It’s in the details – Part 1

Details are everything in the world of cycling. It is no coincidence legendary rider Roger de Vlaeminck is meticulously inspecting the work of his mechanics in the opening sequence of Joergen Leth’s by now classic cycling film - “A Sunday In Hell”. Or how Eddy Merckx was renowned for driving his mechanics up-the-wall by incessantly stop-starting to change his seat or seatpost a fraction of millimeter.

“Marginal Gains”, a phrase credited to Sir David Brailsford of Team Sky, is apparently not a new thing, but its definition is perhaps today far more scientific than back when Roger and Eddy were young. Despite difference in age and ways in which details are obsessed about the very word “DETAILS” ring loud and clear everywhere in our sport.

So is also the case in Isadore Apparel’s newest product - LIGHTWEIGHT CLIMBER’S COLLECTION. Three seperat, ultra lightweight jersey’s developed specifically for Grimpeur’s and extreme hot weather riding uphill with each jersey profiling handpicked climbs from around the world by Isadore founder Martin Velits and his brother Peter Velits.

As you might already have guessed - just as with Roger and Eddy - a jersey is not just a jersey. The trick is in the DETAILS.

Each Isadore climber’s jersey tells the graphic story of the climb it profiles - MOUNT FUJI, COL DE LA BONETTE and MOUNT HALEAKLA - with each jersey designed with special commissioned graphics on the jersey sleeve, shoulder and side panels.

To get a clearer view behind these intricate murals on your sleeve I decided to ask Isadore’s Art Director - MARTIN GROSS - on the story behind these.

JG: MARTIN - TELL US ABOUT THE INITIAL IDEA BEHIND THE GRAPHICS ON THE CLIMBER’S COLLECTION ?

MG: When Martin Velits started planning the initial development of the Climber’s Collection he didn’t just want to create a collection of simple Lightweight jersey’s. His idea was to tell a “story” of three climbs which are important to him and his brother. The reason for this importance is they have both climbed two of these, in a racing aspect with their respective teams, and the third is high on Martin’s personal list.

Martin came to me and asked if I could create some visuals describing elements from each climb he wanted to portray. From there we started with creating a special badge representing the whole climb in a silhouette. The next step was then to go into the graphic details for each jersey.

JG: CONSIDERING MOUNT FUJI IS 3.776,4 METERS HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON WHICH SECTION OF THE CLIMB TO FOCUS ON IN YOUR GRAPHICS ?

MG: For Mount Fuji I didn’t focus on sections of the climb, but more on the habitat surrounding the climb. I have always been fascinated about how the Japanese obsess about details and their profound love for cherry trees, which to a large degree almost is a national symbol. A symbol which has grown so popular that even other countries have adopted their love for these trees which blossom very quickly. It was therefore fitting to focus on this symbolic tree set in an intricate pattern of undergrowth and floating rivers surrounding Mount Fuji to depict the fine attention to pretty details in Japanese culture.

JG: WAS THERE ANY OF THE JERSEY’S WHICH WAS HARDER THAN OTHERS TO DO ?

MG: The Col de la Bonette jersey was quite tough to represent. It is such a legendary climb in Tour de France, having featured in the race many times and selected for this collection as a personal favorite by Peter Velits. The easiest thing would be to make a graphical impression of its elevation profile, but we don’t do “easy” at Isadore. As they say: It’s in the details, so we decided to make a topographic map seen from a high angle view.

From there we stripped things back to its raw minimum, and created a pattern which looks beautiful up close, and from a far portrays the climb of Col de la Bonette. Not seen as in the usual Tour de France profile, as you normally see it, but from Space - if you like.

JG: THE ONE THAT STICKS OUT TO MOST PEOPLE IS MOUNT HALEAKALA IN HAWAII WITH ITS BURNT ORANGE JERSEY. NOT MANY CONSUMERS KNOW THIS CLIMB, SO HOW DID YOU APPROACH THIS PERSONAL FAVORITE OF MARTIN VELITS ?

MG: Mount Haleakala is high on Martin’s personal list of mountains to climb. It is a beast of a climb covering 75% of the Hawaiian island of Maui. It is not commonly known as a cycling mountain, but at 3.055 meters you can easily imagine you need to have serious stamina to take it on.

As it covers almost all of Maui it also offers some outstanding views from the top of its barren, moon-like peak. It was therefore fitting to focus the color of the jersey with the setting Hawaiian sun combined with waves of the ocean and water elements which can be viewed from the top of the peak.The pattern for this was again inspired by a topographic high angle view, but condensed into an intricate pattern of waves almost as if you would see them from the top of Haleakala and not from Space.

JG: WHAT IS NEXT FOR THE CLIMBER’S COLLECTION ?

MG: Right now we are in the process of developing graphic moodboards for Spring/Summer 2016, which will see further Climber’s products launched.