Our new custom cycling & triathlon clothing catalogue

We have produced a new catalogue of our custom cycling and triathlon clothing range with some great photography by Joana Maltez shot in northern Portugal where we are based. You can download it here.

If you have any questions about our range or the solutions that we can offer your cycling or triathlon club to make the ordering process easier, please contact us. You can also buy individual items of our kit in our distinctive pink and blue colours at our cycling & triathlon kit online shop.De nieuwe catalogus met onze custom wieler- en triatlonkleding staat nu online! De fantastische foto’s zijn genomen door Joana Maltez in het noorden van Portugal waar we zijn gevestigd en u kunt hem hier downloaden.

U vragen heeft over onze producten, of wilt weten hoe wij het bestelproces voor uw wieler- of triatlonclub kunnen vergemakkelijken, neem dan gerust contact op met ons. U kunt ook afzonderlijke items kopen van onze kenmerkende blauw met roze sportkleding via onze winkel.

Evolution Tri Club in Lanzarote

Evolution Tri Club, based in Windsor, is one of the UK’s leading triathlon clubs and has been a Carvalho Custom client for club cycling & tri kit for a few years now. They have a great balance between training hard and enjoying their sport and it has been a pleasure to supply them over the years.

They make an annual pilgrimage to Lanzarote every year and here is the head coach at the club, Kev (known as Kevolution) cycling up the legendary Fire Mountains – one hell of a place to ride a bike….

Club clothing administrator – worst job in the world?

It is a scene repeated a thousand times across the country. Your sports club is having its AGM and you have decided to turn up to show willing. You sit through the opening gambits – minutes of the last AGM that you had managed to avoid, discussion of the club budget (or lack thereof), talk of ambitious projects that will propel the club to new heights (never going to happen) etc. etc. .

Then a nervous tension starts to build. “So we need to appoint the club committee for the next season”. Nervous glances round the room.

“Who wants to be the Children’s Welfare Officer?” – a few hands go up.

“And the Treasurer?” – someone volunteers.

The tension is growing. Everyone knows what is coming next. “OK, who will be the club clothing representative” – a deafening silence. You stare furiously at your feet. Don’t catch the chairman’s eye now, don’t flinch, shrink down in your chair. “Well if nobody is going to volunteer, we will have to choose someone”. No, please God, don’t let him say my name….

Well it no longer has to be that way if you are chosen to organise your club clothing. No more receiving clothing orders from club members by email, letter, back of fag packet, text, facebook, phone call, shouted across a windy car park. No more laboriously adding everyone’s order together to make up the biannual club order. We have a solution!

Our new Club Clothing Order system will enable you to organise your club order online. The club clothing administrator for your club will just have to set up the club page (hosted on the Carvalho Custom site), where s/he will choose the parameters for the order (deadline, which items can be ordered, currency etc). Then s/he will let club members have the password to the site, and each club member will then log in to enter their personal details and their order.

happy sports club meeting

Once the deadline day is reached the club clothing administrator will have automatically generated a consolidated order for the full club and a list of what everyone has ordered and the cost. This consolidated order is then sent to Carvalho Custom and we make the kit as specified and deliver it to the clothing administrator.

To find out more, please email Nicole (the world’s most friendly ex-New Yorker) and she will answer all your questions.
It is a scene repeated a thousand times across the country. Your sports club is having its AGM and you have decided to turn up to show willing. You sit through the opening gambits – minutes of the last AGM that you had managed to avoid, discussion of the club budget (or lack thereof), talk of ambitious projects that will propel the club to new heights (never going to happen) etc. etc. .

Then a nervous tension starts to build. “So we need to appoint the club committee for the next season”. Nervous glances round the room.

“Who wants to be the Children’s Welfare Officer?” – a few hands go up.

“And the Treasurer?” – someone volunteers.

The tension is growing. Everyone knows what is coming next. “OK, who will be the club clothing representative” – a deafening silence. You stare furiously at your feet. Don’t catch the chairman’s eye now, don’t flinch, shrink down in your chair. “Well if nobody is going to volunteer, we will have to choose someone”. No, please God, don’t let him say my name….

