Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / Style with Purpose: Down the Road on Building a Cycling Brand with Soul

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Style with Purpose: Down the Road on Building a Cycling Brand with Soul · Zone2Speak Podcast

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Now, let's get into the episode.
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In this episode of ZONETOSPEAK, I am joined by Guillermo, co-founder of the
4:16
stylish and forward-thinking cycling brand Down the Road.
4:20
Alongside his partner, Katia, Guillermo has helped shape a brand that blends
4:25
performance, minimal design, and a deep love for cycling culture.
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While Katia couldn't join us for this conversation, her creative influence and
4:34
vision are very much part of the story we explore today.
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Guillermo will share the journey behind building Down the Road,
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from their shared passion for cycling to launching a brand that resonates with riders.
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We will talk about design philosophy, the challenge of entrepreneurship,
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and what it means to create a brand that it's not just about looking good,
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but feeling connected to the ride.
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Whether you're a cyclist, a creative, or someone dreaming of building something
5:04
meaningful from the ground up, this episode is full of inspiration,
5:09
insight, and the spirit of the open road. Guillermo, welcome to Zone to Speak.
5:15
Thanks, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here and thanks for that amazing intro.
5:20
Absolutely, so am I.
5:23
So tell me, what's your personal connection to cycling and when did it start? How it has evolved?
5:31
Oof where where do i start i mean yeah um
5:34
i'm originally from costa rica i grew up in a small town
5:37
in the pacific very close to the beach and you
5:40
know bicycles are just part of our culture you use
5:43
them for transportation you use them for sports you use them just to hang out
5:47
with friends i mean i don't remember learning how to ride a bike i just rode
5:51
a bike i have 11 cousins they're all about my age so you know like we had our
5:55
own small gang we would go everywhere by bike we would do every single bike
5:59
we would hang on the bike it was just weird so it's always been a part of me,
6:04
then when i was six i moved to the capital so you
6:06
know when you move to a let's call it a bigger city it's a little it's a little
6:11
harder to cycle as much right so that's when i actually joined a cycling team
6:15
i joined a mountain bike team so i could i could like i get my partner just
6:20
wanting me to like spend a little bit for a lot of the energy i had when i was a kid.
6:26
You know so yeah that's how it grew bikes has always been part of my life and one way or the other,
6:33
transportation fun then became a little more competitive,
6:37
I did try out or triathlon when
6:39
I was I believe like 9 or 10 years old so my mom got a little bike and,
6:45
I think that's how it started I mean as I said at the beginning I don't really
6:49
know where it starts my connection with the bikes but it's definitely part of me yeah Very cool.
6:55
Yeah, I also resonate to the story. I have fond memories of childhood just cycling
7:02
around the neighborhood as well with my brother.
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Sometimes I'm really curious because back then we didn't have garments,
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we didn't have watches. Where did we put that?
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I've never thought about the power, but about the kilometers you would do in
7:22
an astronaut right after school.
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I remember coming, sometimes not even changing my uniform, and then my mom would
7:28
be mad because I would make it super dirty or creepy.
7:31
I would just be out for five hours just riding my bike.
7:36
How many kilometers? All that mileage.
7:38
That's true. We never got tired. I never wanted to come back home. I know.
7:44
It was super fun.
7:46
Do you have any background in design or creative field? What influenced you to start down the road?
7:56
No, I do not have any background on design. Actually, I never did anything related
8:02
to design or sell things look ever in my life.
8:06
I mean, I was that guy in high school that couldn't draw anything.
8:10
So a friend of mine helped me to do it. So that's about my creative background.
8:15
As for down the road, it's actually the first time I saw it.
8:18
At the beginning, we didn't want to create an apparel brand.
8:21
Down the road was some sort of like a parallel
8:25
marketing strategy for a fitness boutique studio it
8:29
was the original plan back in 2019 right before
8:32
covid i'm a coach but right so
8:35
i went to university i got my my bachelor's degree
8:39
and in science and sports so like
8:42
i was a coach we wanted to open a fitness studio boutique
8:45
in ukraine in 2020 everything was
8:48
planned before covid it you know at that point
8:51
of time i was like raising at a higher level for terrazzo
8:54
so i was very picky on what clothes i could wear
8:57
i could not wear what i wanted what i didn't want it was a very clear
9:00
i had a very clear idea so again it
9:02
was i was like a parallel marketing strategy so
9:05
we were working on it and then we came to the point where we had
9:08
a really good product you know it's like okay we have this product that
9:11
could go to market i would say
9:14
easy but not easy but you know it was ready for market like we
9:17
we had a logo we had a name
9:20
we didn't have designs but like you know let's say
9:23
we have 50 percent of product let's go let's do it and
9:27
then we moved to ukraine we wanted to open the studio just to tell me to interrupt
9:34
you but i'm interrupting can you explain why ukraine yeah so katya my partner
9:39
she's ukrainian right okay um yeah we were both finishing university in China.
9:45
We needed to see what was next, right?
9:49
I'm really that guy that you told him something and you're like,
9:52
yeah, let's do it. Whatever it is. You get it done.
