Race Face Performance Products has added the services of award-winning apparel designer Cheryl Knopp to their soft goods designed team. Knopp is a Vancouver, B.C.-based veteran designer with experience as VP of product development for Arc’teryx, as well as freelance project work with Mountain Hardwear and Blurr. Knopp was brought in to further develop and differentiate the Race Face apparel brand amongst all the cycling apparel on the market.

“We’re continuing to invest in our clothing lines to keep the Race Face designs on the leading edge,” said Race Face president, Craig Pollack. “Cheryl has the skills to take a fresh, critical look at our line and see opportunities that exist for new materials, new construction techniques and product designs.”

For her part, Cheryl sees the relationship as a great opportunity to make a difference in the market. “I really think Race Face is well placed, distribution and reputation-wise to raise the bar in cycling outerwear and be dominant in the industry. I can see us bringing in some very interesting and cool things from a design and construction standpoint, and still keep an eye on the more pragmatic aspects of the cycling market's price points. It makes for a very interesting challenge.”

Knopp’s design work has resulted in many industry awards, including several PolarTec Apex awards for items in the Mountain Hardwear, Blurr and Arc’teryx lines that she designed; an ISPO Best of Show award for the Mountain Hardwear Synchro jacket; the European Outdoor Industry “Product of the Year” award for the Arc’teryx Theta AR jacket; as well as Backpacker Magazine’s Editor’s Choice for the Arc’teryx Theta LT jacket.

Knopp will start getting her hands dirty in the process in November with results from her input hitting the market for the Spring, 2006 product line.