Why "The Entry Bibshort" exists

The Entry Bibshort shouldn't exist.

RedWhite Apparel was conceived in 2014 to build bibshorts that help you ride further. Most of my current customers are ultra-distance riders who have no use for a bibshort that's only comfortable for rides below 3 hours long. The Entry Bibshort is an inferior product compared to The BIB range of long distance bibshorts.

To understand why this exists, let me take you back to when I first started cycling.

First love. A 3rd hand road bike.

When I first started back in 2009, my first kit was a second hand pair of tights from a friend. Used tights are disgusting, but I was a broke student and after spending most of my savings on a 3rd hand bicycle, I had little left over for quality clothing. Once finances improved slightly, I transitioned to cheap knockoff bibshorts from China. These cost an average of $30-$40 a pair and I rotated through 3-4 pairs a year. 

lining up at a race in university kit and cheap shorts

These shorts rarely lasted long. 4 months of hard riding and the lycra would have worn down (I have large thighs that contact the saddle a lot) or the chamois would have completed flattened. I ran the math and figured spending $70-$90 on just 2 good pairs would last me 1.5 years and give me a much better riding experience.

So I did just that.

Unfortunately, that didn't work well. Surprisingly, the quality difference between the $30-$40 and the $70-$90 shorts was minimal. I rode those 2 new pairs for about half a year before deciding to really step up my kit game. I splurged a lot more for bibshorts from the larger brands.

This is how RedWhite Apparel started. Tired from searching for long-distance bibshorts, and feeling broke after paying a lot for well known brands, I built my own. However, try as I might, I couldn't get the price of our current The BIB range down to that $70-$90 mark.

That changed in 2019 with a shift in thinking. I had read Clayton M. Christensen's "The Innovator's Dilemma" and his second book, "Competing Against Luck". I realised I was focused on the wrong question. My initial question was : "How could I make The BIB more affordable?"

I shifted this to the question : "How can I make a bibshort that non-consumers of RedWhite would want?"

Non-consumers of RedWhite Apparel don't need The BIB. These are mostly new cyclists or cyclists who rarely ride above 3 hours. If their experience is anything like mine, they're probably putting up with sub-par products because they are competitively priced. Why wouldn't these non-consumers just buy The BIB you may ask? This comes down to understanding what "job" these non-consumers are trying to do when "hiring" my products. The job they're trying to do is to stay comfortable on shorter sub 3-hour rides at an affordable price point. They most certainly don't need an overbuilt, more expensive option. This is different from traditional customers of RedWhite Apparel who "hire" The BIB long distance bibshorts to do the "job" of riding long distances in comfort. To better understand this perspective, do take some time to read "Competing Against Luck" by Clayton M. Christensen. Video summary here.

The second insight was understanding the natural next step for these consumers. The natural next step would be going up the price chain to the $70-$90 range where good quality products are strangely scarce. I believe the explanation for this can be found in the book, "The Innovator's Dilemma". As brands grow and seek greater profit, they naturally migrate up the value chain, offering better and better products to their existing customer base. It makes no sense to move down the value chain and seek an entirely new customer base that will also be less profitable. This explains why most brands that usually start in the low end of a market, eventually progress upmarket with higher priced products. The danger of this is you end up underserving potential new customers. Video summary here.

However, being a small business with no imediate pressure to move upmarket, I decided to launch The Entry Bibshort and serve customers who wouldn't typically consider the more expensive and longer-mileage The BIB range. I leveraged my existing supply chain, knowledge of fabrics, the fit and pattern design from The BIB, and developed a bibshort that can carry you for sub 3-hour rides in comfort at the $70-$90 price point. While it certainly is not cheap by any means, I believe it is the perfect step-up on your cycling kit journey.

Is this the right strategy for RedWhite Apparel? I have absolutely no idea. And that's the fun in running a business.

Can The Entry Bibshort be Cheaper?

At the moment, it isn't possible.

Cycling is a niche sport with high barriers to entry. Anyone who needs a bibshort is most likely also able to afford a $500 bicycle. From a pure dollar outlay point of view, this is really high relative to a sport like football (soccer) or tennis.

Because of this high barrier, there aren't enough cyclists to generate the demand necessary to allow me to scale production of The Entry Bibshort. Scale allows me to negotiate lower manufacturing costs. However, this alone isn't enough.

Customers demand speed and the only way to deliver a bibshort quickly is via FedEx or DHL. This is expensive and the product's price has to factor this cost as well. One way around this is to work with a network of fulfilment centres in the US & UK and leveraging local post. However, with post offices moving really slowly during COVID-19, this is also not an option.

I will be exploring ways to deliver this bibshort cheaply worldwide as RedWhite Apparel grows.

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