Seven Brands
To Check Out This Gifting Season
Think outside the box this festive season, and buy your bike-loving friend or family member something from one of these new, upcoming or lesser-known brands. Whilst a gift from one of the traditional cycling brands is never going to be a bad option, why not surprise them with your knowledge, insight and all-round cool with these alternative, curated choices?
Universal Colours
Universal Colours is a recent brand that has been developed in collaboration with Sigma Sports over the last couple of years, bringing together high-quality fabrics, eye-catching designs and sustainable production. With a complete range of men’s and women’s cycling clothing and accessories there is likely to be something suitable for any rider, and if you’re stuck for ideas, just remember that you can never have too many jerseys.
As a starting point, the Spectrum Long Sleeve Jersey is perfect for winter and is available for men and women in two striking colours.
Shop the Universal Colours Spectrum Long Sleeve Jersey or the Spectrum Womens Long Sleeve Jersey
Restrap
As you’d expect from gear handmade in Yorkshire, Restrap bags are high-quality, no-nonsense, durable and well thought out. Whether used daily for commuting or for an epic, long-distance bikepacking trip of a lifetime, Restrap is a brand that can be relied upon.
Their comprehensive range might look a little daunting, especially if you aren’t a cyclist yourself, but the Canister Handlebar Bag will fit any road, gravel or mountain bike so you needn’t worry about compatibility and is perfect for carrying an extra layer and some food on longer rides.
Café du Cycliste
Brimming with gallic flair, Nice-based brand Café du Cycliste offers a slightly different slant on cycling clothing, with a distinctly different aesthetic to the usual race-biased fare. Aimed more at the gravel and adventure rider, their winter range of clothing uses plenty of natural merino wool for warmth and has a strong environmentally-friendly message. They donate 1% of turnover to nonprofit environmental groups and charities as members of the 1% for the planet scheme and manufacture 80% of their products within Europe to reduce transport requirements.
The Marianne Merino Cycling Beanie is a typically stylish and functional product of theirs that combines natural and synthetic materials. Best of all, it is one size fits all, so there is no sizing trauma when buying one as a gift.
Shop the Café du Cycliste Marianne Merino Cycling Beanie
7mesh
7mesh operate unashamedly at the premium end of the clothing market, yet when materials, design and construction methods are taken into account they actually offer good value for money. Anything from 7mesh should outlast most other options and provide stylish functionality for many years to come. As such, it’s the kind of product that is often lusted after but hard to justify to oneself, making it perfect as a gift for a loved one.
7mesh was born out of Arc’teryx, another premium Canadian brand, and these origins are most evident in products like the Outflow Hoody, with subtle colours, clean lines and premium materials. Even better though, the warm Outflow Hoody can be worn on a daily basis and isn’t just for cycling - we told you it was actually good value!
Vel
Reliable and accessible, Vel has quietly made a bit of a name for itself with its impressive range of cycling accessories. Offering everything from carbon wheels to bike pumps and from lights to luggage, the chances are if it fits on a bike then Vel has an option.
For someone fairly new to cycling, the Vel CO2 starter kit is a great option, as no one likes a puncture, and using a mini pump to inflate a tyre by the side of the road gets old, fast. For more seasoned riders, Vel’s RSL Carbon bottle cages and bottles set will always be appreciated, after all, carbon is never the wrong answer where cycling is concerned.
Shop the Vel CO2 Starter Kit or the RSL Carbon Bottle Cages and 500ml Bottles Bundle
Silca
Founded more than 100 years ago in Italy, Silca first made a name for itself by producing high-quality bike pumps. They now make a wide range of cycling accessories that all have quality and innovation in common, so you know that anything carrying the Silca brand is going to work flawlessly and outlast many a bike.
They still make premium bike pumps, and so it’s their Pista Floor Pump that is our pick of the range, a gift that will be treasured by any cyclist and home mechanic, although we accept that it might be a pain to wrap up.
Wolf Tooth Components
American CNC specialists Wolf Tooth Components produce a small range of beautifully made components and tools for road and mountain bikes.
We can almost guarantee that the cyclist in your life does not have a multi-tool quite as lovely and useful as the 8 Bit Kit One, so why not change that and buy them one this Christmas? It’s not cheap, but it is small, so you will save on wrapping paper and if it is still a bit pricey, then it is actually modular so you could buy half now, and half next year!
If none of these options really floats your boat, or you’ve left it too late, then why not leave the choice up to them with one of our Sigma Sports eGift vouchers that will be with you almost instantly?