Trip around Europe January 2012

As several amongst you got to follow (via Facebook and Twitter), I just returned from a very fatiguing but interesting trip to several European cities. I will try to give you insight, in what it takes to become one of the leaders in the sportswear market.

My first flight took me to Frankfurt (Germany) where I met with the CEO and sales representative behind 100ciclisti.com. If you are a German cyclist and haven't checked out that website yet, then I recommend you to do so now. Their aim is to create Germany's biggest cycling team. Every member of the website can order his/her personalized cycling jersey for 49 euro (including shipping). The jersey is shipped with a 50 euro voucher to spend at Stadler cycling stores and 105 Chain Liquid.
The project is set to be launched European-wide in 2012. Orana Dynamics powers this project by producing all the 100ciclisti apparel since the start.

From Frankfurt, I flew to Dublin (Ireland) where I met with Ireland's future in cycling: Philip Lavery! Philip is a member of the Irish national team and it was a true pleasure for me to meet with him. Philip is a young and motivated guy and we believe he is the right person to get our brand out there.
Philip has a beautiful website as well, where he gives an insight on his cycling career. Interested? Go to www.philiplavery.com
We are currently developing a sample collection for Philip so that people in Ireland can get an idea of the quality we offer.

From Dublin, I took off to Milan for a drive to Spinea (Italy) where I stayed with my pregnant sister who is soon opening her Gellateria (Ice Cream bar). So if you are ever over in this lovely small town, don't forget to grab your scoops of artisanal ice-cream :)
I met with guys from the Treviso roller club as they are looking out for new apparel as well. Although there are plenty of Italian producers with name and fame, their products aren't really THAT great! The guys from the Treviso Roller Club agreed that we -at Orana Dynamics- have the skills in the house to make perfect fitting, high quality apparel for inline speed skating as well.

From Spinea, I went on a 1 hour drive to San Venediamo, where the head office of Cytech is. Cytech is the company behind Elastic Interface, probably the BEST padding producer in the world! Brands such as Assos, Campagnolo, Gore are all purchasing their padding from them. As padding is THE most crucial part of a cycling short, I will dedicate a separate topic on my blog to it. So, later more on this!

On the road for about 2 weeks now, took its toll on my body. I felt a bit sick and had huge cravings for a good sleep! Sorry if I m not all smiley in this picture :)

So, waking up 4.15am, heading for Milan Airport and off to Brussels to attend Belgium's biggest bike expo: Velofollies at Kortrijk Xpo where I would be on stage with the men and women of the new Karhu-Orana Dynamics test team. Good job by Joris Sels from Sport-Deals.be. Sport-Deals is our Belgian distributor, working closely with teams and clubs looking for apparel. Great atmosphere. They were all very happy with their new apparel, which stimulates us to continue to further develop our products so they become world class products. More on the team can soon be found on our website where I replaced the 'News' section by Athletes. I felt that we cannot update the News section fast enough so I took that down for now. The new page is available here: http://www.oranaworld.com/v/athletes.php
And a photo of the team here:

Headed back to Riga, Latvia where we have to start developing 3 collections for sports brands. Lovely but hard job! Thanks to my team for delivering on a daily basis and keep up the good job guys and girls :)

Kevin