Rapha closes North American office

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Cycling will be one part of a full blown lifestyle brand within a year.

We had the fixie boom of the late naughts where every ad included a single speed.

One could argue garvel and the pandemic have turned cycling into a lifestyle one aspires to, but the the tide is ebbing, imo. E.g. cycling shorts were a women's summer fashion item 3-4 years ago and the bike market is softening.

[jimcav]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Then one wash cycle and a thread had come undone from one of the bibs and unwound many meters, bundling up a whole load of laundry. That stuff is strong...I’m tempted to bring it to the local cleaners where they make alterations and see if they can help out.

This was a nice Craft bib. Korean alteration shop.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Then one wash cycle and a thread had come undone from one of the bibs and unwound many meters, bundling up a whole load of laundry. That stuff is strong. I cut it off, hoping it would be the end of it. Next wash cycle same thing. Now I’m not sure what to do with these bibs. If I had a sewing machine I could probably fix it easily. I’m tempted to bring it to the local cleaners where they make alterations and see if they can help out.

You should definitely contact customer support. IME they'll offer a voucher for 40% of the value of a new pair, but given that you only wore them once they may (should) do a lot better than that. My experiences with their CS have been consistently excellent. FWIW, most of my bibs have at some point begun to lose a bit of stitching from the pad, I'm handy enough with a needle and thread that I can restore them and prevent recurrence, though the stitching looks … far less than professional. Doesn't bother me since only my saddle can see it.

[nickl]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

The Rapha brevet vests I saw on PBP in 2011 were not visible at all, which you can tell just looking at them in a picture. The organizers made everyone wear the official vest in 2019, and I don't remember seeing any of the Rapha vests. Hopefully the motorcycle marshals would have stopped anyone wearing one. Those requirements are written in French law for anyone walking or riding on the road at night, and that was in effect before 2011, so Rapha should have known their vest was not legal in France. I never understood Rapha's approach.

This describes the French (European?) standard.

http://www.rema.org.uk/pub/pdf/non-p...-buyers-v2.pdf

[kurto]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

You should definitely contact customer support. IME they'll offer a voucher for 40% of the value of a new pair, but given that you only wore them once they may (should) do a lot better than that. My experiences with their CS have been consistently excellent...

Totally agreed about Rapha CS. The couple issues I've had over the years (seam tear, zipper issue) were resolved super fast with no-cost replacements sent my way. It's been probably 5 years since the last one, so maybe they've changed, but when I needed them they took care of me. I've also got a couple jerseys and a backpack that I've used consistently for a decade that are in great shape. The shorts and base layers eventually get resigned to trainer duty, but I've never had a Rapha item that seemed to be short-lived or low quality. Also, their bibs (especially the straps) work better for my body than Assos, so the Assos are the last shorts to come out of the drawer in a week :-)

All that said, I don't think I've ever bought anything from Rapha for full MSRP, and I've spent loads and loads of $$$ with them over the years. I'm not a business genius, but I'd imagine that's probably an issue.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by litcrazy

I think they’ve been trying for a bit and it’s not that easy.
I kind of wonder if that energy is going into tracksmith, which is a sister brand I believe.

Is it....I'm not aware of that? Doesn't mean it isn't.

Originally Posted by slowpoke

We had the fixie boom of the late naughts where every ad included a single speed.

One could argue garvel and the pandemic have turned cycling into a lifestyle one aspires to, but the the tide is ebbing, imo. E.g. cycling shorts were a women's summer fashion item 3-4 years ago and the bike market is softening.

Yeah beyond cycling.

[adub]

Originally Posted by Lgibjones

The people who work in the local Rapha store seem really friendly, committed to riding, and committed to the brand. It is not an elitist vibe at all. The clothing is nice but I just can’t get past the pricing.

I get this same vibe at the Peloton store.

[Heisenberg]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Is it....I'm not aware of that? Doesn't mean it isn't.



Yeah beyond cycling.

it isn't. former employees.

[verticaldoug]

Originally Posted by November Dave

If Rapha can figure out how to get their clubs/locations to profitability, I see them as an asset. I went to a pop-up one in Coconut Grove several years ago and it was very lively and fun, went on a few rides from there while I was there. I'm headed to Amsterdam for work in a couple of weeks and will probably stop in the store there because it's cool and well merchandised and the staff are actually nice people who are cycling mad, and they typically have some neat location-specific items (I got some Rapha AMS socks when I was there last year). I won't get to ride there, though.

The good point has been made that Rapha needs to expand beyond cycling to really hit, which may be very true. I don't know. I think I saw their annual topline sales revenue at 110mm GBP, which is a fairly substantial number.

I pulled the accounts from their companies house filings. The losses are real not some accounting gimmicks.

Cycling clothing is just niche and there probably is not a lot of staying power with any buzz you can create. This is why the Rapha Club members are declining. It may have helped for a bit with sales, but now is just another sunk cost.

They can probably keep a couple Rapha stores in high traffic upscale tourist areas like Soho in London, and maybe smartly placed pop-ups for physical presence. They can probably get their costs and revenue in line can be a static good business at 100+- in turnover. Maybe slightly lower. (The UK is where their sales have actually declined, NA, Eu, Asia are all pretty static.)

The issue then will be whether the Walton brothers want to keep Rapha because they like cycling, or because it is not a growth company they sell it on like most PE would do. In that case, it probably gets bought by a SPARC and ABG (They bought Eddie Bauer) and it ends up just with their stable of tenants in the mall and outlet. SPARC is also partly owned by Simons Property the mall operator. Their companies- Eddie Bauer, Nine West , Reebok, Aeropostale, Nautica, Brooks Brothers. are always tenants in their malls. Nothing is random.

[November Dave]

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

I pulled the accounts from their companies house filings. The losses are real not some accounting gimmicks.

Cycling clothing is just niche and there probably is not a lot of staying power with any buzz you can create. This is why the Rapha Club members are declining. It may have helped for a bit with sales, but now is just another sunk cost.

They can probably keep a couple Rapha stores in high traffic upscale tourist areas like Soho in London, and maybe smartly placed pop-ups for physical presence. They can probably get their costs and revenue in line can be a static good business at 100+- in turnover. Maybe slightly lower. (The UK is where their sales have actually declined, NA, Eu, Asia are all pretty static.)

The issue then will be whether the Walton brothers want to keep Rapha because they like cycling, or because it is not a growth company they sell it on like most PE would do. In that case, it probably gets bought by a SPARC and ABG (They bought Eddie Bauer) and it ends up just with their stable of tenants in the mall and outlet. SPARC is also partly owned by Simons Property the mall operator. Their companies- Eddie Bauer, Nine West , Reebok, Aeropostale, Nautica, Brooks Brothers. are always tenants in their malls. Nothing is random.

Awesome, thanks!

The question of a stable and profitable business at whatever level with good cash flow is fascinating to me. It’s always about growth and some businesses just don’t operate in growth environments.