Well it no longer has to be that way if you are chosen to organise your club clothing. No more receiving clothing orders from club members by email, letter, back of fag packet, text, facebook, phone call, shouted across a windy car park. No more laboriously adding everyone’s order together to make up the biannual club order. We have a solution!

Our new Club Clothing Order system will enable you to organise your club order online. The club clothing administrator for your club will just have to set up the club page (hosted on the Carvalho Custom site), where s/he will choose the parameters for the order (deadline, which items can be ordered, currency etc). Then s/he will let club members have the password to the site, and each club member will then log in to enter their personal details and their order.

happy sports club meeting

Once the deadline day is reached the club clothing administrator will have automatically generated a consolidated order for the full club and a list of what everyone has ordered and the cost. This consolidated order is then sent to Carvalho Custom and we make the kit as specified and deliver it to the clothing administrator.

To find out more, please email Nicole (the world’s most friendly ex-New Yorker) and she will answer all your questions.

The TCR show

Last weekend (7th and 8th of February) we had a stand at the TCR show in Esher and we will definitely be back next year. Probably the best thing about it was the chance to speak to clients we have been supplying for years and only every spoken to on the phone or by email – so many thanks for coming to say hello to Dunmow Tri, Tri Force, Barracuda Tri, NTri, TriLife and everyone else who turned up.

our stand

We managed to generate a fair bit of interest in some of the new kit we have available, mainly the new tri suits shown above, but also the new fabrics we have for the cycling jackets which are more stretchy, more breathable and softer to the touch.

Looks like our next show will be the Cycle Show in London this October and maybe the London Triathlon also in August. If you happen to see us there, please come and say hello.

Custom buffs

They are goofy, but everyone loves a buff. The latest piece of must have gear for high performance athletes is the buff, to mark you out in the crowd as someone who doesn’t take their sport too seriously.

We can make your custom buffs to any design; no limit to colours or logos – just design your own buff, talk it over with us and 4 weeks later you can be the proud owner of one of the coolest and silliest custom hats on the market. All this for €6.10 (plus tax)!

How to choose a new custom cycling/triathlon kit supplier

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to find the best possible kit supplier for your club/team/organisation – we think that we are the best available in terms of quality, custom service and price, but how can you compare suppliers? Here are the 7 questions that we think you should ask all the potential suppliers that you contact.

1. Can you send us some samples, free of charge with no conditions attached?

2. Is all work included in graphic design included in your set up costs, or will you have various limits in terms of fees per hour for graphic design work, limits on the numbers of colours a design can have and demands that graphics and logos only be sent in obscure file formats?

3. Can you give us the name and contact details of some clubs that you supply so that we can contact them for references?

4. When you make the kit will you resize the logos and graphics so that they are proportional to the size of each garment and so that graphics can cross seams and match up correctly? (It is extraordinary that some suppliers just print off the same size graphics for a size XS as they do for a size XL, so the kit ends up looking completely disproportionate).

5. What are you minimum order numbers?

6. Can you deliver kit within 4 weeks and are you prepared to offer financial guarantees on delivery times?

7. Can you offer specific ladies cuts across the range?custom bib shorts and jersey

We don’t believe in small print and there are no hidden extras in the way we run our business, so if you have any questions for us, please just ask!

Improvements our custom cycling and tri kit

It is unbelievable how quickly things are moving in the cycling and triathlon kit market, mainly because of the new fabrics and technologies that are available. It is a nightmare trying to keep on top of all the new developments, as sometimes it feels like as soon as we bring out a new piece of kit we have to replace it with something even more up-to-date!

The areas that we are currently working on and will be introducing soon are:

* More durable silicone leg grippers that will stand up better to frequent washing and abuse
* New female cycling chamois
* New 8 panel ladies bib shorts with a more waisted shape
* New ladies cycling jerseys for a more flattering cut
* An alternative cut to our men’s custom tri suit for those that require it so that the cut is more waisted, to better fit the harder core athletes who train far too hard and have that perfect triangular upper body (you know who you are)
* A new ladies cut to our custom tri suit that shapes better round an athletic female figure and gives a more flattering look

Bearing in mind that all this stuff has to be designed, tested and tested again, then washed countless times, then tested again and you can guess we have got our hands full, but if there is anything else you think we could improve, then please just let us know!

COPYRIGHT 2014 FUEL THEMES. All RIGHTS RESERVED.