9:55
Yeah. Like whatever, even moving to another country, a business,
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an idea, a very long ride, very long swim.
10:03
I just say yes. I'll figure out halfway how to finish.
10:08
So it was like Ukraine. No, why not? Let's do it. Food is really good there.
10:14
Let's go. And then, yeah, we moved in 2020, COVID hit.
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And, you know, opening a physical studio just went against everything you could
10:25
and could not do during COVID.
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So like, okay, no, let's put this in standby until COVID ends. Never ended, you know.
10:33
Yeah. We had on the road and just ready to go.
10:37
Like, well, let's put up some designs together. Let's open a website.
10:42
Let's open a social media.
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Let's make an order. You know, let's do it. So a few too many nights of a lot
10:50
of coffee, no sleep, and we had a website.
10:54
Entrepreneurship life. Oh, yeah. It's like juggling absolutely everything every day.
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It's like, we need that. Fine. We don't have money. Okay. YouTube.
11:03
How to do this? There you go.
11:06
It's amazing. So, yeah. That's how it was born.
11:11
And how did you make your way from Ukraine? Because you're based in Spain.
11:15
Yeah. Okay. Currently based in Spain.
11:19
Obviously, there was and still is going, unfortunately, a war there.
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So is that what pushed you out?
11:27
Yeah. I mean, we always had the intention to expand outside of Ukraine,
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being in the European market or being in the American market.
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They're both very important markets. And we'd love to be in both.
11:40
At the end, personally, I just love cycling. So if I can go ride my bike in
11:45
the U.S. and I have an excuse to go, I'm like, I mean.
11:47
Why not? Right now. Yeah.
11:51
But then like it definitely like when the war started was like, what do we do? Right.
11:56
Well, I have a cousin that lives in Amsterdam. So at that point was like the
12:01
easiest place we could go.
12:03
So we just went to Amsterdam and we were on the way to Spain,
12:06
actually. We wanted to move to Spain to the very beginning in 2022 because,
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you know, many reasons, like weather, there's a lot of cyclists,
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the food is good, many other things.
12:18
I see the food pattern. Strong.
12:21
I'm a foodie, yeah.
12:25
That drives a lot of my decisions, I think. And yeah, like we made it to Amsterdam
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in 2022 and we were planning to stay for like, you know, like three weeks,
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one month, something like that, just like settle down a little bit.
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And then like start thinking with like a kid or Miranda and like,
12:40
Seemed like a good place to be. We stayed there for two years.
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We started developing down the road, let's say like Euro in the Netherlands.
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We stayed there for two years. Started growing, you know, like the Instagram.
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We started an Instagram from zero.
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We started growing, started getting followers, like sales slowly started to come in.
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Cost some things. During the first year in 2023, you know, down the road went
13:05
from like what it was to zero.
13:07
So I actually went back to work. i work with
13:10
challenge family the triathlon organizers and they
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also have a local syria they organize around the
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five triathlons all over the netherlands so we came into an agreement with them
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to be sponsored for the syria which we still are so you know like it brings
13:26
some like brand recognition and it just goes from there you know like the simple
13:32
thing that's starting from zero can't get worse than that.
13:36
That's true. It was hard starting again in a country that you don't really understand.
13:43
You don't have friends, but it is what it is. We started going from there.
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Then coming the second year, the situation got a little difficult in the Netherlands,
13:52
especially for me, for some visa situations.
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So we found this Nomad visa in Spain. And like, yeah, it worked very well for us.
14:04
So yeah, we applied for it. And, you know, here we are. It's been a year, over a year though.
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So it's a crazy journey.
14:13
Well, congratulations. I'm glad you found a home for yourselves and for down
14:18
the road as headquarters for now.
14:22
And I mean, I seen the collection and I urge everyone listening or watching
14:28
on YouTube to check out down the road.
14:31
I love the collection. You have shared with me a kit and I have tested and it's
14:38
super comfy. I really like it.
14:41
And what... Do you guys have a creative process? How do you come up with the collections?
14:47
Are there like some of your values and emotions that you embedded in the brand?
14:53
Can you take me through your process? Yeah, we are still working on different
14:57
approaches to come up with the design to be honest Katia is the one that is
15:01
more involved in the creative process everything that you see is born from her ideas I'm like,
15:08
I give my opinion, you know, but like, like the creative part,
15:13
like it's her. We have a designer, he's Ukrainian.
15:16
He's the same guy that made our logo originally back in 2019.
15:20
We started working with him again, I think in 2021.
15:24
So like during the first year, we didn't work with him. Then like we went back to working with him.
15:28
So we have different approaches for all of them.
15:31
Like I think like every collection gets better and better. And this is my eyes.
15:34
And hope for, you know, like, for the people, like, also.
15:39
Which is what we want to get better every year, to just do, like,
15:41
cooler things and more meaningful.
15:44
So our last collection is called Resilience. And, you know, like,
15:49
we are an Ukrainian brand. Like, Katia is Ukrainian.
15:52
Most of our, I mean, I don't even like the word clients because at the end of
15:56
the day, they're friends.
