Team Sky and Castelli reveal 2018 race kit
27 November, 2017 (Fonzaso, Italy) – After celebrating the most successful season in the team’s history Team Sky today unveiled its new kit for the 2018 season.
The kit will give the team a new look for the new season. However, the kit also retains many of the features that have made Team Sky riders so recognisable in the peloton.
“We really wanted to keep the victory lines which have become part of the team visual language, but we wanted to represent them in a new way.”
The victory lines from last year are still represented on the kit. The 244 victories from 2016 and prior are on the back of the jersey, while the 2017 victories including the historic Tour-Vuelta double are brought in a subtle way to the front of the jersey. But overall the kit is simplified compared to the 2017 kit by moving victory lines from the shorts, socks, mitts and cap onto the back of the jersey. It’s similar to the Team Sky approach to 2018 with renewed clarity of purpose to winning the biggest races while developing the sport’s future talent.
Team Sky is special in its approach to everything about the team. The kit design is no exception. Rather than getting shipped off to an external designer the 2018 kit represents an analysis of what worked in 2017 with Dave Brailsford personally very involved in the introspection.
“We really wanted to keep the victory lines which have become part of the team visual language, but we wanted to represent them in a new way. And the Tour de France white kit was a resounding success so we wanted to bring that back as well. We looked at dozens of directions and gravitated to what we present today after inviting feedback from the board of directors, riders, the DS staff and naturally James Murdoch himself.”, says Steve Smith, Brand Manager at Castelli.
In addition to the new visual look to the kit there have been numerous technical updates to the products provided to the riders, with 14 products being new or updated based on rider feedback as well as research from the Performance Team. Castelli’s internal motto is “workwear for the pros” and that approach is applied to everything in the new collection whether the necessity of aerodynamics when racing or protection from the elements when training in cold and wet conditions.
Photo rights: Castelli