Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / Ride Luca: Reinventing Women's Cycling Apparel with Luca Kuhn

Transcript

Ride Luca: Reinventing Women's Cycling Apparel with Luca Kuhn · Zone2Speak Podcast

• 0:00
  Music.
• 0:10
  Hey, everyone. Before we dive in, a quick shout out to the amazing brands that I use and love.
• 0:17
  And the best part is when you shop with them, you are directly supporting this
• 0:22
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• 0:26
  Psych Plus, smart pumps for the perfect tire pressure. Down the road,
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  Loop Ear Presbyter. plugs for travel, sleep, recovery, and noise control.
• 0:58
  Clearly not coffee. A smooth, caffeine-free energy alternative.
• 1:03
  Heal. Quick, plant-based meals for busy or bikepacking days.
• 1:09
  Shocks. Open-ear headphones that keep you safe while training.
• 1:14
  Frey skincare. Skincare design for active people and sweaty rides.
• 1:20
  All the links, discounts, and codes are in the episode description.
• 1:24
  So check them out, grab some great deals, and know you're helping keep Zone2Speak rolling.
• 1:30
  Now, let's get into the episode.
• 1:34
  Welcome back to Zone to Speak. Today's guest is a creative force and a trailblazer
• 1:39
  who is reshaping what women's cycling apparel looks and feels like,
• 1:43
  Luca Kuhn, founder of Ride Luca.
• 1:46
  Luca isn't your typical founder. She's a cyclist and a creative with a sharp
• 1:51
  eye for design and a deep understanding of what women want and deserve when they ride.
• 1:58
  After years of dealing with poorly fitting kits and brands that overlooked women
• 2:03
  entirely, she decided to do something bold, build her own.
• 2:07
  What started as a frustration turned into a movement with a commitment to comfort,
• 2:13
  style, and performance.
• 2:15
  Right Luca isn't just closing, it's a brand built by women for women with community at its core.
• 2:22
  In this episode, Luca will share her journey, how she's built a more inclusive
• 2:26
  space in cycling and what it really takes to start something that matters.
• 2:31
  Whether you are a designer, a cyclist, or someone who has been told,
• 2:36
  don't bother, this conversation will light a fire in you. Luca, welcome to Zontespeak.
• 2:43
  Thank you so much for having me, Juliana, and for that lovely intro.
• 2:47
  I think you really captured everything me and the brand is all about.
• 2:52
  So thank you so much for having me on the podcast. it's a
• 2:55
  pleasure I'm so happy to have you here
• 2:58
  our paths crossed on Instagram and I
• 3:01
  immediately fell in love with your designs and with you I
• 3:04
  mean you are so beautiful in and out I can see like you radiate happiness and
• 3:10
  joy it's so much fun to follow you and the brand and I also want to thank you
• 3:15
  you sent me a kit and I can't get enough of it I love love love love love we
• 3:22
  can talk more about it as we, you know,
• 3:24
  kick off this podcast, but you were on to something really, really special.
• 3:29
  Honestly, that just, as you can see, put the biggest smile on my face because
• 3:33
  that's all I really wanted to do with Luca.
• 3:36
  I wanted to bring something special for women. I want them to feel confident in it.
• 3:42
  And yeah, for you to having felt and written in the product means a lot. So thank Thank you.
• 3:49
  So before RideLuca, what was your relationship with cycling?
• 3:53
  Were you always into the sport?
• 3:56
  I feel like I came into the sport more as an outsider, even though growing up
• 4:01
  in between Germany and Switzerland, I always had a bike, but it was more of
• 4:05
  a getting to school thing or just riding around.
• 4:08
  I was always a bit more of a tomboy, so getting out in the mud,
• 4:12
  but not really road cycling, which, well, I started when I was about 25.
• 4:18
  I think it was, there's a lot of people around me getting into triathlon.
• 4:24
  Trying different things, marathons, triathlons, and being surrounded by them.
• 4:30
  I was just like, I wanted to give it a go.
• 4:32
  Yeah, yeah. And I actually saw that there are some pro triathletes wearing your kit.
• 4:40
  And I come from triathlon and I wish I had that when I was racing because it's easy to put on.
• 4:46
  It looks so good on the body, you know, like, you know, anyone listening,
• 4:50
  you have to go to the website because the one piece. It's so amazing.
• 4:55
  And I think it makes any body type look amazing.
