Tagesarchiv: 9. Februar 2009

Since some some weeks I have this strange idea to start the creation of a new team outfit for this year’s season and since some weeks less I am in contact with F2P in Singapore to find out about possible options. And all that despite all the considerable time and effort I had last years which brought nothing but blood, Swiss and tears. And of course a lot of colors to our otherwise boring and meaningless, gray existence. Well, it was mainly orange I have to admit.

There are three major reasons why I thought about having new team outfits:

1. The 2008 short sleeve jerseys were nice, but a little bit tight for some (most) of the team members. This is because they are based on so called „pro-cut“ specifications, i.e. these jerseys are made for guys and girls who do not only ride like pros [just as we do], but also look like cycling pros [which most of us don’t]. I send F2P some photos of typical Positivo Espresso riders [I will mention no names, but my one was included] and, well, they didn’t said it that clearly, but, how can I explain …. well I also had to swallow …. but basically they recommended something called „fun-cut“.
   But better to own a jersey which can be used than one to hang in a frame on the wall.

2. As the 2008 jerseys were the first design we made, there were certain strategic mistakes incorporated which are closely interlinked with the problems outlined above under (1). To cut a long story short, I was many times mistaken for Sydney Greenstreet and Tom was asked to sign autographs with „Akebono„. Even Ludwig would have looked like previous German Kanzler Helmut Kohl. So I got some strategic hints from F2P this time how to do a design that makes as look, smarter, faster and slimmer.

3. Finally we had no matching bib shorts for our fantastic team jerseys. In 2008 I rode a lot of times with the Positivo Jersey and the NFCC bib shorts – the best shorts I ever had and coincidentally manufactured by F2P. So I thought it would be nice to have some comfortable, good looking bib shorts as well.

4. And we didn’t had a long sleeve jersey as well, which meant that we could not sport the Positivo Espresso logo during the cold season. Yes, we could also use wind stopper jackets, rain vests, team socks and condoms imprinted with our logos but at some point one has to draw a line and say: Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish.

So, I had some discussion about possible designs, minimum lot sizes and options and I came up with the following ideas for 2009:

2009 POSITIVO ESPRESSO SHORT SLEEVE TEAM JERSEY

Well I didn’t want to change the overall theme so drastically so I stayed with the same colors as last year as a principle theme: orange, light and dark gray. I also left the „flag bands“ at the sleeves as they are very good looking and can be used handily to explain the international background of the team. I added the Haiku from Beat Takeshi on the back side, please check here for the explanation.

In order to make as look faster, smarter and slimmer I put the flamboyant orange of the front and back and the grey on the side panels and shoulders.

The joke on the side panels about dogs, pedestrians, cars and bikes was nice for 2008 but should not be extended in to this year.

And we can also easily make a long sleeve jersey out of this as well.

2009 POSITIVO ESPRESSO TEAM BIB SHORTS

A continuation of the same theme as on the short sleeve jerseys to have a unified outlook. Please note that the so called base panels are all uniform dark grey (so called „carbon grey“), they come only in eight base colors and cannot be imprinted with logos or patterns. At least not at a reasonable cost and also not without loosing durability.

The design emphasis our mights legs and people we will pass along the road will be terrified in awe and respect. Please also note that the long awaited „Traffic light bug“ sticker is now integrated on the back side for everyone to see. From behind, of course. These are extremely comfortable bib shorts – I wrote that already I know, but I would like to emphasize this again.

I still need to work on the long sleeve jersey design which I will do within the next days.

Please let me have your honest feedback, we can still work very much on the design. We need to place an order of 20 items of each of the basic types (so either SS jersey, LS jersey or bib shorts) and then we can have a minimum lot size of 5 or 10 or the other two basic types. Obviously, the more we take, the cheaper it will get. So please let me also know which types would be of interest to you.

To give you an idea of the cost involved :

– Short Sleeve Jersey app. 8.000 Yen
– Long Sleeve Jersey app. 9.500 Yen
– Bib Shorts app. 8.500 Yen

The last time I have paid upfront the complete order of 20 jerseys, however this time I would expect some help in this regard from the Positivo Espresso Hard Core Team members.

It would be nice to have the jerseys ready for the Fuji Hill Climb event at the start of June. Or Itoigawa? Hurry up guys.