15:57
I think, I don't know them all. I wish I knew them all.
16:01
But, you know, like, all the friends of the brand, And most of the friends of
16:04
the brand are from Ukraine. So we really resonate with the friends.
16:08
And with the Resilience Collection, we wanted to show the daily struggle that
16:14
Ukraine is a country and the people that live there are enduring every single day.
16:22
So when it comes to the design or the aesthetics of it, we wanted to show disruptive
16:29
and loud colors, something that resonates and show what they are living like every day.
16:37
And then like the position of the logos, I would want them to be like balls and static.
16:42
And that symbolizes how they stand strong.
16:46
I like that message. And you know, I don't like to wear anything with logos or big logos.
16:51
And I think yours are super classy and minimalist, even though they do stand strong.
16:58
And I can see now that you're saying that, that that's what the collection stands
17:02
for. and it's beautiful.
17:03
I want more colors.
17:07
They're coming.
17:09
No, the colors you are, because I only have one, so I want more of the colors you already have.
17:14
Yeah, they're coming soon. Like Katya's working in the new collection,
17:17
so we have a fancy order ready and we are super excited.
17:22
Like for me, it's day one every day, you know, I just get excited and absolutely everything.
17:28
And how it is, you know, to build a brand and working together There's partners. It's fun.
17:36
We've been doing this for a very long time. You know, like it's five years already.
17:40
Yeah, it's five years already. So I can't say we're used to it.
17:45
You know, like we still go on dates and we're like, can we not talk about down the road?
17:51
That's good. You know, setting boundaries. Everything goes quiet.
17:55
Business, couple, yeah.
17:58
So at the beginning the thing is like we started in Ukraine so like,
18:04
Katya had to do a lot during that time because I couldn't talk to people.
18:08
I couldn't help with a copy on Instagram.
18:10
I made a website, but then she had to translate and she had to do a lot of things.
18:16
So since the very beginning, the
18:18
roles were very well divided on what she had to do and what I had to do.
18:23
And with the time, we just learned what is she better on, what I'm better on.
18:27
And we kind of try not to bother too much the other with things.
18:32
But at the same time there are things where like we just
18:35
think completely different and then all like we'll come into a an
18:39
argument and just try to find a solution of
18:42
what works better or like you know at the
18:44
end of the day like what is better because let's say so you
18:48
focus a little more in ukraine and focus a little more in europe
18:51
and then like sometimes we try to do joint things like a
18:53
joint campaign something for ads like an
18:56
email an event like we want to sponsor somebody
19:00
it's like okay we have shared values but then
19:03
like maybe these values don't resonate very well in ukraine like
19:06
due to the whole situation or right values values
19:10
or things that resonate very well with ukraine they don't resonate very well
19:14
in europe so you know everything is a balance is it's all about communication
19:20
like the more the more we speak we try to be as open and to speak like as freely as possible.
19:28
You know, like I think good communication is what makes it work.
19:32
We're still trying to find balance.
19:34
We actually, we have an eight-month little kid at home. We became parents like eight months ago.
19:40
Wow. So that helps a lot to set boundaries, does it?
19:44
Yeah, that's true. Especially from work. So, you know, like before,
19:48
we would speak about under all like 24-7. Now, it's just impossible.
19:53
So, like, that is helping us a lot. That's really cool.
19:58
Yeah, you need to have those health boundaries.
20:04
I can see that. Yeah, I mean, down the road, it's your baby, yours, and Katya's.
20:12
So, you know, it's a startup, and you two are giving, you know, all of you into this.
20:19
And it makes total sense. But yeah, it's good that you guys are aware that,
20:25
you know, there needs to be some balance.
20:28
And like you said, going on a date, let's not talk about down the road and things like that.
20:32
Yeah, it's our older baby was the firstborn.
20:37
Like with time, we have also learned to delegate. You know, like we can do everything
20:42
sometimes as a small company.
20:45
It's also hard, you know, like you need to work with a tight budget.
20:49
We can just start a lot of people to delegate things like okay now I,
20:55
I don't do anything right like we can't do that so we still
20:58
have to do a lot of things we were trying to grow a team both in Ukraine and
21:02
Europe and with that comes you know delegating work grow more and then like
21:07
we could focus on other things like you know like growth and the overall appearance
21:11
of the brand and like stop doing a little bit of the operational things which,
21:16
to be fair those little operational things is
21:19
what brings us the most conflicts between
21:22
between katya and me i would say because sometimes
21:25
we need to like we need to discuss something very important but you know like
21:28
you have so many hours a day so much your mental energy is also limited per
21:34
day but then like you spend the whole day you know like doing like very small
21:37
things that are super important for the brand but then like it pulls you away from.
21:44
It's not more important, but I know it's just like different kinds of tasks.
21:48
Like I think we all fall behind that, like what is really important and what
21:53
is urgent and this square X things. I think, you know what I'm talking about.
21:58
Yeah, exactly. And you said you guys all could have different opinions,
22:01
which is good because you can see different sides that you're not maybe thinking about it.
22:05
But then, of course, that can generate more tense conversations.
