Profile, Sommerville SportsMike BoudrieAugust 13, 2015Ride, La Velocita, Somerville Sports Australia, Custom Kit, New York, Quality, Kit, We Love to RideComment

Sommerville Sports

Profile, Sommerville SportsMike BoudrieAugust 13, 2015Ride, La Velocita, Somerville Sports Australia, Custom Kit, New York, Quality, Kit, We Love to RideComment

We've been talking with Ivan Dennis about Sommerville Sports Australia, The New York based custom kit offering is now available in Australia and we're keen to find out what they are all about.

Tell us a bit about Sommerville Sports...

Sommerville Sports officially launched our custom clothing business in 2012 out of Brooklyn, New York.

Before this, we spent two years developing our own custom athletic apparel, including pattern/cut design to fabrics and offerings, to ordering, delivery and other customer-minded details. .

What's happening with Sommerville Australia?

In April 2014 we expanded operations to Australia. The appetite for custom kits is strong and the quality, function and fit of our offerings means we are delivering what the market is calling for.

We do runs with very low minimums, at five pieces (e.g. five jerseys) as well as offer mens and womens specific fit on nearly all of our produced items.

If I'm interested in getting some custom kit, why should I choose Sommeville Sports?

Relationships are paramount to us and as a result we treat every order as an important relationship. Our attention to detail and very personal customer service allows an experience with our focus on your needs.

Our artwork is always client driven - give us your final art or simply provide some direction - we are here to see your vision through to the final product. Local experts in Australia combined with our Brooklyn-based art department both with extensive knowledge and experience in this industry will help develop your designs to their best potential.

We use the finest italian fabrics available, right down to the chamois. Each item is constructed for a purpose and rider comfort. Our top of the range Alpine jersey uses a combination of five fabrics and greater ventilation, whereas our Pro has three and race jersey has one fabric type.

The construction of our garments are second to none as the quality control in our factory is market leading. The durability, quality and comfort of our kit is emphasised by the recent journey of Eric Morton (@epic_tour), adventure cyclist, who covered an epic 13,000 miles in 20 months across the USA in comfort wearing our kit.

What are you customers saying about your kit?

Feedback here in Australia has been great to-date with the common responses of comfortable, top quality and great chamois. A recent, particulalry picky customer probably sums it up best when he said "the chamois, the fit, the materials and the comfort are all top notch - it's amazing."

Current favourites in stock

The most popular combination is our Pro jersey mixed with the Race bibs. It's the best combination for feeling like a pro, and getting the cost right. That said the pro jersey/pro knicks is still extretemly well priced in the market.

We did a run of kit back at the launch in Australia, the Davo Straya kit and that has been immensly popular. So popular, that we even had to do a second run.

What’s coming up

Coming up for us at Sommerville is the arrival of our branded kits and skinsuits which allows those who cant get four other pepole together to get their own custom kits to ride in our quality offering. We are using our pro jersey, pro bibs and race wind vest for this offering as well as the Race skin suit. The jersey and bibs will sell for $280 and will be available online from 20 August.

We have been organising various rides with numbers and interest growing. Our first ride started with three people with the next one were expecting around 50-60.

Rides are generally themed from the Anzac Day Verty Hurty Ride, The Inbetweeners ride to the G-town funk transfer ride. Our motto is "ride with someone new", but we are also keen on encouraging people to ride somewhere different. We're new here in Australia and I personally get a kick out of meeting new people and connecting like minded people.