benphyr
Guru-me-not
Some of the best jerseys I've ever seen. https://www.reversegearinc.com/gone-but-not-forgotten shows three old ones that I own. Possibly my all time favourite:
Phoenix:
Awesome company. Sad news below with respect to difficulties - had supplier that met all criteria: Excellent quality, local, made in Canada, able to supply small batches. Can no longer do the small batches which makes it not feasible ... See below blog post copied from their website: www.reversegearinc.com
Reverse Gear was started in 2008 with a singular mission to develop cycle clothing specifically for recumbent riders – whether for sporting or leisure purposes (or both). From the start, we have only offered Canadian-made apparel. All of our jerseys, bottoms and underwear are designed and manufactured right here in Ontario and we have enjoyed a close relationship with our local production partner throughout that time – it provided us with tremendous control over design and quality so that we could create products that were cut and shaped just for the reclined position.
Every single product is inspected and packed by hand by us and we have built great relationships with our wonderful customers along the way. This local production partner offered us very low minimum quantities although they otherwise produce much larger runs for very large brands, which allowed us to develop many different styles and products for such a small business.
Unfortunately at the start of this year, we were informed that they will not be able to continue these very small production runs for us. The new minimum is double to quadruple what it was before (depending on the line). This means, unfortunately, that we are very unlikely to produce any new clothing for the foreseeable future. A couple of immediate impacts of larger minimums are that each new production run would require from us a much greater investment upfront and a willingness to hold a larger inventory.
We have considered whether to find another manufacturing partner, perhaps even overseas (which would likely be at a much lower unit cost, but without that local, close relationship and foregoing that ‘Canadian-made’ characteristic we were very proud of), but the fundamental problem is that we just don’t sell enough to justify the larger production runs. Recumbent bikes are already a niche within cycling, recumbent riders who buy specific clothing are just a niche of that niche (which to some extent is a quality of recumbents themselves, that people don’t feel they need any special clothing to enjoy riding a recumbent). There are good reasons why our clothing is worth seeking out, but we get it.
We are a very small, enthusiast-run business that has until now dedicated itself to a single market – recumbent clothing. We didn’t do anything else, we didn’t offer regular cycle clothing lines as well. So what now? Well, first off, we will continue to offer our existing stock. We will look for opportunities to produce new clothing (although no promises) and perhaps other recumbent-related products, too. We will certainly continue to ride recumbent and take part in events waving the recumbent flag, sharing when we do so on social media.
Reverse Gear Inc. is also now exploring other avenues – if you follow us on social media, you may have seen in the last few weeks gifts and products made from upcycled bike parts (s’ok, no recumbents were harmed, these are parts of regular bikes!). Initially, this is just to take to a local maker’s fair but we will see where it goes.
We really enjoy running this company, we enjoy recumbents and cycling and we hope we can continue in some form going forwards. Thank you so much for your support up to now.
Phoenix:
Awesome company. Sad news below with respect to difficulties - had supplier that met all criteria: Excellent quality, local, made in Canada, able to supply small batches. Can no longer do the small batches which makes it not feasible ... See below blog post copied from their website: www.reversegearinc.com
Reverse Gear was started in 2008 with a singular mission to develop cycle clothing specifically for recumbent riders – whether for sporting or leisure purposes (or both). From the start, we have only offered Canadian-made apparel. All of our jerseys, bottoms and underwear are designed and manufactured right here in Ontario and we have enjoyed a close relationship with our local production partner throughout that time – it provided us with tremendous control over design and quality so that we could create products that were cut and shaped just for the reclined position.
Every single product is inspected and packed by hand by us and we have built great relationships with our wonderful customers along the way. This local production partner offered us very low minimum quantities although they otherwise produce much larger runs for very large brands, which allowed us to develop many different styles and products for such a small business.
Unfortunately at the start of this year, we were informed that they will not be able to continue these very small production runs for us. The new minimum is double to quadruple what it was before (depending on the line). This means, unfortunately, that we are very unlikely to produce any new clothing for the foreseeable future. A couple of immediate impacts of larger minimums are that each new production run would require from us a much greater investment upfront and a willingness to hold a larger inventory.
We have considered whether to find another manufacturing partner, perhaps even overseas (which would likely be at a much lower unit cost, but without that local, close relationship and foregoing that ‘Canadian-made’ characteristic we were very proud of), but the fundamental problem is that we just don’t sell enough to justify the larger production runs. Recumbent bikes are already a niche within cycling, recumbent riders who buy specific clothing are just a niche of that niche (which to some extent is a quality of recumbents themselves, that people don’t feel they need any special clothing to enjoy riding a recumbent). There are good reasons why our clothing is worth seeking out, but we get it.
We are a very small, enthusiast-run business that has until now dedicated itself to a single market – recumbent clothing. We didn’t do anything else, we didn’t offer regular cycle clothing lines as well. So what now? Well, first off, we will continue to offer our existing stock. We will look for opportunities to produce new clothing (although no promises) and perhaps other recumbent-related products, too. We will certainly continue to ride recumbent and take part in events waving the recumbent flag, sharing when we do so on social media.
Reverse Gear Inc. is also now exploring other avenues – if you follow us on social media, you may have seen in the last few weeks gifts and products made from upcycled bike parts (s’ok, no recumbents were harmed, these are parts of regular bikes!). Initially, this is just to take to a local maker’s fair but we will see where it goes.
We really enjoy running this company, we enjoy recumbents and cycling and we hope we can continue in some form going forwards. Thank you so much for your support up to now.