22:09
But it's good that you're going through that and continue to learn.
22:12
You know, that happens with any business partners.
22:15
So, of course, you know, your business partner is your also life partner.
22:20
So you need to make it work.
22:23
Yeah. It's all fun. I think we're having fun.
22:26
You know, like at the end of the day, we'll be like, you know what?
22:31
I'm with you. Let's do it.
22:33
Yeah, absolutely. At the end
22:34
of the day, you both want what's best for the brand and for each other.
22:39
And when you guys are not working on the brand, what's your ideal ride or date together look like?
22:46
Nowadays, yeah. Well, nowadays we probably go down to the beach and just walk
22:51
with the stroller, have a coffee here and there, try food.
22:55
We are both foodies. We love food. We love trying everything.
23:00
So I would say that's an ideal date for us. Sometimes we speak now and we're
23:04
like, what were we doing before having Sophie? Sophie is our daughter.
23:08
And I actually don't have an answer. I'm like, I don't know.
23:12
I don't know what we were doing.
23:15
Work, work, work, work. I think it was pretty much the same,
23:18
you know, like we were just...
23:21
Go out, like, have a walk, eat, have coffee. We would actually work out.
23:27
We wouldn't work out together that much, to be honest.
23:30
But do you ride together? We used to ride together a lot.
23:34
So we lived in Shanghai for about five years, and we used to ride together a lot.
23:39
We would join a lot of social rides and stuff, and we had, like, many cycling friends.
23:43
Then we moved to Kiev, and we were still cycling together. Once we moved to
23:47
Amsterdam, actually, like, I just stopped cycling a little bit, you know, like, in...
23:51
Well, I mean, I don't want to put words in her mouth, but I'm going to speak
23:55
from my personal experience.
23:58
It was a little hard to train during the first four to six months because you
24:03
just go to Instagram, watch the news or whatever, and you're like...
24:08
I'm sure there were more bigger things in her mind, probably. Yeah.
24:13
From a very selfish approach, you're like, yeah, my friends can't train,
24:20
and it's not because they are lazy to wake up in the morning or it's too cold.
24:24
It's that they can't literally do it. So, like, why do I have the privilege to do it?
24:30
So, you know, like, during that year, it was just a very weird time to do,
24:36
like, normal things. Yeah.
24:40
After that, you know, it just followed the momentum. She started doing other
24:42
things. She was enjoying a little more, like, yoga and running and this kind of thing.
24:47
I can't leave my bike even if I wanted to.
24:51
So eventually I did go back to training and then like well we moved to Spain
24:55
last year and she was pregnant so she was actually not cycling and now,
25:00
it gets a little hard to plan things when you have a baby at home.
25:03
Yeah, I've never been there.
25:06
Yeah, so she's currently not riding. I am.
25:10
So, yeah. Are you riding, I know you said you've done a lot of triathlons very competitively.
25:19
Are you still riding a TT and racing or are you now on the gravel wagon?
25:27
If I haven't yet jumped on gravel.
25:33
It is coming it's just a matter of time like when i buy the bike i have did
25:37
my toes i think even more than my toes i mean like i have done a couple of like
25:41
150 kilometers ride on gravel,
25:44
without even owning a gravel bike it's more like my friends are like hey we're
25:48
going on this ride and we got you a bike it might be your size or not we know
25:52
you have all we know you have
25:54
road shoes so you're coming like okay fine whatever you know it's like a long
26:00
ride on the road a long ride on gravel they just say it's the same i know it's
26:04
not but that's how my mind works.
26:07
But mainly i'm training for a triathlon i i don't know when i don't know what
26:11
i have a coach i've been coached by the same guy that coached me for the national
26:15
team 15 years ago wow amazing i started working with him like three years ago again.
26:23
Cool. So, yeah, we have a plan. We have a plan written just to be in shape for
26:28
World Championship in Marbella.
26:30
I'm not planning to qualify, but he's coming and we have like several of Denver
26:34
who are absolutely going to the event.
26:35
So, you know, I just want to be in shape to train with all of them because,
26:38
you know, they are all in World Championship shape.
26:40
I can't get there. Like, guys, wait for me. Like, no.
26:43
Not cool. That's cool. When is it?
26:46
Mid-October, I believe. I might be completely wrong. You don't even know. Yeah.
26:53
I just know I need to be shaped by the end of the year. So that's it. And then, I don't know.
26:58
Like, you know, like I have my road bike here. I have my kitty bike here.
27:01
And I just ride whatever I feel like riding.
27:04
That's good. Yeah. I like that. I like just having fun, you know,
27:07
when you start taking too serious and you have to do this and you have to do that.
27:12
Like, I'm not picky, you know. Like, if I'm going on a Saturday,
27:15
like all my friends know what I do every week.
27:17
I pretty much do the same every week. so they know when I ride and what I ride when.
27:21
So, you know, Saturday, sometimes someone texts me like, hey,
27:24
I'm going for a ride. Sorry, like, may I join you on a ride tomorrow?
27:27
I'm like, yeah, sure. So I take the road bike because, you know,
27:29
it's more like group friendly. Yeah.
