Archive for category: Tips

We set up our online club clothing order system a year ago and it has been fantastic to see how popular it has been with clubs. Our system allows cycling & triathlon clubs to set up a club order page for their custom clothing order, so that individual members of that club can just log on to place their order, which means the club kit administrator at the club doesn’t have to chase club members around asking them for orders.

The system is designed to consolidate club orders so that we can manufacture the club triathlon clothing (or cycling) in one go, rather than us making up individual orders which would be very inefficient and expensive for us to produce. Our system is free for clubs to use and the whole point of it is to make organizing the club clothing order easier to manage. If you would like more information about how the system works, please get in touch.

We are looking forward to coming over to England in June and July for the 70.3 Ironman on the 16th of June and then again for the London Triathlon on the 27th/28th of July, where we will have a stand at both events. We don’t just leave Portugal for a weekend in England for the lovely weather, it is also a great chance to meet up with some triathlon club members who we only know online and of course meet lots of new athletes from the triathlon community.

This year we are investing very heavily in some fantastic new custom triathlon clothing technology, including glued seams, even lower friction lycra and more compression technology. The triathlon clothing industry is a bit of an arms race at the moment, so we are really committed to bringing the cutting edge to all that we are doing.

If you can come along to see us at our stand at one of the event, it would be fantastic to see you and you will always be eligible for some freebies if you are from one of the 200 triathlon clubs we already supply in the UK and Ireland!

We will be at the Irish Cycling Show this weekend (9th/10th March), so please come and see us if you are at the show. We always have some free stuff to give out and we enjoy the opportunity to speak to some of our existing customers who we may never have met in person, because we only get out of Portugal to go to shows or races 5 or 6 times a year. As well as our custom cycling kit on show, we will have custom tri and athletics clothing too, so please come along!

Here is the last film in the series about a day in the life of a triathlete.

Take your sport very seriously…..

We have an option for clients to make their own semi-custom cycling jerseys (and shorts) and semi-custom tri suits online and we have just added some more design templates for the triathlon suits so that there are now a total of 3 options.

Our semi-custom system allows you to choose any colours you wish and add any text or logos that you may require. The only restriction is that the pattern shapes that form the template cannot be changed. The design cost if you use our semi-custom system is just €90 (as opposed to €150 design cost for a full custom cycling or triathlon design, where there are no restrictions on the patterns). If you make a design using our online semi-custom designer, but want to order other items from our range (such as jackets, tri tops or whatever) then we will transfer your semi-custom design to these items and there is no extra charge for this.

Once again we will be sponsoring the Race Around Ireland and supplying custom cycling jerseys for all the competitors as part of our commitment to putting something back into the sports that we work in. We will have a stand at the start area on Sunday (9th of September) afternoon in Trim, so please come along and say hello to us! If you are interested in ordering from Carvalho Custom we will have samples for you to see and we will also have some of our kit for sale at special prices!

The Race Around Ireland is truly an amazing event (2,200 kms of non-stop racing, which makes it the toughest cycling event in Europe) and it is a great event to watch (and I imagine a pretty painful one to take part in), so it is worth going to their website to follow what is going on and if you can turn up along the route to cheer them along!In het kader van onze toewijding aan de sporten waar wij actief in zijn, gaan wij wederom de Race Around Ireland sponsoren en de custom wielershirts leveren van alle deelnemers. Wij zullen op zondagmiddag, 9 september staan in Trim met een eigen stand langs het startgebied, dus kom langs! Wij zullen enkele monsters bij ons hebben, dus als u geïnteresseerd bent in onze Carvalho Custom-sportkleding kunt u ze dan gerust bekijken. Ook zullen wij enkele items in de aanbieding hebben!

De Race Around Ireland is werkelijk een fantastisch evenement waarbij er 2.200 km lang aan een stuk door wordt gereden. Hierdoor is dit het moeilijkste wielerevenement van Europa en het is geweldig om er naar te kijken (en waarschijnlijk best pijnlijk om aan mee te doen denk ik). Het is dus zeker de moeite waard om hun website te bezoeken en te zien wat er allemaal gebeurt. Wie weet kunt u de deelnemers zelfs aanmoedigen langs de route!

The number one complaint that is bandied about in the custom cycling and triathlon clothing business is that kit is delivered late by suppliers (there are many stories of many clubs receiving their order literally months late!). So 3 years ago, we took what seemed to many a brave decision – for every day we are late from the delivery date we agree with a client we will give a 2% discount. Carvalho Custom is the only supplier in the custom cycling and triathlon clothing sector that does this, because frankly a lot of other suppliers would be out of business in 6 months if they offered it!

Here it is time for a confession – sometimes the unexpected happens and a machine breaks, a load of seamstresses go off sick, a supplier lets us down or whatever and we really start to sweat. Our solution is that we do whatever is needed to get the stuff out on time though, which can mean some very late nights, because otherwise we would lose a whole lot of money (and we would gain a reputation for being as badly organised, unreliable and feckless as some of our competitors!). So guaranteeing delivery times keeps us on our toes and can keep things very interesting on the factory floor!

So when you are choosing your club clothing supplier, perhaps you should ask the suppliers on your short-list to guarantee a delivery date and if not, why not?The number one complaint that is bandied about in the custom cycling and triathlon clothing business is that kit is delivered late by suppliers (there are many stories of many clubs receiving their order literally months late!). So 3 years ago, we took what seemed to many a brave decision – for every day we are late from the delivery date we agree with a client we will give a 2% discount. Carvalho Custom is the only supplier in the custom cycling and triathlon clothing sector that does this, because frankly a lot of other suppliers would be out of business in 6 months if they offered it!

Here it is time for a confession – sometimes the unexpected happens and a machine breaks, a load of seamstresses go off sick, a supplier lets us down or whatever and we really start to sweat. Our solution is that we do whatever is needed to get the stuff out on time though, which can mean some very late nights, because otherwise we would lose a whole lot of money (and we would gain a reputation for being as badly organised, unreliable and feckless as some of our competitors!). So guaranteeing delivery times keeps us on our toes and can keep things very interesting on the factory floor!

So when you are choosing your club clothing supplier, perhaps you should ask the suppliers on your short-list to guarantee a delivery date and if not, why not?