French cycling clothing brand Café du Cycliste is opening a store in London’s Spitalfields in October.
It will be the first standalone store the business has opened outside its home city of Nice, where it has a shop on the Vieux-Port.
Launched online in 2009, the brand’s clothing is currently available in the UK online and through Mr Porter, Matchesfashion, and via outlets including Torque Bikes in Sudbury, Suffolk and the iconic London bike shop, Condor Cycles.
While its heritage is firmly from the Côte d'Azur, the brand has enjoyed success in the UK, which it says “made London the natural choice for the next stage” of its expansion,
The Nice flagship store includes a café and also hires out bikes from top brands, features that won’t be replicated in London.
However, the company promises that the store “will actively set out to inspire customers to plan a visit to the South of France,” something that will be reflected in the design.
Co-founder and creative director Remi Clermont – a former world class kayaker – said: “My father was really into road cycling, so I grew up in a family watching the Tour de France around 20 years ago when it wasn’t cool – even in France,
“I saw an opportunity to create a brand that was serious about technical excellence but also relaxed enough in approach to capture the pleasure of riding for riding’s sake”
He added: “Our clothing is designed as much to be worn 2,500 metres up, in some beautiful remote places where Le Tour has never been, as on the more familiar strips of kempt tarmac.”
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22 comments
Well, you don't have to buy it if you don't like it.
Just had a look at their website, their prices make Rapha seem reasonable .
sacré bleu - have they not heard about Brexit?
Buy British
I prefer the hipster look compared to the MAMIL look.
But bulging bellies are more aero!
Their Nice shop/café is certainly a nice place (ho-ho) and their hire bikes are good. The clothes are good quality too - they work as well here in the Pyrenees as in Nice. I don't think they're any better than Rapha though.
Anyway, good luck to their London shop!
I remember going to their shop/office when it was on a back street in Nice (Rue de Rivoli if I remember correctly), as I was expecting to get a coffee. Unfortunately it wasn't Cafe du anything at that time, just an office with some stock hanging on a rail.
The new spot on the Quay is very nice (ho ho), I recomend paying a visit if you're ever in that area. It's nice to just get a coffee and watch any cycling if it's on. I did get a jersey last time in there, and I agree it is top quality.
A bike clothing shop without coffee? It's doomed.
@ Barry - The fact that you used the word ‘achingly’ makes you look like the knobber.
I’ve worn CDC stuff for several years and it’s Rapha’s only real competition in terms of quality and design. Their jerseys are like a meeting of the Classic and the Pro Team. Really nice to wear. They were also doing the Pro look ‘Euro sleeve’ before most of the other manufacturers jumped on it.
How many jerseys have you tried? Are you telling us Castelli, Sportful, Endura etc. don't make quality jerseys?
Not many to be honest. I only started cycling a few years ago when I bought a lovely Pinarello and then spanked a load on Rapha. I've tried Castelli stuff but it just feels a bit cheap.
Before Vulpine started having all the troubles they've had I would have thought that this couldn't have worked as a competitor but clearly I'm wrong and the time might be right, cafe du cycliste kit just seems a little bit too expensive for what it is.
At last - somewhere to spend stupendously eye watering amounts of cash on achingly "ironic" kit.
Is the pirate look back then? Best get on the epo.
... its interesting to see that they are not replicating their Nice shop model: I would have thought that a cool cycling-themed, hang-out place with decent coffee, a shop and bikes for hire would have gone down well. It's clearly a rip off of the RCC, but it seems to offer value and attract sticky customers (usually with beards - which is why I don't qualify).
Spitaalfields sounds more like Amsterdam than London...
Er, I pretty much resemble the above comments...
https://www.cafeducycliste.com/performance/jackets-gilets/mens-waterproo...
At least the kit looks ok.
Wonder if they will be more hipster than the Rapha shop at the market. If that is possible.
He is a hipsteré.
That's probably the most tragic hipster photo I've ever seen. Geez.