High street fashion retailers H&M will launch a range of men’s casual cycling wear on 7 March 2013. The 11-piece lineup includes stretchy jeans and blazers, quilted check shirts and waterproof jackets and is constructed of organic cotton, recycled polyester and recycled wool.
The clothing will be available online and stocked in about 180 of the label’s 2,800 stores. Prices vary from around £8 (€9.95) for the cap to about £70 (€79.95) for a hooded shell jacket.
The move means the Swedish multinational will become one of the first high street retailers to target the growing demand for clothing that’s comfortable while riding but fashionable away from the bike.
The range was trialled by customers and employees at Brick Lane Bikes in London. They provided feedback to the H&M design team to help incorporate cycling-specific design elements such as ventilation, taped seams and mobility.
The founder of Brick Lane Bikes, Feya Buchwald, told BikeRadar that the collaboration projects started in June 2012: “It looks like normal clothing but it has a little bit of cycling inspiration – it has the attributes that are going to last, basically. The looks are theirs but the actual mechanics of how things should be definitely came from us.
“This market exists but in quite a small volume. You have other small companies that make kind-of urban cycling wear but it’s not common knowledge to the public; they don’t manage to get out there.
“Levi’s did a small thing with some trousers and some shirts, but very, very different to what this is, I feel. This is absolutely the first time it’s going to be stocked in a shop together with normal clothing.”
Buchwald said the H&M collaboration was a one-off and that she didn’t know of plans to add a women’s range, which she believed would be more complicated to develop.
Other clothing companies to have developed riding-friendly casual wear include Rapha and Carbonaut.