• 4:58
  It's really cool. And how about your life outside the brand?
• 5:03
  Who is Luca beyond the kit and the bike?
• 5:05
  So I would definitely say I live life to the maximum. I always have.
• 5:13
  I'm all about travel, meeting people, cultures.
• 5:17
  I love sports, but all sports. I love hiking. I love CrossFit.
• 5:22
  I am an avid adventure sports enthusiast. I skydive. I surf.
• 5:29
  I'm a scuba diving instructor. So I have this other whole side of my life where I just love enjoying it.
• 5:38
  Wow, incredible, incredible. Anything you can do?
• 5:42
  Oh, there's a lot. There's a lot of that too. Going back to the brand,
• 5:46
  what are some of the earliest sparks that made you think, I really need to create
• 5:51
  something different here for women in cycling?
• 5:53
  So I really got into cycling more around lockdown.
• 5:58
  I fell in love with the sport. And as I was buying and just shopping for things
• 6:03
  myself, I just realized that the women's market was just a lot smaller, very underserved.
• 6:10
  All the brands I saw out there either had loud logos, loud patterns on.
• 6:16
  Similarly, with the design of the product, I just felt like this is just the
• 6:21
  men's stuff, tailored a tiny bit smaller, with a lack of consideration what
• 6:26
  a woman would really want to get out of it. A hundred percent.
• 6:33
  And, again, when I put the kit on, when you look at it, maybe you think,
• 6:37
  oh, it's just another brand.
• 6:39
  But it isn't. When you put your kit on, you can see what's designed for women.
• 6:43
  First of all, I think one of my biggest pet peeves is getting in and out of a sport bra.
• 6:48
  And you solve for that problem. Because there is a zipper that you can zip all
• 6:52
  the way down and all the way up. And it's on the front.
• 6:55
  So you don't have to do gymnastics to get in and out.
• 6:58
  And another big pet peeve of mine
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  is and and i'm i'm kind of petite but even
• 7:04
  that then a lot of other kids squeeze
• 7:07
  yeah size two sizes and
• 7:11
  there's no yeah there's no uh continuity between brands but i always found in
• 7:18
  sighting where i'm like right that is at least two sizes too small than my normal
• 7:24
  normal size yeah that's the other thing because i mean it can be a psychological thing,
• 7:29
  but nobody wants to be like a bigger size than what you think you are.
• 7:33
  And then you are shopping, you have to get a bigger size because things are
• 7:36
  made so small and your sizing seems true to size.
• 7:40
  Because I even asked, I usually am a small, I ask for a medium because I'm now
• 7:44
  paranoid. I'm like, I don't want things to be super squeezed. And yeah.
• 7:47
  It fits really well and it stays in
• 7:50
  place without squeezing anything amazing really really
• 7:54
  love it yeah that was really really important to me
• 7:56
  and like also like now often people
• 8:00
  order something and then they need to ask for a size down because
• 8:03
  they're so used to having to size up in cycling
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  wear so I think it's all about us like
• 8:09
  educating and really just being quite open
• 8:12
  like no buy true to size and it'll
• 8:15
  fit you yeah and you are
• 8:18
  a creative and you are also a strategist how have
• 8:22
  those parts of your identity influenced the
• 8:25
  way you approach building Luca so I didn't
• 8:28
  come from a background of clothing or design
• 8:31
  but I love fashion and I
• 8:34
  love designing something that's better and
• 8:38
  with women's bodies in mind so I went
• 8:41
  back to the drawing board together with a very
• 8:44
  very talented fashion designer because I don't know anything
• 8:47
  about fabrics and stitchings and bonding
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  and all like it's a whole new world so I
• 8:54
  knew what I had the vision in mind but I
• 8:57
  just needed a way to get there so step by
• 9:00
  step really it started with talking to
• 9:03
  as many people as I knew who were working in
• 9:06
  the field who were cyclists who are non-cyclists are
• 9:09
  asking them why aren't you um and.
• 9:13
  Really building this big idea of
• 9:16
  what's needed what do women really want and then
• 9:19
  coming up with a design which personally i
• 9:23
  felt was right and then getting out the feedback
• 9:26
  yeah feedback is super important and just going
• 9:29
  back to what you said even before that i forgot to
• 9:31
  comment on on the logos it's i
• 9:34
  love your design because some people
• 9:37
  would like to be loud and there's nothing wrong with that but i
• 9:40
  really hate wearing big logos and
• 9:43
  you cannot even you can barely see luca anywhere and i love the little thunder
• 9:49
  little bolt yeah bolt thank you yeah so cute and adorable so yeah i i love the
• 9:56
  simplicity and elegance of your kits i'm happy yeah because And all of the graphics,
• 10:03
  for example, the bolt, they all have meaning and they all come from my tattoos.