27:31
If I'm going alone, I probably take my TT bike. That's it. Also,
27:35
I like it more because you can carry a lot of water,
27:38
So when I go on the TT bike, I'm like, I don't know, I'm like a camel.
27:42
I carry about like almost three liters of liquids with cards. Wow.
27:50
So, you know, if you go... Usually. Is your ride?
27:55
Anywhere between like four to six hours, I would say. Okay, well,
27:58
then it's a good amount of water.
28:01
Like I just mix it up with a short run, something like that at the end.
28:06
I'm still at transit, so I gotta do it.
28:10
And i just take all the bottles because i remember like like on the first weeks
28:16
of being in spain i went for a long ride and i took like two normal like two
28:20
bottles that makes like a little more it was sunday so everything was closed,
28:28
but so i did like five hours and i ran out of liquid like an hour oh no i drink
28:33
a lot and I would just stop searching Google Maps in a supermarket or a store or whatever.
28:42
Everything was closed. Everything was closed.
28:45
Oh man, it's going to be a long day. Yeah.
28:49
Yeah, just if you find one of those water fountains. Other than that, no luck on a Sunday.
28:56
I know. I didn't know about those.
28:59
I still actually don't know how to find them. There is an app called WeTap.
29:04
But it's better on, I think in
29:07
France, it's really developed because it's developed by the users as well.
29:12
So if you see a water fountain, you can add it to the app as well.
29:19
Put a picture, put a comment. So it's...
29:23
I don't know if there's a technical word for it, but yeah. So it's not perfect. That's what I'm saying.
29:29
It's not like all the water fountains are going to be there.
29:31
But the more users they get in different countries and people start putting
29:36
their water fountains, they find that you'll be more complete.
29:40
But there's some there in Spain because I've been trying to find it as well.
29:44
I go through the same thing. It's not just Sunday, but in Spain,
29:47
they also take siesta. So all the places for you to buy something,
29:52
they are usually closed between 1.30 to 4.30.
29:56
You know, which is the time I get hungry, so that's why I always cook.
30:04
I'm actually going to have that up a loop because, man, I really need it. Yeah, check it out.
30:11
In the Netherlands, you just go to Google Maps and you type water and you get there.
30:16
Really? That's really cool. At least in Amsterdam.
30:19
Like, it would always work for me. So, like, that was pretty easy.
30:22
But, like, yeah, here, Google Maps doesn't work at all.
30:25
Like, sometimes I go in my TT vibe, you know, like, full error position. I end up off-road.
30:31
Yeah, I'm turning back. I'm not using Google Maps anymore. Yeah,
30:34
it's not very accurate. Yeah, not the best.
30:38
So, back to down the road. Tell me, what inspired the name Down the Road?
30:43
I have my own vision when I see the name. I like it because I connect to the name.
30:50
But tell me what inspired you.
30:53
I know what are your thoughts on that. Where do you think the name is coming
30:57
from? I just imagine like...
30:59
My friends waiting for me, like, let's just meet down the road.
31:02
You know, like when you go on the ride, let's just meet down the road.
31:05
That's what I think every time of the brand. And it makes me smile because I'm
31:09
going on a ride and meeting my friends.
31:11
Yeah. So that's like the literal meaning, right, of down the road.
31:14
It means, you know, somewhere there.
31:17
Yeah. We actually took both the literal and metaphorical meaning of down the
31:21
road when we chose the name.
31:22
We wanted the literal definition as well because people need to understand that,
31:27
you know, like we launch in a country
31:30
where english is not the first language but we also
31:33
didn't want to limit ourselves to choosing something in ukrainian
31:36
and be like that niche because like we have always wanted to
31:39
go international like at least that's that's
31:42
our goal but then like the
31:45
metaphorical meaning of down the road is something like the
31:47
journey uh like the progress or
31:50
the process like you know like what is ahead what is
31:53
coming like what are like we are looking at like five years down the road or
31:57
10 years down the road i like you know what happens down the road it's like
32:01
where we collect all the moments all the emotions all the people all the rights
32:05
like every adventure all the good things and bad things so like we just collect
32:10
all those things and that's what makes us.
32:12
That's what makes me me you know like that's what makes us as a person like
32:15
everything we collect down the road so that's the
32:18
approach we wanted to i wanted to take
32:21
when we choose when we chose name you know so so
32:25
yeah but i think i think it's that love it
32:28
i really like it one question i have and
32:31
usually i think about for any brand is how
32:35
do you merge aesthetics and performance and
32:39
what i mean is of course you
32:42
want a product that looks good right tells a story looks good but also you want
32:46
that product to feel good you need to be comfortable in it but you also want
32:50
the product to perform and most likely have some durability but of course it's
32:56
hard to get all of those at once because i know if you want something super
32:59
comfortable they might not last so long because the,
33:02
it's more, I don't know, softer or whatever, you know? So just tell me a little
33:08
bit, like, how do you merge all these?
33:11
Yeah, like, well, you know, like, every fabric has its own conditions.
33:15
So, like, some can last longer, some can last.
