What makes the products unique? When we started designing the Off-Road Bike range, we looked around at other socks which were available on the market at the time and it was obvious that no one produced a sock designed for much more than just covering your feet. We started conversations with a group of riders and asked them what they felt was important for a sock to do and it soon became obvious that riders primarily wanted warm and comfortable feet.
Whilst that is the easy part for us to provide, several other things came out of the discussions such as the level of cushioning, impact protection, thickness and length for example. We took this all on-board and designed the range to solve as many of these issues as possible before handing back to the same riders to test extensively in all weathers and conditions across the UK.
The feedback was wholly positive as it has been from
customers who have bought the range since they have been on sale to the public. Stand out features include our vibration dampening footbed which utilises a specific type of padding that reduces pedal chatter and trail vibrations. The asymmetric design of the socks ensures the cushioning is where it is most needed whilst extra padding in the areas around the ankle and Achilles provide additional impact protection as does the under-toe seam. There is also our unique FushionTECH blended yarns to help with moisture control and warmth, a choice of weights for all seasons, our unique fit story and our Brand Guarantee.
What sort of feedback have you received from the industry? So far, the feedback has been great but it is still very early days. We already have a good network of independent dealers onboard and a strong distribution partner in VeloBrands. We are working hard to build a platform of influencers and riders who are trying out the product and will continuously feedback into future product developments. Hopefully you will start to see more reviews and content appearing over the next few months as we move forward with our marketing plans for the range. We are also starting to get people from inside the industry asking us to try them too as they had ‘heard good things’ about our socks so fingers crossed this is a sign that more and more people are noticing the difference and that the word is spreading. For retailers we know that our lifetime guarantee against faulty manufacture is reassuring and appreciated. This is something we are very proud to offer as a sign of the quality of the product.
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What are the plans for 2025? In a word, education. To put that into context, riders who already know Bridgedale and have tried socks from our other ranges, our Trail RUN collection for example, have been easy to attract to the off-road range. They already appreciate how important a good sock is as the interface between skin, shoe and the pedal. People who don’t know the brand don’t necessarily know the benefits of a technical sock versus, say, a cheap sock from the local sportswear store, they don’t know how much of a difference a technical sock can make. This is a challenge we’ve faced before in other categories, but hopefully as with these ranges if we can educate people as to why socks are important, more people will try them, feel the difference and word will spread. For example 20 years ago, most hikers wore any old sock inside their boots, now the majority recognise the importance of good socks and will wear a decent pair (hopefully Bridgedale) every time they go out. Our plans for 2025 are to try and educate riders in the same way. A sock is not just a sock, it’s the piece of material that can often make or break the comfort of any bike ride. We are now looking to extend our dealer network alongside our distribution partner VeloBrands. As part of our education and marketing plans for 2025 we are also very interested to hear from any shops who have a local riding club they support or have strongly attended shop rides we can help them with. Perhaps they have a local upcoming rider they would like
to support? Let us know. We are a brand that knows the true value of independent retailers and we are keen to support these retailers in any way we can.
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