It seems the foolish season of mergers and acquisitions is constant with one other announcement involving SRAM. Simply over a month in the past, SRAM introduced that it had acquired the biking pc model Hammerhead. Now, we’ve acquired phrase by Velocio that they’ve simply bought to SRAM as nicely.
Of their announcement beneath, Velocio factors out that this can be SRAM’s first foray into attire, however the manufacturers have labored carefully collectively since 2015. Velocio additionally makes it clear that they hope to proceed working with SRAM whereas retaining the distinctive options of the clothes model intact whereas pushing for extra sustainability.
Whereas a bit stunning, SRAM’s new path isn’t all that totally different from Shimano’s. Their blue competitor already affords practically a whole equipment from parts, to sneakers, helmets, comfortable items, and electronics. Technically, SRAM doesn’t personal a shoe firm but – is that subsequent?
From Velocio:
TODAY WE’RE SELLING VELOCIO APPAREL TO SRAM. HERE’S WHY.
Let’s begin at first. We had been motivated to launch Velocio in 2013 by a drive for a greater biking product, a greater biking tradition, and a deeper dedication to accountable manufacturing.
That drive transported Velocio to distinctive milestones: from elite-level racing to sustainable manufacturing to progressive outreach for unifying causes. Velocio, right this moment, is a model we’re actually happy with, the model we got down to create.
But, there’s a novel problem to operating a enterprise that usually will get neglected: succeed and your reward is a deeper expectation to develop. Develop too massive, too quick and the chance is the usually -lamented lack of model, the dilution of product, and corner-cutting adjustments to spice up earnings. We gained’t do any of these issues.
In promoting Velocio, our focus was on discovering a companion, a big model or model household that might worth our three pillars: design, accountability and tradition. We approached SRAM exactly as a result of we thought there may be a spot of their well-respected orbit of parts and bike merchandise for us. We approached SRAM as a result of our cultures are appropriate.
Our historical past with SRAM goes again to 2015 once we shared sponsorship of the UCI professional biking workforce Velocio-SRAM, and it continued by shared occasion sponsorships, athlete pairings, and advertising and marketing efforts: a eager eye might spot Velocio clothes within the first-ever SRAM AXS product launch advertisements. Within the final six months, we’ve gotten to know the workers at SRAM, realized their imaginative and prescient for driving, and sorted how we match collectively.
For SRAM, softgoods is uncharted territory, we’re their first foray into attire. However SRAM’s loyalty to their very own staff and their efforts at outreach by World Bicycle Reduction, amongst different causes, suits with how we see bikes and other people and enterprise.
Our provide chain, manufacturing, and product design is not going to fold into SRAM’s manufacturing arm. All of the Velocio insurance policies and campaigns which have outlined our model, from the Signature Assure to the Unity Marketing campaign will stay unchanged. The customer support workforce that serves our clients nicely will proceed to take action.
What’s thrilling is that we’ll now have SRAM’s backing for extra impartial product design and growth, together with a nonetheless greater push in direction of sustainability in our product choices and the way we ship them. We’ll even have SRAM’s attain into racing and groups in addition to their insights into world distribution and retail help. If the burden of a rising enterprise is to develop ever additional, there are few companions extra suited to that future within the biking business than SRAM.
If you stroll by the workplace headquarters of SRAM’s Chicago house, there’s a big script that reads “We imagine within the energy of bicycles to vary the world.” We’ve by no means had a single location that’s served as our headquarters- Velocio has lengthy been a distant company- however in gentle of our partnership transferring ahead, we’re buoyed by the truth that SRAM’s name to motion sounds remarkably like our personal driving perception:
There’s a higher means.
Brad Sheehan, CEO
Andrew Gardner, CMO
Olivia Dillon, CRO
& The Velocio Workforce
March third, 2022
