Every person has three chapters in their life: work, family and play. Too many people have forgotten the playful chapter in their life – their third chapter. In the words of George Bernard Shaw:
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
Cycling should be playful: the cycling industry has positioned cycling as a sport of suffering, pain, and herd-like behaviour. CHPT3 is for people that want to break free of that narrow code and make cycling a broad part of their lifestyle. CHPT3 is for both men and women, it serves many types of cycling, always with a focus to make cycling a positive, playful force in the life of our users.
We want to remove the codification and complexity that makes cycling feel so exclusive and elitist and can put people off before they’ve even got on a bike.
I have always lived a cycling lifestyle, it has gone through several chapters – from riding all types of bikes for fun, to racing the best in the world; experiencing the joy of winning with the heartbreak of losing and journeying through crisis. All the while transforming, I hope, into a better individual. We can all experience this journey in our own way. It needn’t take years, it can be found every day.
CHPT3 started in 2015. I met Mikkel B. Rasmussen in 2019; he helped me find clarity in my vision. It has led to the beginning of a new chapter: we want to inspire you to find your own CHPT3.
With Mikkel’s lead and guidance we have introduced a human first focus to everything we do, from taking responsibility regards sustainability and forming a business model that is built to last, to the naming of our products and introducing a women’s range that is in total parity with the men’s range.
We believe cycling can change the world, riding a bike energizes your life and has the power to change the way you live. We’re living in a time of rapid change, the biggest of these is happening around us every day in the climate that we humans are so finely tuned to. None of us realised until relatively recently that the technology we’ve been advancing for centuries was altering the biosphere we have evolved over millennia to exist within. We need to alter the way we live to prevent the continued change of our climate, and we need to find the space in our lives to rediscover the joy of simply being here.
“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T. S. Eliot
This year we launch our first own designed, developed and manufactured performance cycling apparel. We’ve made it to work most days you go riding. We don’t want to use the classical three-tier price point; we want to make products with purpose without over-extending the offering and creating confusion. We want you to be able to find and choose what will work for you without complication.
Cycling is the most technically advanced sport in the world to design for: no recreational pursuit requires such diverse performance from its product. You can start in the cold and dark, early in the morning when you’re tired and slow with a near resting heart rate. You’re in the city.
You need to be seen. Three hours later you could be on the limit sweating like you’re in a shower, in need of ventilation, halfway up a 13% gradient you don’t know, worrying about the -2 degrees wind chill going down the other side. You want to dry quickly if it rains. Warm up if it gets too cold. Be protected from the wind. Stay comfortable if you get lost. Our products have been purpose built for the conditions we encounter on Most Days. Breathable. Fitted. Designed with a pro racer’s experience to perform.
We will only have one model of cycling bib shorts, and we’ve named them Grand Tour, because in cycling the grand tours are the most demanding events. There are only three each year, the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and the Vuelta a a España, they traverse their entire country over three weeks and encounter every type of terrain and confront all weather. Yet most professional cyclists will have one model of cycling shorts they depend on, no matter the stage or conditions, their own go-to-choice. This is the ethos.
Beyond finding better manufacturing processes we have focussed on producing products that last longer in construction and transcend fashion trends. Designed to stand the test of time without ever compromising on performance or aesthetics: buy less and buy better. We want our products to be your go-to-choice, usable not just in the season you bought it, but in the years that follow. CHPT3 products are elegant, playful, sustainable, and we want them to make you feel and look good however you use them. Perfect for Most Days.
DAVID MILLAR
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