• 10:07
  So I have the bolt tattooed on me.
• 10:10
  I have many of like the other graphics. Where is it? Where is it?
• 10:13
  I'm trying to show mine. If you're on YouTube. Yeah.
• 10:16
  It has a wave inside. So, yeah, it's my brand. It's my logo as well. I love that.
• 10:24
  Sorry. I love that. So I really get to sprinkle a lot of my personality into the brand.
• 10:32
  And that's the fun of it.
• 10:36
  I called this brand my name. I put my values, my ethos, and my personality into this brand. So, yeah.
• 10:45
  Love it. You mentioned that people told you to not start another cycling brand,
• 10:51
  especially one focused on women. How did that shape your motivation?
• 10:55
  So the amount of times now I've been told either, it's always in different words.
• 11:00
  It's like, Luca, I just don't think there's a market for women's cycling.
• 11:05
  Or women just don't ride with us or buy here.
• 11:09
  And it always baffles me because it... They probably don't buy because there's nothing there for them.
• 11:15
  Well, all of those comments have come from men. Yeah.
• 11:19
  I always in my mind think, well, maybe it just takes a woman to understand these women.
• 11:25
  Maybe that's all it takes. So every time I hear this, and I like to have these
• 11:31
  conversations because I get to take a lot of information and wisdom from a lot of people.
• 11:37
  But in the end, it just fuels my fire even more.
• 11:40
  Yeah. Yeah. Good. But, well, I'm happy you didn't stop because I,
• 11:45
  did I say a lot of your stuff?
• 11:48
  So happy. What were some of the hardest moments in the early days of Right Loop
• 11:53
  and how did you push it through?
• 11:54
  One really hard realization was at the beginning.
• 11:58
  So after all the hard work of two, three years of research developing and creating
• 12:02
  this incredible product I was so proud of was launching, launch day.
• 12:07
  And within the first week or weeks, realizing, my God, no one knows about this product.
• 12:16
  So this is where the real work starts.
• 12:20
  Getting recognized for people to trust you and then in the end they need for
• 12:26
  them to pay the hard-earned money on a product they don't know over all of the
• 12:32
  others so that realization,
• 12:34
  was eye-opening and I'm like I have a lot of
• 12:37
  work to do yeah yeah that's a
• 12:40
  good point because you can have the best product
• 12:43
  out there but if there is no awareness yeah
• 12:47
  yeah that alongside all the
• 12:50
  things i didn't know about factory delays
• 12:53
  invoices that are coming out of nowhere all
• 12:57
  the all of the things that come with running a business and then the growing
• 13:01
  pains so i feel like the problems they never really stop they just change over
• 13:07
  time and you learn to outgrow the old problems because you learn how to deal
• 13:12
  with them but then they change and you're like ah okay.
• 13:15
  Yeah i mean
• 13:19
  there's not you know you clearly
• 13:22
  have a lot of talent and you created a
• 13:25
  great product but having the idea in your mind to
• 13:28
  actually making it real there
• 13:31
  are so many steps to it i guess
• 13:34
  just choosing the factory where it's going
• 13:37
  to be how it's going to be and getting all the fabrics and I
• 13:41
  mean the padding oh it's a
• 13:43
  lot change factories halfway through
• 13:46
  changing the delays on one
• 13:50
  compartment of the item let's say a delay
• 13:53
  of the zips you're only as fast as the
• 13:56
  slowest components so you're there with the product should
• 13:58
  be ready next week but let's say the zips are ready in four weeks and you're
• 14:03
  like okay great what do we do now and then just learning how to go with it and
• 14:10
  learning how to deal with those struggles in the best possible way and almost
• 14:15
  trying to make them positives. Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:19
  So I talked a little bit with my enthusiasm of everything that for me was a
• 14:25
  pet peeve and I encounter all the solutions in your products.
• 14:28
  But when you were designing your first pieces, what were your must-fix pain
• 14:34
  points you wanted to solve for women in cycling?
• 14:37
  So there's the one item which is always from the beginning felt to me like, why is it that way?
