (chamois) is trucked in from our Italian chamois supplier.
Trucking is fast, cheap and with EU carbon regulations - also environmentally friendly. All our suppliers are not more than 4 hours from the central factory - keeping our supply chain tight and efficient.
The central Romanian factory is owned by our Italian manufacturing partner who stitches the fabrics together according to our design files.
The final Bibs are quality inspected in Romania and are trucked to Italy for a final quality inspection before sent to us in Singapore for distribution.
We currently sell online and locally through a network of dealers. While we work to get these sold globally at your local bike shop, the online store will be the way for you to get hold of these.
Every order is packed by one of us (2 founders) and sent to you from Singapore :).
The lycra we use can't be printed on. And that's a good thing!
A printable lycra is polyester based. Ours is nylon. The difference is the key to a lycra that feels luxurious to one that doesn't.
Some tech facts:
Graphics are printed onto stretch fabrics using a process called sublimation printing. The ink based graphics are printed onto a paper, from which they are heat pressed onto the fabric to allow the colors to adhere to the individual fibres within the fabric. This process is only possible with polyester based fabric. Nylon fabrics simply melt when subjected to heat from the sublimation printing process. However, we didn’t want to compromise on our design principle for The Bib and stuck with a nylon based fabric to achieve the superior comfort unattainable when using printable lycra.
Nylon too is a less complex molecule (without the dreaded Benzene ring that's in Polyester). This means that from a chemistry standpoint, its a less rigid polymer, achieving that soft and compliant feel.
I wouldn't say why you should choose us over one of the big brands. That's a personal choice after all! But, i will say that we are a super niche company that's thrown 6 months of time into making a product that works on your 6 hour ride.
Do follow us on Instagram (redwhite_apparel) and see what we do there :)
We are a small team of 2 and we handle customers, marketing, product design, web development, graphics, 4 social media sites and a blog with content every week.
Your comments are useful, please keep them coming! We will be working double time to make the site faster and better.
That article's purpose is to introduce customers to our home base. It was in response to many enquiries asking if Singapore was in China - believe it or not!
No, we received absolutely no funding. RedWhite Apparel is entirely self funded by 2 passionate cyclists. Its a significant investment from our savings and I believe with our current focus on customers, quality and our tenacity, we will become as well known as the big guys.
We currently offer in only 3 sizes and are releasing larger sizes soon.
There are only 3 size variations given the type of fabric and construction. For example, the size S fits a 165cm tall guy with a size 29 waist and ALSO fits me (177m, 70kg and a size 33 waist). The material is a 220gsm nylon based lycra with 18% elastane.
Its absolutely perfect for fitting a wide range of body sizes and we complemented it with a detailed look at 10 key dimensions which make up the sizes, allowing us to fit 90% of cyclists.
Of course, there will be odd sized person who requires a larger or a small size. We are working very hard on sizing for these types of people and are close to perfecting them. It takes time to gather a variety of people, measure them, make prototypes and test.
Its also very expensive for a small company, so we chose to focus on 3 key sizes for now.
I hear you and understand what you have in mind. I am of opinion that buying tights with a chamois is impractical since you only ever bring them out during deep winter. Anything warmer and its usually BibShorts with leg warmers.
We do have plans to release long winter tights that work well with The Bibs under them! Using some very special fabrics from our friends over at MITI. Keep a look out!