Troy Lee Designs All New Women’s Collections
By Stan Portus – 23 March 2020
Women’s cycle clothing doesn’t always get the same love and attention as men's kit from cycling companies. Troy Lee Designs decided to do something about this and has radically overhauled its 2020 women’s collection. We spoke to Craig 'Stikman' Glaspell and Carolyn Campos to find out more.
“The human power required to ride a bicycle up a mountain is incredible. The sense of accomplishment. The stoke amongst friends after a group ride.”
– Carolyn Campos, Women’s Line Designer
Women’s cycle clothing is often an afterthought. Playing second to men’s clothing in the eyes of many cycling clothing companies, women’s kit often inherits technologies and features that aren’t designed for how they will fit or feel on women riders.
This is something that Troy Lee Designs has decided to make a thing of the past with its new 2020 women’s mountain bike clothing collections. Three newly devised lines have been designed by women for women, providing kit for all riders and all mountain bike disciplines.
Craig 'Stikman' Glaspell, Troy Lee Designs' Global Brand Director, explains how Troy Lee Designs has made trail gear for women for years, "but our customers and riders deserved better than another iteration of those styles.”
The new clothing draws not just on the designer’s knowledge and expertise but on Troy Lee Designs’ female ambassadors and athletes. With the new collections, the athletes and ambassadors were invited to design meetings and provided test feedback on the products.
This insight was an incredible resource for Troy Lee Designs’ team, and the designers took every comment into account when devising the new products. Not designed for somebody else, the collections take into consideration the needs of women riders. Carolyn Campos, the Women's Line Designer for TLD, says how:
“Applying the wisdom of being a woman I feel is so very important to a women’s apparel collection. All of our decisions from fit to fabric selection are all based on how it will look and feel on a woman’s body.”
The jerseys, shorts, and accessories look outward to women’s fashion and clothing design to create mountain bike kit that isn’t just resolved functionally but looks good too. This is about not having to compromise, looking and feeling strong, and performing at your best. This is about riding.
Lilium
“The Lilium collection is very sleek and innovative from fabric to fit. The Lilium Jersey has a jacquard engineered into the knit that takes the fabric quality from a smooth solid to a dropped-out mesh in an elegant floral design.”
– Carolyn Campos
Luxe Shorts
“In my research I heard so much feedback from women that they want their clothing to feel as good as their yoga pants do. It all clicked when I was in a changing room in a bike shop… and I realised that with all the 4-way stretch fabrics being used now, half the time I didn’t even need to bother with the front closure. I could just slip the shorts on and off. What a waste of trims and cost and, wow I would love to not have the bulk of those items right there at my waist.”
– Carolyn Campos
“The Luxe will be one of those moments when everything changes for a piece of kit.”
– Craig ‘Stikman’ Glaspell
Mischief
“The Mischief collection is purposefully designed for the Park rider. The style lines are a more casual street inspired look while also being performance driven. The fabrics we select for this category are high tech and are the most durable we offer in the collection.”
– Carolyn Campos
“The artwork of the Mischief jersey in Black Floral is an example of a trend coming from streetwear trends. It is dark, subtle but very feminine. The use of cheetah print art is a direct influence from streetwear and women’s high fashion.”
– Carolyn Campos
The Future
“Even with our former line up, the women’s line share of the business was larger than the industry norm. This is only going to get better. I want to build a bigger team of women designers, developers, marketers, salespeople to own this part of the Troy Lee Designs business… We have only really just begun.”
– Craig ‘Stikman’ Glaspell
