#14 - the disciplined bon vivant.
In short
- Pieterpad
- Independence doesn’t exist
- Partner in crime
- Inner circle
- Audience
- Techpacks
Pieterpad
The Pieterpad, 500 km from Maastricht to Groningen, right across the Netherlands 🇳🇱. Popular as a hiking trail, but just as great on a bike. We couldn’t have asked for better conditions: sunny weather and, just as important.. the wind mostly at our backs. Of course circumstances shape the experience, but honestly.. this one’s a must. A beautiful route from start to finish 🌳🐄.
Independence doesn’t exist
Unfortunately, the route from design to actual delivery isn’t always smooth sailing. Patience gets tested often. In an ideal world you’d be fully independent, but that’s simply not reality. You deal with partners, and that means dealing with lead times. And because quality takes time, the process stretches. On top of that it’s summer break 🏖️ in Portugal, which doesn’t speed things up. For now, a short wait.
Partner in crime
The good news: we’ve chosen the production partner for the first longsleeve order. They respond fast, are fully transparent, fair in pricing, and certified. It now comes down to details, like whether the zipper puller should be made with recycled TPU (a rubber-like additive), or whether the logo should be printed with reflective ink.
Once the final wrinkles are ironed out, the longsleeve order will need to be at least 300 pieces, split across men and women, per color. To decide on the number of colors, we’re running a risk analysis. The trade-off ⚖️: go with one color to cover investment costs, or choose multiple and bet on higher conversion?
Inner circle
Presales play a big role in that decision. They don’t just secure early sales, they also show which colors people want most. We’re reaching out to family and friends, our newsletter subscribers, people from the gym and cycling club, and of course our socials.
Audience
We focus on people who live actively and care about their health. Not necessarily ripped or rocking a sixpack, but more the “disciplined bon vivant”. For those who live by the motto: work hard, play hard.
A mature audience that values quality and sustainability. That chooses openness, a personal and honest approach. And that values accessibility. We’re not léss, we’re not móre.. than anyone else. Everyone’s welcome ❤️.
Techpacks
For the longsleeve we’re on pause until our Portuguese partners return from vacation on September 8.
That gives us space to kick off and shape the techpacks for the other collection pieces. For this we’re working with an experienced partner in Spain, who’s also closely connected to our Portuguese network. We can’t wait to share the first sketches with you.
See you next time 👋.
