Cycling brands across the globe are grappling with universal challenges of rising costs, post-Covid stock issues and geopolitical disruptions, but brands manufacturing in Europe face a unique challenge – attracting a new generation of talent into the cycling industry.
For Italian brand Basso, this could become a serious issue.
“There's obviously more and more people that want to have office jobs and… don't want to get their hands dirty,” explains product and marketing manager Leonardo Basso.
To tackle this, Basso, which manufactures its bikes in Italy, co-founded the Stravarda Foundation in Bassano del Grappa in late 2025.
A collaboration between Selle Royal Group and Stardue Group – Basso’s parent company – the foundation says its aim is to generate a “positive and lasting impact on the community” by promoting active, sustainable living while creating practical pathways into cycling-related work.
“Expertise is really hard to find”
The launch of the foundation comes against the backdrop of Basso’s wider effort to bring more of its production operations back together.
Basso explains that, as the brand grew internationally, parts of the business became more dispersed. Now, it wants to bring manufacturing, painting and logistics closer together.
However, the physical relocation only works if people are willing and able to do the work. “Expertise is really hard to find,” Leonardo Basso explains.
Basso is keen to attract a younger generation to the industry, who can “join early, and grow with the growth of the company”.
This is where Basso feels the long-term value of the Stravarda foundation will be: “The goal of this foundation is really to look at the future of our industry and ensure it's sustainable for everybody.”
The foundation says it will promote “pathways for social and professional inclusion in the cycling sector, offering people in vulnerable circumstances the opportunity to acquire skills related to bicycle-industry professions.”
This includes working with young people, supporting educational projects, and creating routes into bike mechanics, production and related trades. “People that… maybe don't have a direction in their life, through this foundation – and through cycling – they could find their way,” explains Leonardo Basso.
An important part of the programme is also cultural, promoting road safety, respect and engagement with cycling as everyday transport rather than just sport.
Basso says that at the base level, the foundation also wants to promote the strong culture of cycling in the Bassano region – which hosts many cycling companies.
Stravarda plans to invest in redeveloping natural areas, supporting trail networks and encouraging tourism linked to cycling and outdoor activity.
“Our area is so strong for cycling and the culture of cycling is so rooted in the area – that’s why there's so many companies in the area,” Leonardo Basso says.
“Obviously growing an international business is important, but then focusing on doing something in the area, for the territory, will benefit everybody that lives there.”
- Sponsored: 50 years on and still family-owned, this is why Basso manufactures its carbon bikes in Italy
He explains that as “a sport of passion”, jobs in manufacturing or logistics at the company generally attract cyclists, which gives the industry an edge over other sectors. Basso’s hope is that the work will support cycling participation in the area, which will have a long-term benefit for brands manufacturing in the region.
For those that enter the company at a young age, he describes a largely apprenticeship-style pathway into the company that he’s keen to grow, with experienced staff mentoring younger recruits.
“We're lucky because we have people that grew up in the company and now… are the mentors of the new younger people that join the business,” Basso says, adding that the average age of staff in the company is a lower-than-average 40.
“Step-by-step, new staff get taught and become professionals in what we do.”
Manufacturing in Italy, in a global industry
The launch of Stravarda sits against a broader backdrop of the long-term globalisation and more recent challenges in cycling manufacturing.
Coming out of the post-COVID turmoil in the industry and increasing competition from credible Chinese challenger brands, Leonardo Basso says the cycling industry is at a crossroads: “We’re in a delicate moment coming out of a really complicated moment.
“With new Chinese brands… bringing great bikes to Europe – and European brands going to China, it's really diversified.”
Despite this, Basso remains committed to manufacturing in Europe.
As a premium brand, Leonardo Basso believes continuing to manufacture in Italy still holds appeal to the buying public – but local production only works if it is part of a deliberate strategy: “For a brand like us, definitely there's an opportunity to do things locally, but it needs to be at the base of your strategy,” he says.
“But what we're doing is really focused on the product first, and that for us, it works to make things locally.”
