BIG INTERVIEW
“Sometimes you are going to have to sacrifice sustainability for performance,” said Millar.
“I think our current jersey is 90%
recycled fabrics and the performance is insane, but that was through trial and error of the first jersey iteration. “The fabric just didn’t really work well enough for the performance we wanted so we went back to the drawing board and found another.” Alongside the jersey, CHPT3 has managed to create a lycra short which is predominantly made from recycled fishing nets.
“Through that journey, you find
sustainability doesn’t become a compromise,” said Millar. “We have got to the point where we’re aligning performance and aesthetics with sustainability credentials. But that’s been through four years of trial and error and kind of banging your head against the wall.”
WOMEN’S APPAREL
A trend that continues through the discussion with Millar about CHPT3 is how he and his team are always learning on the journey. Part of the learning curve was the introduction of women’s apparel. Rather than create a token product, Millar was keen to develop specific products tailored to the female athlete.
“I was like ‘well let’s double down and make for women exactly what we make for men’,” said Millar. “In fact, we went even deeper and did more, we did an indoor collection, we did a high end Biarritz collection. “There were more options in winter wear.” Unfortunately the collection didn’t take off as expected and Millar says that will shape how they approach women’s apparel in the future. “We didn’t build a community first,” said Millar. “In hindsight, we should have been a lot more realistic.
Women have a very different attitude to sports apparel and also sport. “Males tend to go into one sport whereas women tend
to be multi-sport. And also, they look after their gear a lot better. Women tend to get something they like and wear it out. It’s not just that it’s 10 to 20% of the customer base. It’s also that they buy a lot less than that 80 to 90%.” Despite this, CHPT3 will continue to make high end products for female athletes. “We still would like to do women’s apparel,” said Millar “But we’ll have to do a core range of beautiful performance wear.”
24 | July 2023 URBAN CYCLING
Through its collaboration with Brompton, CHPT3 has become well known within a niche market of urban cycling. This led Millar to ask the question: “How can CHPT3 make urban cycling interesting and cool?”
“I’ve kind of learned in the last few years that there’s not much headroom left in performance cycling apparel,” said Millar. “All the brands are making amazing jerseys, amazing bibshorts, and we do as well.
“But what I love is this idea of that performance tech and experience, along with a love of fashion and style, and taking it into urban cycling.”
As part of its commitment to this sector, the brand launched
the Transit Cycling Shoe earlier this year, a first of its kind engineered for riding in the city. One of the key people behind the design of the shoe was James Carnes, a co-founder of CHPT3 who worked as a global creative director at Adidas for many years. “We wanted to make a sneaker that you’d wear even if you weren’t a cyclist,” said Millar “Often with urban cycling it’s a choice. Compromise performance and go in normal clothes or wear the stuff designed for it and immediately stand out like a sore thumb. “When you’re urban cycling, 90% of the time you’re off the
bike. So you want to have performance for that 90%, as well as that 10% on it.”
Millar is convinced that the niche of urban cycling is only
going to grow in popularity, and he is keen for CHPT3 to be at the forefront of apparel for this sector. “We want to get to that point where, if you walk in with the shoes on or eventually when we do a jacket, somebody doesn’t go ‘oh you’re a cyclist’,” said Millar. “People ask ‘where did you get that jacket from?’. People want
to own it, even if they’re not a cyclist. That’s the ultimate goal with urban cycling. You have all the functionality on the bike but when you get off you look very cool.”
www.bikebiz.com
Left: CHPT3 has expanded into women’s apparel, but the results weren’t as expected
Below: The Transit shoe, part of the CHPT3 focus on urban transport
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