33:19
Everything comes with good things and bad things. Yeah.
33:23
And how they look, or aesthetics, you mean, and how it fits,
33:26
like how it looks when you put on the jersey, you're talking about the design itself.
33:30
Everything, yeah, the whole package. like how it looks on you,
33:34
but also like designing the looks, like making everything merge and work.
33:40
I think this is a combination of the whole team.
33:43
I think like here comes together what Katya and the designer do.
33:47
It's good that Katya is a cyclist herself.
33:49
The designer is a cyclist himself.
33:52
So that's very good because we have worked with designers that are not cyclists.
33:56
And what happened is that like they have an idea.
33:58
And it's a really cool idea, but it doesn't work on cyclist
34:01
because you know they might put a logo that looks really
34:04
nice if you're standing up like you're never standing up on
34:07
the bike right like you are in certain positions so like you
34:09
see it sometimes you don't say it sometimes so like from the
34:13
pure aesthetic part i think that's all credits
34:16
to to katia and alexander the designer that work
34:20
a lot on that and it's a lot of back and forth and like what works
34:23
what does not work a lot of like color testing like
34:26
we wish we could you know like make this process a little more smooth and faster
34:30
and at the same time like use less resources but like sometimes it just takes
34:35
time to to reach something where you're like really really happy with it like
34:39
from the design point of view that's how it works then on how it fits and the durability,
34:47
testing testing testing when you think you're ready you just you know i keep testing again.
34:54
And for that, like, we work with several riders, triathlates.
34:59
I test things myself. That's why I train, actually.
35:03
You have to. I guess I have to because I need to check how this works.
35:07
That's why I keep me training. Like, I remember last year when we got the kind of go-bids.
35:11
I trained, like, twice that day. We got them in the afternoon.
35:15
And Kat is like, you have to go test the pocket somewhere. Well,
35:18
I trained twice already.
35:21
Like my Strava had like four hours already I don't want to go and I keep going okay I'm going,
35:27
and we just test everything your pockets are really good I want to give it
35:30
a shout out yeah I like it I'm cheeky
35:33
you know because some are a little loose some are too tight to get out stuff
35:38
no yours are good so we just test everything to the limit so like for the pockets
35:43
for example I wouldn't take I wouldn't take my phone and put it in because my
35:46
phone is quite like one centimeter well not the lens but in all the width
35:50
we wouldn't test it with a phone we would test it I actually test it with a bottle,
35:55
with a 600mm bottle you know we're going to test it still in it because that's
36:01
what we want to do I don't want to sell you a pair of bibs that will last you a month.
36:07
Like we test all the materials we want to make sure you can wash them as much
36:12
as you want even if you don't take care of them we want them to last you know like.
36:16
Not telling people to treat them bad but we want
36:21
everything to last you know like we want to use for
36:24
example like ink that lasts also that
36:27
is not bad with the environment and for that we have to test
36:30
it you know like when we buy different ink when
36:33
we talk to the suppliers they can tell you this isn't that this is
36:36
going to be really good this is eco-friendly this doesn't wash
36:38
out and then like you wash it not five times but
36:41
you know what you wash it 20 times and you realize your your red jersey
36:44
is pinkish and you're like okay this is cool but it's not the jersey
36:47
bought so we don't want that and that's
36:50
why sometimes especially with new products it takes us
36:53
so long or at least longer than we expected to
36:56
to launch because we are
36:59
just testing on that and we have several people testing we
37:02
do we do our own testing here every time
37:05
we buy like new materials we just see
37:08
where do they rip how far can
37:11
how far can we question like this zipper how
37:14
far can it go how how far can i pull because you
37:18
never know and they're like we try to test it both
37:21
in the office like see what can we break
37:24
in the office and see what can we break on race situation so we have professionals
37:28
we actually don't have well we do have professional cyclists but they do mountain
37:32
bike um they are from the ukrainian national mountain bike team so they're actually
37:37
in the olympic pros now for la 2028 yeah.
37:42
So, like, we have those guys testing clothes in a high-performance environment.
37:47
Because, you know, like, at the end of the day, if I go on a coffee ride,
37:50
bird is sweating, nothing's going to happen.
37:53
But when you're in the middle of the peloton and, you know, and your heart rate
37:57
is through the roof and you need to open your zipper, that's a whole different story.
38:02
That's true. That's true.
38:04
That is so different. Because, you know, like, when you are pushing the limits,
38:08
like, even drinking water, I mean, the bottle is hard to drink.
38:12
You ain't getting any water out of that bottle.
38:15
We just try to cover everything as much as possible. Same with the triathlon.
38:18
We want to test our triathlons at the top of the game.
38:24
We also have to test everything on the other spectrum, right?
38:28
Because our clients do everything.
38:31
We have high-performance age groupers. We have professional athletes.
38:35
But we have people also that are like... Weekend warriors.
38:38
Exactly, the weekend warriors. You also want to serve to them because you don't
38:41
want a good jersey for a pro rider that doesn't necessarily fit a weekend warrior.
38:48
So we need to listen to everybody and everyone has to test it.
