Archive for category: Tips

We keep on trying to improve things here at Carvalho Custom to make things easier for our clients, so we have brought out a new excel order form that will allow the person who puts the order together for a club to easily add together all the individual orders received from club members.

So the idea is that the club clothing administrator will receive a load of orders from club members, which s/he will input one by one into our new order form; then when this is finished, s/he presses a button and all the individual orders are added together to make a total club order, which can then be emailed to us to produce. The order form can also be used in the traditional way of just inputting a total order for a club or organisation – the system is just more user-friendly than a standard order form and it will automatically calculate the final price for you based on the total quantities ordered.

So the order form performs three roles – it provides a convenient way of recording the individual orders of club members, it saves you the hassle of having to consolidate the individual orders into a total order and it will automatically calculate the final total price and the price for each individual. You can download the new order form here (please make sure you activate the macro when you start, by clicking on the option when prompted – you will get a security warning when you do this, but it is completely safe!).

When you download the order form (it is in excel), the first thing you should do (once you have activated the macro) is to click on the instructions button, although it should be reasonably self-explanatory. You can click on the red triangles scattered round the order form for further instructions.

Essentially the way it works is that you first select the items that you intend to order, then you can choose either input the total club order in one go, or you can input all the individual orders from the club using the ‘Add Multiple Orders’ button . You then just hit the ‘Calculate Total Price’ button and the program will finish off the order form for you.

This is a new system for us and we are sure to need to make some changes, so please let us know what you think!

We are making the Race Around Ireland custom cycling jerseys that are given to anyone who actually makes it to the finish line, which considering it is 2100 kms non-stop racing, the least they deserve is a free jersey!

We are going over to Navan for the start of the race on 10th/11th of September where we will have a stand in the start area, so please come along and say hello if you are around. As we work direct from Portugal, we rarely get to meet our clients face to face, so it will be great to meet up with some of the Irish clubs we have been supplying over the years.

Alberto Contador just got nicked by the French police for riding through the ‘dark’ tunnels going up the Galibier without being sufficiently visible:

The Spaniard was undergoing specialist training on the descent of the Galibier pass in the Alps for the mountain stages of the Tour when a policeman brought him to a halt.
Spokesman Jacinto Vidarte said the officer told the three-times Tour winner that he was not visible enough on a road that snakes through dark tunnels.
Vidarte told Associated Press that Saxo Bank rider Contador argued that his team’s cars were lighting his way sufficiently, but was forced to give up and “put his bike in the car”.

Don’t you just love a self-important policeman? Saxobank should have come to Carvalho Custom for their kit as we can produce high visibility graphics and lettering on the backs of custom cycling jackets and even jerseys, so that you light up like a Christmas tree.

We have been supplying one of London’s leading sports therapy clinics, Bodylab, with custom cycling and triathlon kit for a few years now. As well as doing general sports therapy, they also provide individual training plans for mainly Ironman triathletes, as well as maintaining their bodies in working order.

One of their clients, David Ball, has just won the Daily Telegraph’s competition to be Britain’s fittest company director and here he is competing in the Lanzarote Ironman. Competing in Ironman events requires extreme attention to detail in terms of preparation and you really need some professional help to make sure that you are properly prepared and having an organisation like Bodylab behind you is invaluable.

Anyway, congratulations to David and to Bodylab!

We are very proud to supply kit to one of Sweden’s leading triathletes, Per Wangel. He has been helping us to launch our custom cycling and triathlon clothing brand in Sweden and he has promised us he is going to get a whole load of podium finishes this year….

Per is an outstanding athlete (cross country skiing as well as triathlon, but he is not a conventional shape, being 194cm and 77kg (6’4 and 12 stone), so we had to make him modified kit. We provide this service to anyone who doesn’t fit normal clothing – just ask about how the system works.

Anyway, have a great season Per and watch this space to see just how many podiums he gets on in 2011….

For those of you who speak Swedish, here is what Per had to say:
Årets mäktigaste triathlonkollektion är på plats i Falun i mitt hem.

Efter sommaren 2010 inledde jag ett samarbete med Carvalho Custom som tillverkar egen designade triathlon kläder från elit till motionärer.

Idag har jag fått delar av min kollektion som skall provas ut och fin justeras.

Det bästa med Carvalho Custom är att de är billiga för er klubbar som är intresserade av att göra en egen triathlonkollektion, ett exempel är att ett par cykelbyxor kostar 400 kr/styck med hur många tryck, färger och loggor som du vill ha tillskillnad mot de Nordiska företaget som tar uppemot 800-1000 kr/styck.

Jag kommer att träna varje pass i dessa kläder och tävla i deras triathlondräkt på de Svenska tävlingarna som jag kör sommaren 2011.

Jag är mycket nöjd med kläderna och kvalitén, de är de bästa cykelbyxorna jag någonsin cyklat med faktiskt.

We are always glad to hear feedback from clients and one thing that we have been told many times is that you would prefer our minimum order quantities to be less. So we have listened. From now on our minimum order quantity is just 5 of an item (to avoid a 50% surchage). But it gets better – if your total order value is greater than €1500 there are no minimum quantities and you can order what the hell you like with no surcharges.

Other clients have said that our design fee could be a little lower – our design fee is pretty competitive given that we do not charge extra for logos that are not ready for printing (vectorised) and that we are happy to provides as many proofs and design options as a client requires at no extra cost. Anyway, we have listened and our new design fee is €150!

And lastly we have added a fixed discount structure, which is for orders of value:
€1500+ = 5% discount
€2500+ = 7% discount
€5000+ = 10% discount

We are still the most competitively priced supplier of pro quality custom cycling and triathlon kit in Europe and now with our very simple minimum order and discount structure, we have to be the easiest to use supplier also!

If there is anything you think we could do better or change to make your life order kit easier, please let us know!

It is just unbelievable the speed of change in fabrics and other equipment for cycling clothing – we have to dedicate so much time to testing new products and fabrics just to keep up with what is available and if we fall behind the cutting edge, our customers let us know pretty rapidly.

Cycling chamoises/pads is an area that is rife with innovation and it is obviously so important that we get it right. We have to update our chamois every year or two in response to innovations in the market and it feels like there is not a prototype chamois in the world that we have not tested.

We have generally not been convinced by the gel pads because of issues with their long term durability and the problems with sweat not passing through the gel and accumulating to give the nappy/diaper feel. We think that we have found the world’s best chamois now though:

This chamois instead of using foam or gel uses a high density fibre mesh (a bit like wire wool but denser and softer!). The beauty of this is that it is much more breathable than high density foam or gel, so it allows sweat to pass through it much more easily, but unlike foam, will not retain any of the sweat. It is just as comfortable and durable though, giving the same levels of support in exactly the right places.

The surface of the chamois has no seams and incorporates carbon threads that help to distribute heat away from the main contact points of the chamois, so together with the mesh padding, avoid the “clammy chamois” feel which you can get at the end of a long ride when it is hot.

Then to top it off there is an anti-bacterial treatment that will not wash out, that to put it bluntly keeps the chamois smelling fresh and you free from infections no matter how many training hours you are putting in.

We have the carbon mesh chamois in both female and male versions, as the contouring of the pad is completely different for each.

We are really proud to be delivering this kind of cutting edge innovation to our clients so that they can enjoy the kind of technological solutions that pro riders have the privilege of enjoying.