The dawn of a new business always needs a catalyst, a spark to get things moving and for me it was the constant struggle to find MTB kit for women. I love riding my bike, it’s my passion and I admit it I want to look good on the bike and wear clothing that fits me properly; clothing that’s made to fit a woman. Being small I can’t fit into small men’s gear which I know a lot of female riders do, but why should we?
I knew the brands I liked and I knew they made cool gear for ladies so why couldn’t I buy it? Every website I went to I’d filter for MTB and whilst I’d be presented with a long list of clothing as soon as I filtered for ladies the list would shrink to single figures. It’s the same when I go into a bike retail store, there’s always rows of men’s MTB apparel but go to the ladies section and its road clothing with a token gesture of MTB. OK so the populous of our chosen sport whether that’s AM, enduro, downhill or freeride leans heavily towards men but the times are changing and the ladies MTB scene is growing year on year.
So in January 2016 I set off on my Flow MTB adventure.
With the brand concept drawn up it was time to network. Having attended and joined various ladies events it was show time, well trade show time as I drove excitedly on a rain swept morning to “The Bike Place” at Silverstone. I had a list of brands I wanted to meet and it was a great feeling, and made it all seem real, as I chatted with Sombrio, ION and Flare about my exciting Flow plans.
The second trade show was The London Bike Show and this time I was armed with my new Flow t-shirt and business cards. There was a good spread of everything bike related and I got to catch up with the Sombrio guys again and as I popped in to say Hi to Hannah from Flare I had the bonus of meeting one of my biking inspirations Rachel Atherton; oh to be able to ride like Rachel!
Trade show 3 was the IceBike event organised by our local distributor Madison. Prior to the event I had arranged to meet up with Craig from Decade as I also wanted to offer protection and Decade is the supplier for 100% and 7iDP. Two hours of bike related chat later and I had the two brands on board.
With the trade shows attended, brand contacts made and the website in progress it was time to take the plunge, from April 2016 www.flowmtb.co.uk will be stocking women’s specific clothing, protection and accessories from: Dakine, ION, Sombrio, Raceface, Fox, 100%, 7iDP.
Flow, coming soon to a trail near you…