Bicycle Fashion Is the New Gorpcore
You’re reading Shopper: Highsnobiety's bulletin on what’s taking up headspace from the marketplace. This is an edit of September 1's newsletter, in which shopping editor Max Migowski lives life in the bike lane. Subscribe here, or head to the Shopping tab for more recs.
Cycling Fits Are What Fashion Heads & Finance Bros Agree On
I see them in the streets, on Hinge, at restaurants, in the mornings and evenings and in the middle of the day: hobby cyclists on bikes that cost as much as cars, iridescent Oakley or District Vision shades on, stretchy outfits so snug you could make a cast of their… Point being, road cycling, and its attendant gear, has crept into the broader culture as a status symbol. Much like running before it, cycling is the quarter-to-midlife-crisis activity on men’s minds and will suddenly appear everywhere once you start to notice it. After all, how do you know someone's a cyclist? He’ll tell you.
One of the rare crossroads where fashion-heads and finance bros shake hands, the sport has helped spawn a new wave of brands that cater to this exact sweet spot. “Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch; I was there when it was written,” you might be thinking; after all, this is very similar to when outdoor apparel was co-opted into gorpcore, and for all the same reasons.
Labels like Copenhagen’s Pas Normal Studios are front and center in these currents. On the heels of a collaboration with Salomon earlier this summer, the Danish cycling garb upstart recently unveiled its first off-bike collection. And rightfully so: following an ascent to meme-level ubiquity in and beyond the world of racing bikes, why wouldn't its designers shoot their shot at clothes that aren’t tight jerseys, tighter bib shorts, or all-out skinsuits?
Palace-approved Rapha from London and the Melbournians behind MAAP are up there too. There are certainly competitors worth noting, à la Sydney-based Attaquer or Italian Cinelli, but if Reddit threads, Substacks, and IG meme accounts can be trusted, the former three are leading the charge in terms of balancing contemporary taste and the actual functionality of such specialty equipment.
If you live in a major city and don't know at least one agency employee who wears graphic-printed spandex halfzips to work, it's probably because you're the one doing it (synthetics-phobia who?). I've even heard of folks using ORTLIEB's bulky saddlebags as office totes — bikelessly. I mean, hey, it tracks: In this age of saunas, Strava, and fermented soda pops; of FREITAG tarp satchels, and WHOOP wristbands, of course there'd be a heightened interest in healthy, commodifiable, and showy pastimes like cycling. And you know what? If the trajectory of running shoes is any indication, we ought to be thankful to the trust-fund babies and natural wine lovers who got us here. Tour de France when?
Open Tabs: Everything We've Got Our Eyes On Right Now
Lululemon launched a bag so big it could store a person (or maybe even a bike).
Eastpak x Fear of God's minimalist line of luggage isn't quite as capacious, but'll stow your belongings just as steezily.
Ever since I saw Kristen Stewart in it, I cannot stop thinking about Dickies’ Eisenhauer jacket.
For this in-between time when it's too hot still for sweaters but getting too cool for just tees, Every Other Thursday's thick blue Made In USA shirt offers refuge.
Once we do enter fall officially, you might as well stick to this off-black GOBI cashmere v-neck all season.
The North Face and eYe Junya Watanabe Man had babies, and this bomber puffer hybrid is my favorite from the litter.
I’ve been craving cargo pants lately, and ERL's dust-colored seersucker pair hits the spot.
This isn't the first Noah x Timex watch, but with its nautical design and supposed beach aptitude, it could be the best (and most practical) yet.
La Sportiva's approach shoes have long charmed fashionable downtown dwellers. This new low-profile version presents as everyday footwear but has as much bite as classic mountain stompers.
White-ish sneakers are due for a comeback, and there's something aspirational about owning a perfectly beat-up pair. How good would this New Balance style look run into the ground?
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