Budget bike manufacturer Merlin has entered the cycling clothing market – with its own range of cut-price garments.
The company – which has developed a reputation for low-price own-brand bikes – believes it spotted a gap in the fiercely competitive market.
They have now launched the Merlin Wear brand with a collection of bib shorts, short sleeve jerseys and other essential accessories such as socks, arm warmers, leg warmers and knee warmers.
Gareth Dawson from Merlin Cycles said: ‘Looking at the existing cycle clothing market it seemed like there was always something lacking. To paraphrase Keith Bontrager’s famous quote about bike parts – ”Strong. Light, Cheap. Pick two.” – when browsing the cycle clothing market the customer was faced with ”Function. Fashion, Price. Pick two”.
‘With Merlin Wear we reckon we have finally squared the circle and can offer you high performance, good looking kit at affordable price points.’
The firm, based in Lanarkshire, Scotland, said it had to make a ‘very large’ order of its clothing range to get a low price while maintaining top quality.
The items have been designed in the UK and manufactured in Italy and Romania. They have used strong stitching, zips, reinforced pockets in order to withstand the rigors of British cycling.
Their Core jersey is available in, black, white or red with different types of fabric for different sections of the same garment.
Gareth added: ‘Different areas of garments do different jobs; some need to prioritise moisture transfer, some need to deal with wind chill, some need to offer some muscle support and so on. The fabrics are technical and high performance but you can bung them in the washing machine without worry.’
The range also includes bib short which use Elastic Interface from CyTech – regarded as some of the best in the business. They have their dinky tell-tale orange tab sticking out of the rear seam of our bib shorts.
Gareth said: ‘Merlin Wear isn’t super (market) cheap and nasty. We could have made it even cheaper than it is already, but it wouldn’t have been good enough.
‘Merlin Wear is not needlessly techno and overly race day specific. Our apparel is for doing short or long rides in comfort. We want you to buy Merlin Wear and forget about it – in a good way.
‘We also bore in mind that you probably have an existing wardrobe of cycling clothing. Merlin Wear has been designed to be a clash-resistant as possible. We like to think that we’ve still managed to avoid our clothing being dull. It has a subtle but sharp look to it that we’re very proud of. We hope you like it too.’
