Way back in 2014, Greg and Stevan visited the US and couldn’t leave the country without a visit to America’s cycling mecca: Portland. While in town they happened to bump in to Jeremy and Julie from The Athletic.

With a mutual respect for creating left-of-centre apparel for cyclists - The Athletic with their colourful and creative socks and Attaquer’s polarizing kits - there was a meeting of the minds and what resulted was the certainty of "we must do something together". It was in that moment that the collaboration was born.

What followed was 2 years of emails, Skype and phone conversations (most of them nothing to do with the actual collab but moreso to discuss the weather, the current state of US politics, and sport... mainly sport) and we are pleased to present the first The Athletic x Attaquer collab.

It’s no secret that Julie is a gun on the bike, racing in multiple World Championships and standing on the podium in her native French National Championships in 2012. With the strongest rider in our small group being female, as well as the knowledge that the number of female cyclists is on the increase worldwide, we wanted to dedicate this capsule just to women. Male cyclists get so much, this one’s for the ladies.

As Julie says "There's nothing quite like sharing your favourite activities with your friends. Either for those big adventures, making plans many months in advance or taking some fresh air by climbing hundreds of stairs during lunch break, we all need our friends by our side.

"This capsule is for those women role models in our life who inspire and motivate. Bande de Filles pays homage to that tribe of women who overcome the difficulty together."

With the sprit of Bande de Filles guiding the project we got to designing and wanted to make sure this was something the female cyclist was going to relate to. We enlisted respected illustration artist Rachel Peck (@hihowareyouuu), and invited her to take a bold and playful approach, focusing on objects, food and patterns.

What was created was exactly that: Soft colours and a playful design allowing you to mix and match your jersey, bibs, gilet, socks, cap and bidon. Find your favourite combination and own it!

We hope you enjoy the first The Athletic x Attaquer collaboration.