38:52
Everyone has to be... We need to reach a level of happiness overall.
38:58
Yeah. No, I'm impressed. This is really good.
39:01
I think it's so important to have feedback from real cyclists using the product
39:07
in real life situations,
39:09
you know from weekend warriors to mountain bike
39:12
racing like you said so that's really
39:14
really cool i like that again i i test
39:18
the product and i thought it was superb yeah
39:22
i'm really i'm really glad every time we work
39:26
with somebody or like 100 honest
39:29
feedback you know like bad feedback is it's not bad
39:32
just if you say it'd be an offensive way but other
39:35
than that like bad feedback is actually really really really
39:38
welcome yeah because we always try to to to improve and go in a direction that
39:46
people like and not because what happens is like we're a very small company
39:50
you know like we have a few people working with us but at the end of the day
39:54
katya and i are the ones that make the decisions um.
39:58
Could just go crazy and say like oh i want this like
40:01
super influencer looking jersey just make a crop
40:03
top you know because it because it because it looks good
40:07
yeah but somehow that's
40:10
where we've been heading isn't it like jersey just gets shorter and shorter
40:13
and then like you you start losing in
40:15
the functional part because like you can't really reach back to your pocket actually
40:19
yeah like my shoulders are flexible and sometimes it's hard
40:22
to reach but then like you also have to think exactly
40:25
on the weekend warrior you know like those guys that like really stash
40:28
their pockets with a lot of things yeah oh my
40:32
god yeah i see those i i can't i can't live without my
40:35
bib pockets i barely use my jersey pockets but yeah like when i see someone
40:40
like they have everything there like tubes pump yeah everything yeah i know
40:48
so like that's why we rely a lot on feedback Because we want to listen from different people.
40:53
Because at the end of the day, I have my style of writing.
40:57
Katya has her own style of writing. Every person has their own style.
41:02
We need to cover two young people, not just the three people that are in the company.
41:07
Yeah, absolutely. That's why it's so important for us. That's how the process
41:10
works. We don't have an ABC.
41:12
We just test things. you know
41:15
like at the beginning of the year we we go to
41:18
two fairs whether it's physical or online
41:21
and see like what materials are trending what
41:24
materials are performing better i i'm
41:28
super geeky into cycling you know i can
41:31
talk about ftp and like nerdy stuff the whole day
41:34
because i just i just love it so i'm always listening
41:37
like podcast youtube videos documentaries and
41:40
like I don't know CDA FTP is like what's better what's worse like you know like
41:45
what shapes of jerseys are better where where could it make you faster where
41:48
could it make you slower and then like we actually have an absolute testing
41:51
out on on on wind tunnel oh cool so again like we don't have an ABC we just,
42:00
we have something and we work on that but at the beginning of the year when
42:04
we make most of the changes because like the first run like around like October
42:07
November and then like to choose materials for next year and then like to buy
42:10
in bulk like what sleeves are going to be trendy,
42:13
what hemp are going to be trendy you know the different length of.
42:18
Sleeves the pockets size of pockets extra pockets less pockets i don't know
42:24
wow yeah it's a lot to think about that we don't you know don't think about
42:29
as consumers you know but a lot for you guys that are creating.
42:35
How do you stay grounded on the vision to create collections for the upcoming year?
42:42
Question in terms of design like again like we are
42:44
still trying different approaches every year like we've been on the
42:47
market five years we do not count 2021
42:51
no sorry we do not count 2022 so
42:55
this even 2023 because the
42:58
thing is that we launched in 2021 with very
43:01
basic designs no sorry launched 2020 with very
43:04
basic designs and we launched late because we didn't know we were
43:07
going to do down the road so those designs lasted all the way until
43:11
like mid end of 2021 so like we've been constantly
43:14
late in the season so we just dragged all
43:18
the merch then 2022 was i mean i know it's like very easy to say that the year
43:24
that everything went bad was the year that was going to be our year but in this
43:29
case i started through like the amount of stock that we had and And all the
43:34
designs that we have, like,
43:38
was so far our best selection up until that point.
43:41
It was the biggest stock we ever had because we anticipated the growth and everything.
43:46
I don't do numbers. Katia is the TFO.
43:49
I just do, like, STP and kilometers numbers. Like, that's it.
43:53
But, like, company numbers, I don't do that at all.
43:57
So, you know, like, we had everything planned. And then, like,
43:59
the war happened. So again, the business went from like whatever it was down to zero.
44:05
2022, nothing happened. So like we took 22 collection and we used it to 2023,
44:10
but even the growth was not as we expected it to be in 2022,
44:14
which means we still drag that collection up to we are already in 2024, right?
44:22
And then mid 2024 is where we launched our resilience collection.
44:28
So, you know, like we've been in the market for five years, but I would say
44:33
last year was our first proper collection where we...
