Vittoria purchases legendary tubular brand A. Dugast
Vittoria announced today that it has acquired full ownership of A. Dugast, the legendary handmade tubular brand that has long enjoyed a heralded status amongst top road and cyclocross racers for its phenomenally supple cotton and silk tire casings.
“A. Dugast from the Netherlands becomes part of the Italian Vittoria Group, executing a jointly created plan to reinforced the development and production capabilities of both bicycle tyre brands, building on the innovative know-how and shared global manufacturing capabilities… [to] develop ever-more advanced and innovative products, ridden by winners.”
Naturally, the press release hints at the sorts of synergies that are often batted about during these sorts of acquisitions. Vittoria has made clear that it intends to learn as much as possible from A. Dugast in terms of the latter’s expertise with natural tire casing materials, while A. Dugast is likely to benefit from Vittoria’s expansive and well-established international distribution network.
Where things go otherwise is where things perhaps get more interesting.
Vittoria’s substantial manufacturing and R&D muscle will perhaps make a wider selection of tire tread patterns available to A. Dugast, while Vittoria may, in turn, offer an even more premium range of tires under its own brand. Vittoria has already announced that A. Dugast’s small-batch production facility will allow the Italian brand to offer special, limited-edition models, such as a yet-to-be-named L’Eroica-specific handmade tubular that will certainly wear a retro look and feel.
What comes next? Who knows, but it’ll certainly be interesting to watch from here.
More information can be found at www.vittoria.com.
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