Team Yacht Club
Never sacrifice style for speed.
Founded in 2013 out of the desire to bring style and adventure into a sea of spandex and tradition, Team Yacht Club is all about going faster and farther while looking good all at the same time. As a founder and manager of up to 24 teammates at a time, my role is to lead our riders, design and manufacture biannual kit releases and cultivate and maintain sponsor relationships.
What Team Yacht Club Does
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Ride
TYC consists of a CX and road race team, but we’re just as comfortable on long Texas training rides.
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Design
Release two new kit designs per year (cyclocross for fun, road for serious racing).
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Volunteer
Organize rides, volunteer time, and help however we can in the Austin cycling community.
PROBLEM
Cycling has never been the most glamorous sport when it comes to outfits, or as we say “kit.” And let’s be honest, when you’re squeezed into a spandex suit you want to look good.
How might we create a new and exclusively inclusive space in competitive cycling?
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Quality above all else
At the time the only choice for cycling kit was either very loud and repurposed imagery (think Metallica cover art on your back, literally a .jpg of the cover art) or solid black.
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Speak the language
In order to produce a custom kit, you would need to work with a manufacturer overseas and hit high minimums.
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Small business first
With most custom kits being promotional or sponsored by bike shops they’re only available to sponsored athletes, and even then they’re covered in advertisements. Our goal was to create a kit that highlights the design and thereby the rider.
GOALS
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Collaboration is Key
As an up-and-coming brand, we found it most successful to align ourselves with similar ventures in our sector with parallel goals. By working together first with Somerville Mfg., based out of New York we elevated their newly released garments with our designs for mutually beneficial exposure.
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Social Media and Outreach
By building a community on our social media platforms and leading rides in Austin and Philadelphia we were able to form a foundation of support and name recognition. It wasn’t long before we were making waves (I’m sorry).
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Connecting the Dots
Taking our kit designs from the computer screen to fabric and finally up the road allowed us to gain even more exposure for our team, paving the way for more riders and more opportunities.
RACE KIT
SOLUTIONS
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Teamwork Does Make the Dreams Work
Without teammates and like-minded brands willing to go the extra mile for our vision, we wouldn’t be here today designing our tenth kit for Team Yacht Club.
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People Want to Help
Never be afraid to ask for help. We found that the more exposure our brand received the more people wanted to help and see us succeed and we are so grateful for the doors they opened.
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People Management
It started with just the three of us, then we grew to twelve and at one point surged to twenty-four active racers scattered throughout the country. When working with people who share the same amount of passion for a project it can be a delicate balance of delegation and roles to make sure everyone feels valued and heard.