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news
Production Shot 6Endura reveal how they made Alejandro Valverde's rainbow jersey
When Alejandro Valverde crossed the line first to win the World Championship road race in Innsbruck last weekend, the staff at Endura, which supplies his Movistar team, knew that they had a race of their own to run.
With the Spaniard due to race in Italy in the coming days – Valverde is down to ride the Tre Valli Varesine on Tuesday and il Lombardia next Sunday, and may also race Wednesday’s Milan-Turin – the Livingston-based business had just one week to design and produce his rainbow jersey.
Here Endura recounts the processes that resulted in the kit that the new world champion will debut on Tuesday being designed, signed off and produced.
As soon as Alejandro Valverde crossed the line with arms aloft as the new UCI Road World Champion last Sunday, the cogs of the finely tuned machine that has supplied technical clothing to Movistar Team since 2014 began to turn almost as soon as Bala’s wheels drew to a stop beside the podium.
In a series of Whatsapp messages and emails between team and their expert tailors back in Scotland on Sunday evening, a plan of attack was agreed with #EnduraCustom even as Valverde was celebrating his magnificent victory in the Austrian Tirol. The plan – to produce kit worthy of a World Champion. Of course, Endura are no strangers to manufacturing rainbow jerseys, having recently produced MTB versions for Rachel Atherton and Kade Edwards (Trek Factory Racing DH) and previously for para-cycling World Champion Denise Schindler.
Unlike some pro team’s clothing suppliers, Endura make kit end-to-end in-house by the same production team that produce over 50,000 garments a year for clubs and teams worldwide. This is no development lab, it’s a proper factory, employing around 60 staff, all based in Livingston, near Edinburgh. Movistar Team’s kit designer Stuart Kirk kicked off the production process first thing on Monday by consulting UCI’s fascinating technical documents on kit design, before producing some initial designs for approval by Endura management, then Movistar Team and then the UCI.
When the design was signed off then the clock started ticking in earnest. Patterns were placed on layers of fabric to be run through Endura’s automated cutting table to create the eleven panels that make up a team issue jersey (and twelve more for the bibshorts). Meanwhile, Stuart Laidlaw’s print shop team were watching the design edging through their large format printer, ready to be passed on to the heat pressing team next door.
If you’ve not seen dye sublimation printing in action, it can resemble a form of magic as a mix of heat and pressure transfers hi-tech inks from printed sheets straight into the fabric itself. No further treatment is required to make the panels colourfast. Just one further step is necessary for Movistar Team’s kit with parts of the jersey heading a few work stations along to have Endura’s proprietary Surface Silicone Topography technology applied by a small crew of specialist technicians.
The whirring sewing machines used by expert machinists have been the beating heart of Endura since the company was founded 25 years ago and some of them have been with the Scottish company since the very early days in the small factory that spawned a global brand. Zips are added to jersey panels, pockets are created and Alejandro’s favoured 700-series pad is sewn into the bibshorts before heading down the line for a QC check under the watchful gaze of Operations Director Alison Moodie.
From start to finish the entire process took less than the 6 hours and 46 minutes that it took Alejandro to win his World Championship, but as modest Scots, the team at Endura wouldn’t like to boast just how quickly they can produce an outfit for a World Champion.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- GMBasix 2 sec ago
Just to be clear, the rider is clearly visible, but only if the driver looks....
- quiff 18 min 20 sec ago
The linked article suggests that the station area is covered by an exclusion zone (presumably meaning Lime doesn't recognise it as properly parked...
- slc 25 min 29 sec ago
No rounding - it was 26 minutes. Looks as though someone has walked it many times and found the mean to obtain such precision. Not just looked on...
- Doug_D 41 min 41 sec ago
Another book suggestion - I can highly recommend "Lost Summers and Half-Forgotten Afternoons: A Mint Sauce collection" - a beautifully presented...
- chrisonabike 1 hour 54 min ago
But... the last is only not the case with drivers on normal roads because driving on the cycle path / footway / rolling a vehicle up there is seen...
- mdavidford 2 hours 32 min ago
I think you're missing an opportunity to pack even more tech into it - add accelerometers that can detect whether they're pedalling or stepping....
- chrisonabike 2 hours 57 min ago
Thanks. I guess the question is "need". If the road is busy, it sounds like it is a desired route between places? In which case (given this an...
- mdavidford 3 hours 5 min ago
Don't know what you mean. I thought my suggestion was entirely practical.
- Rapha Nadal 3 hours 39 min ago
I'd buy a motorbike fo rthat kind of money!
Add new comment
15 comments
I have been very impressed by all of my Endura purchases.
Oh my, there's some interesting views in this thread...
Squirrel_tea_party.jpg
While not a enthusiastic supporter of Scottish independence, the idea that I would be independent from BTBS views is very attractive.
We could have a country of nuance and subtlety, where disc brakes could be used for appropriate bike builds and helmet wearing would be a choice.
If the choice is between Crobyn and May (or Boris) to bring prosperity, look after the NHS etc, then maybe it couldn't be worse (though I have no desire for IndyRef2 at the monent).
Whah whah whah. You like others don't like discussion or criticism, criticism that was unfairly aimed at the owners of Endura in the first instance hence my reposte!
In what way was my criticism of Jim McFarlane (not Endura) unfair ?
I like the term gammon, especially when used like this: "what's for dinner?", "Smoked gammon joint, with roasties and seasonal veggies"
^^^ FFS ^^^
If that jersey is made of the same material as an Enduro jersey I have then I've seen tissue paper thats thicker.
Would Jim McFarlane of Endura care to comment on Brexit as he said that some Endura production would move to europe if Scotland voted for independence in 2014 ? Now that "we" are leaving the EU will Endura be moving production abroad or not, or was that just a scare story for his employees to make sure they didn't vote for independence ? Mr McFarlane has been very quiet about Brexit
Scotland gaining independance is a massive different kettle of fish compared to the UK leaving a closed shop terrorist sponsoring dictatorship that has a negative effect on trade and finances for the UK. Scotland leaving the union would lead to poverty in Scotland even worse than Holyrood has already imparted on its citizens (whilst blaming everyone except themselves), health levels would continue to drop, services would be utterly fucked, taxes would go up hugely but yeah, have a pop at an independant based on a ludicrous comparison.
Oh what, you think the dwindling oil tax revenue will bail Scotland out, yeah because fields like Clair that are knocking out 60,000 barrels (compared to brent at 200million peak and still despite been closed down in the next decade is still producing 1M BPD) will prop up a government that has proven to be worse than the Tories!
I don't like the term "gammon" but...
If his reply to me isn't a wind up then I'm happy to use the term "gammon" in relation to the very angry man called Behind The Bin Sheds
Hahahaha, whatever dropkick, calling me a gammon shows you up for the fuclwit you are.
This is a wind up right ?
Quite possibly the only positve story associated with Valverde's WC win.