Velocio Apparel, the cycling brand, has announced its sale to SRAM marking the company’s first foray into apparel.
“In selling Velocio, our focus was on finding a partner, a large brand or brand family that would value our three pillars: design, responsibility and culture. We approached SRAM precisely because we thought there might be a place in their well-respected orbit of components and bike products for us. We approached SRAM because our cultures are compatible,” according to a letter from the Velocio team including CEO Brad Sheehan, CMO Andrew Gardner and CRO Olivia Dillon.
The deal represents SRAM’s third acquisition in the past year after the purchase of Time Sport and Hammerhead but will be its first foray into apparel. SRAM and Velocio shared sponsorship of the UCI pro cycling team Velocio-SRAM in 2015.
Velocio said its supply chain, manufacturing and product design will remain independent and will not fold into SRAM’s manufacturing arm. Their guarantee policy will remain the same as will its customer service team.
Velocio’s letter added, “What’s exciting is that we’ll now have SRAM’s backing for more independent product design and development, including a still bigger push towards sustainability in our product offerings and how we deliver them. We’ll also have SRAM’s reach into racing and teams as well as their insights into global distribution and retail support. If the burden of a growing business is to grow even further, there are few partners more suited for that future in the cycling industry than SRAM.”
Photo courtesy Velocio
