Santini Custom Clothing: Create your own pro level kit

Promotional feature with Santini

Nothing beats the feeling of putting on kit that makes you feel and look good. It puts you in the right headspace to achieve your personal best, whether you are training or competing. “Wearing new kit gives you a psychological boost, it makes you feel faster. Next to your bike, your kit is the most exciting thing you can buy for cycling,” says Jon Sangan, head of Santini Custom Clothing for the UK.

In the past, getting high-quality custom club or race team kit has been difficult: “Riders would be training in their off-the-peg, top-of-the-range kit, but when it really mattered on race day their team kit would be poor quality,” explains Sangan. But not anymore – riders are able to buy the very best top-of-the-range Santini clothing and create their own custom look using Santini’s design team based in Italy.

Professional quality for everyone

Santini is very much a family business: 55 years on from founding the brand, Pietro Santini is still actively involved, while his daughter Monica Santini leads the business on a daily basis. Their passion for cycling shines through in the pride they take in producing clothing designed to perform at the highest level and their desire to make it available to all cyclists with Santini Custom Clothing.

Unlike some custom clothing manufacturers, Santini Custom Clothing uses the same world- leading products and fabrics as provided to professional athletes and teams. For your next club kit you could choose the Eco Sleek jersey worn by WorldTour Team Trek-Segafredo, which features 100 per cent recycled fabrics, or the highly technical Viper speedsuit, worn by 2019 time trial world champion Rohan Dennis and UK 100-mile record holder Jonathan Shubert of Arctic RT. Everything you order is made at Santini’s factory in Bergamo using the very latest in design and print techniques, with all the attention to style and finish you would expect from an established Italian brand.

Kit without compromise

Comfort and performance go hand-in-hand – Santini is responsible for some of the most highly technical and developed men’s and women’s short inserts available, including the top- of-the-range endurance C3 pad. The C3 chamois is constructed using an innovative process called carving: a special 3D technique gives the pad a perfect fit as it conforms to the shape of your body. Gel core is added to give the pad maximum vibration protection and make it resistant to compression, while remaining incredibly light and breathable.

However great the kit, fit is critical to gain the full advantage of the fabric technology. Santini Custom Clothing has a huge range of samples available that can be sent out to clubs for sizing and a number of fit guides online, which include a range of photos of different size and shape athletes wearing the kit, to help you work out what styles will fit you best. There is a full range of women-specific kit – as worn by Lizzie Deignan and the Trek-Segafredo women’s team – utilising the same fabric technology but cut to fit the female form, so no female athlete needs to compromise when it comes to race kit.

Look fast, ride faster

“Riders want to look and feel slick,” says Sangan. “Custom design gives your creativity free rein. Modern cycling is becoming more diverse and the designs we have worked on recently are really exciting. It’s not just traditional cycling clubs who want custom clothing, groups of friends might want an outfit for a trip to L’Etape or to wear on a cycling holiday.”

Custom clothing creates a sense of community and identity, capturing the spirit and personality of your team in your kit. You don’t need to be a designer to do this. Whatever your ideas, Santini’s team of designers in Italy are on hand to guide you through the process and turn your vision into reality, all as part of the service and free of charge.

An interesting development of 2020 is the rise of Zwift and online racing. “Wearing your race kit puts you in the right mindset to compete, and in 2020 that competition is happening indoors,” says Sangan. Santini offers a range of super-lightweight mesh kit, perfect for smashing out the virtual Club 10 or taking part in Zwift races.

Custom made simple

Designing and making your own kit should be an exciting experience, but the administration can make it feel more like a chore; thankfully Santini Custom Clothing has been designed to make organising team clothing significantly easier. Santini offers low minimum orders and provides customers with their own online Club Shop and individual kit payment. You don’t need to buy a large order upfront or chase friends and club members for payments, making the whole process much simpler. Plus, members also benefit from exclusive promotions on Santini’s non-custom lines.

“There is no excuse not to wear the best kit now,” says Sangan, “whether you are racing or training, indoors or out, slipping on great kit brings out the best in you.”

Seven steps to the best custom kit you have ever ridden in

1. Request a quote

Contact us to receive all the info you need.

www.santinicustom.it/en/

E: custom.uk@santinisms.it

Contact UK; Jon Sangan 0789 6810839

2. Receive your detailed quote

When you get in contact with us, a member of our staff will guide you through the process of selecting the best options and features for your custom clothing to meet your needs, requirements and budget. This also ensures that you will be sent a precise quote for everything you request

3. Meet a Santini agent or receive samples

If you wish, one of our agents will visit you in strict accordance with any Covid-19 guidelines. Don’t worry if this is not possible, instead you will be sent the samples and sizing kits.

4. Get your custom clothing designed

Using your chosen colours and logos, our team of experienced designers will create several options for you to choose from and work with you to finalise your design. Once the design stage is finished, we reproduce and adapt this for all the items of your team’s clothing. Our design service is free of charge.

5. Confirm your design artwork and order

Once every piece of your custom clothing has been designed, you will receive the final artwork and your order confirmation for your final approval. The artwork will show you every single part of your clothing that will be printed with your design.

6. Online club shop

Deposit payment or individual payment through your own Club Shop. Our Club Shop takes the hassle out of chasing orders and removes the financial pressure from your club as you no longer have to hold unwanted stock. Plus, we offer exclusive promotions on Santini’s non-custom lines.

7. Receive your custom clothing

Production will complete in six to eight weeks from the artwork and payment confirmation. Then, once everything is made to our strict quality levels, we will deliver your finished custom clothing to you, ready for you to enjoy!