• 14:43
  I looked, came into the sport and really as an outsider, and I'm like,
• 14:47
  why are bib shorts the way they are designed?
• 14:49
  With their straps over the chest.
• 14:52
  I'm like, they're clearly not designed for women. Which part of the breast are they meant to sit on?
• 14:58
  You can't really wear them without a jersey on a hot day.
• 15:01
  And I'm like, that's not designed for women.
• 15:05
  So that piece is the one I'm probably the most proud of because it's just different.
• 15:11
  It's designed for the female form and mind. It
• 15:14
  has a beautiful overlapping front which is super easy
• 15:17
  to get in and out of it can be worn without a
• 15:20
  jersey on a hot day without exposing yourself exactly and it looks beautiful
• 15:26
  i love that yeah i'm glad you said that because i never even thought about it
• 15:30
  but you're right those straps are like where do they sit and you created this
• 15:35
  overlap that looks so feminine and it's so easy to get in and out yeah.
• 15:41
  Yeah. The interesting thing about this item, and I love this item and so many
• 15:46
  people love it, but at the beginning, because it was very different,
• 15:50
  a lot of people didn't understand it.
• 15:52
  So there's a lot of people who had a lot of almost negative comments about,
• 15:58
  oh, but it's not pee friendly. So it's clearly not designed for women.
• 16:02
  And I'm like, I'm trying to fix a pain
• 16:05
  point which is like the coverage and and
• 16:09
  i know the pea friendliness is like really important for
• 16:12
  women but i'm you can't solve all problems
• 16:15
  in one item it's impossible as much as i want to and i'm trying like i we're
• 16:21
  we're talking about this all the time and i think maybe they're just different
• 16:25
  items this is why i've now brought out the padded shorts because these are super
• 16:31
  high-waisted, if it's really that important,
• 16:34
  there's the option there.
• 16:37
  Yeah, I want to try the pettit shorts.
• 16:40
  You're absolutely right. You can't fix everything at once and maybe not fix
• 16:45
  everything in one product.
• 16:47
  And I have to say, it's not hard to get out of that for a pee, to be honest.
• 16:53
  And I'm Latina, so I said I'm petite, but I am curvy.
• 16:59
  And I have worn other bibs in the past that it's made for you to slide down with the straps.
• 17:07
  And it's not easy if you have a booty. So yours was easier for me to come in and out of it.
• 17:15
  Honestly, all of that feedback is how we grow and learn. And I know I'm on the
• 17:22
  right track. So thank you.
• 17:24
  Yeah, no, you are. You are. I said you're on to something. How do you go from...
• 17:29
  Write Luca pieces from idea to
• 17:32
  final product I'm always curious about that
• 17:36
  so there's always this first
• 17:39
  like what do we want to create what item is
• 17:42
  it what's the purpose and then how
• 17:46
  would it be designed for women and then or
• 17:49
  very importantly how can we make it Luca
• 17:51
  how can it's simple and beautiful and
• 17:54
  timeless so there's this brainstorm phase where we
• 17:58
  talk we we speak to people and then
• 18:01
  yeah we go we go on the drawing board we draw it we
• 18:04
  put we mock it in 3d then once
• 18:07
  we're happy the item goes into sampling and this
• 18:10
  stage can be long it can be painful it depends
• 18:13
  sometimes it's easy sometimes you get the first sample back and you're
• 18:16
  like yeah this is it let's go
• 18:19
  into production more often there might have to be
• 18:21
  a few different rounds of it and then especially
• 18:24
  let's say you're changing fabrics the next fabric might
• 18:27
  have a different amount of elasticity and like
• 18:30
  it then so it's almost never-ending but it's also so rewarding when that final
• 18:37
  item then lands the one that's ready for the shops it feels amazing because
• 18:44
  Because that item has come from in here to in here. Yeah, yeah.
• 18:51
  And where can people get, right, Luca, you just mentioned ready for the shops.
• 18:56
  I know you have the online presence.
• 18:58
  Are you also in any shops? Maybe locally, I know you're based in London.
• 19:03
  So currently, you can only buy Luca online. And I'm popping up at events all
• 19:10
  over the UK at the moment.
• 19:12
  So I've really been traveling all the way from Edinburgh to Bristol.
• 19:16
  We've got an event in Sheffield coming up in Derbyshire.