44:37
You just accumulate experience with the time and we just put everything we knew up until the moment,
44:43
everything gets better like we get better in the process we understand better
44:46
the people that like down the road we understand better the product,
44:50
we understand better everything and that's how the resilience collection came
44:54
about and now we're still working on that and we expect to improve,
45:01
but yeah the approach definitely changes I can't tell you exactly like what
45:09
is it that we are going to do but we are going to stick to the values of,
45:14
equality apparel that is the most important thing we want people that when they
45:19
see down the road especially when they just know us when they know us because
45:22
when people don't know us it's hard to judge from what you see on the internet,
45:27
anyone can take good pictures anyone could edit a good video not anyone but
45:32
you know what I mean yeah I know what you mean.
45:36
But like once people know we want people
45:39
to know that if they get a down-the-roll kit whatever it
45:42
is anywhere from socks to a cup or a full
45:45
kit we'll provide with good quality so
45:48
like you just feel free to choose the color that you
45:51
want so like i think like that's our
45:54
core value is to always provide people with quality uh in terms of designing
45:58
it's a little trickier because that's very much like what you like and what
46:02
you don't like and we want to stick to our style at the end of the day like
46:07
I'm a cyclist myself and I hang out with a lot of cyclists of different ages,
46:11
different backgrounds, different styles of riding and things they like.
46:15
Many of them ask me for things that just doesn't fit our style.
46:20
Would they sell? Most likely.
46:22
But is it a down-the-road product? Not really.
46:26
That's why there are so many brands in the market.
46:29
Because brands need to satisfy the millions of cyclists around the world.
46:34
Yeah, no, I hear you. You want to have your community and you want the feedback,
46:41
but obviously there is a line that you're not going to compromise,
46:45
which is your vision, and I applaud that.
46:49
And what's next for down the road? Any upcoming drops, events, collaborations?
46:55
We have a drop coming soon. We have an extension of Resilience,
46:59
and we'll have a new collection as well that is completely new.
47:02
We are actually very excited. we're very happy with the jersey that we have
47:05
right now and the bits in terms of quality like we're really happy with them
47:09
we're loving the design I'm biased.
47:15
It's quite obvious but you know like every time someone tags us on Instagram
47:19
we're like oh that's cool and they just show the phone to Katya like look they
47:25
tagged us looks pretty cool.
47:28
Yeah I love I think I replied to a few posts I'm like I want this color,
47:32
I want this color yeah love it you guys are doing a great job keep going,
47:38
thank you sorry can you repeat the question,
47:42
what's next yeah so in terms of drop yeah we're waiting for that we are getting
47:48
ready for the summer so we're super excited for that I am very actively working
47:53
on a tri-shoot we're working together with a German professional athlete,
47:59
it's the one that's doing the wind tunnel testing So I'm super excited about that.
48:03
And I can't wait to, like, we've been working on that prototype for a very long time. I can't wait.
48:10
Exciting. Might even sign up for an item.
48:14
Do I have the committee if I say it? Yep. Yeah. It's out there now.
48:21
Once we release it, I might just sign up for an item. You know,
48:24
I have to test it. I can't just let other people have all the fun.
48:29
Absolutely. And we have very exciting collabs coming out soon.
48:33
Actually, I can't make all of them public, but we have one with an event.
48:36
It's called Iron Gravel.
48:37
So it's a local event from Alicante.
48:40
They have a 720 kilometers gravel race, and it goes to many places in Alicante.
48:46
It's actually really fun. I have done many parts of the route separately.
48:50
Never done the 720.
48:51
Yeah, I don't see myself doing 720.
48:55
Not yet. I need to get my triathlon chip out of my head before I start doing
49:01
those kind of things. So we'll have a collab with them.
49:04
We plan to do the drop actually sometime this week or maybe next week.
49:11
We tried to make, we took a lot of feedback from the organizer.
49:14
The organizer, he raised professional in cycling for a few years.
49:18
He started doing gravel, I think like 10 years ago.
49:21
So, you know, I think or two about gravel. This is the kind of guy that one
49:25
day disappear and then he texts you three days later. Sorry, I was cycling.
49:31
Okay. Love it. Love it. So, you know, like we work. Disconnect to connect.
49:38
Yeah, exactly. So for the cargo beast, we didn't do many changes,
49:42
but he came up with a pretty cool idea on the jersey and like positioning or something.
49:48
So hopefully we make it public next week. I'm pretty excited about that.
49:52
And some other collab, I wish I could say, but I think you have to see it on Instagram.
49:56
Sorry about that. We'll watch the space.
50:00
I will share in the episode description, the Instagram, your website.
50:05
I want to thank you so much for being part of Zone 2 Speak.
50:10
I'm so happy our paths crossed. I am a huge fan of Down the Road.
50:16
I will continue to support you guys.
50:18
The brand is awesome and the vision is amazing and I think everyone should support
50:26
because it's a brand from cyclist to cyclist bringing equality in Ukraine and the world.
50:34
So thank you, Guillermo and Katia.
50:37
Yeah, thanks a lot. And thank you for having me.
50:40
It was really fun to have this conversation with you. And I hope we can repeat
50:43
it again. Absolutely. Thank you so much.
50:47
And that's all for today's episode. I want to thank the listeners for tuning in.
50:52
Your support means everything. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider
50:56
following, leaving a review, and sharing it with your.
50:59
Music.