• 19:21
  So everywhere, I usually bring the products because it's so important for people
• 19:25
  to actually feel and see it.
• 19:28
  And that's really where most people are like,
• 19:31
  oh wow this is really nice and i'm like
• 19:34
  yes thank you yeah that's a good idea because like you said i think people need
• 19:40
  to see it especially because it's something so different than you with instead
• 19:46
  of the straps having the how do you describe it the layered i don't know it's
• 19:51
  not layered but the V-cut, yeah.
• 19:54
  Overlapping, thank you, yeah. Yeah, I think if you see it live,
• 19:59
  you will know it makes sense.
• 20:02
  Yeah. And like it's so soft, it's buttery, it's soft, the whole fabric,
• 20:07
  and it feels comfortable.
• 20:08
  So it's usually when people try it on, they're like, oh, yeah.
• 20:15
  Yeah. And I see more and more people wearing, right, Luca, How does it feel
• 20:21
  when you actually see someone riding past in Luca gear? Yeah,
• 20:26
  you can see the smile on my face.
• 20:29
  Like for anyone riding past me in Luca kit, it's a pinch me moment.
• 20:34
  It's like it started off at the beginning with obviously family and friends
• 20:38
  supporting and buying it.
• 20:40
  But when really someone rides past me in the park,
• 20:44
  someone who I might not even know in a Luca top, It makes me want to cry with
• 20:50
  tears of joy because it's a testament of all the hard work and love and passion
• 20:58
  I put into every single piece.
• 21:00
  Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's magical. So cool.
• 21:04
  And where do you think women's cycling, both the sport and the culture, is headed?
• 21:08
  So I feel it, like I feel this passion for women in cycling, it's growing.
• 21:15
  I know it because I run a weekly women's cycling group and events and there's
• 21:22
  so many more women who want to get into the sport.
• 21:26
  So from a lifestyle perspective, it's becoming more like this hub and it's becoming
• 21:32
  the new run clubs where people actually go.
• 21:34
  It's about community. It's about finding your tribe.
• 21:38
  And then on a more professional level, I think there's so many more opportunities
• 21:43
  now and we're still fighting, I think, for equal pay for professional teams and funding.
• 21:52
  But it's going in the right direction. and I really hope,
• 21:57
  that this is supported more and more yeah i think we are witnessing a lot of
• 22:03
  positive change and it's great unless for uci doing that whole handlebar band
• 22:09
  thing which it's another podcast.
• 22:16
  Yeah yeah you talked a little bit about rides community rides i know for luca
• 22:24
  is very important to create a community.
• 22:27
  Can you tell me a little bit about what is Ride Luca creating in fostering this community?
• 22:32
  So I think this is the part I'm most proud of with creating with Luca.
• 22:37
  I get to bring women together. I get to empower them to get their first road bikes.
• 22:45
  I run women's bike mechanic workshops, host beginner-friendly group rides,
• 22:51
  a weekly group ride on a Tuesday morning in
• 22:54
  the winter hopefully like running also more community
• 22:57
  events because people they thrive
• 23:00
  when they find their tribe when they have
• 23:03
  community and i think that
• 23:06
  also just enhances life yeah yeah it
• 23:09
  makes a huge difference to have community to have
• 23:12
  a buddy and like i said you know people that
• 23:16
  live in countries where you have a tougher winter
• 23:19
  it's super important you know it helps you get you out of
• 23:21
  bed get out of the house and yeah yeah even
• 23:24
  if you're if even if you meet those people like
• 23:27
  connect with them and even if you're both going to a spin class
• 23:30
  together i'm a huge yes of a spin class i'm a fair weather rider it gets dark
• 23:36
  and cold in the uk but i still want to be surrounded with like like-minded people
• 23:43
  women exercise so i think it's super important to keep they're going all year round,
• 23:49
  even if sighting in the wet and dark is not your thing. Yeah.
• 23:56
  Congratulations. I know you just launched the new collection and it looks beautiful. And.
• 24:03
  So I know you just launched, but I don't know if you have any new projects or
• 24:06
  collabs or any dreams that you are chasing for what's next for Luca.
• 24:13
  So in terms of garments, we're constantly thriving.
• 24:19
  What's thriving? No, not the right word. Thriving.
• 24:23
  Thriving. To improve. this is
• 24:26
  this we can only do with time because often we
• 24:29
  don't have the time and to
• 24:32
  to make a batch give it out for feedback
• 24:35
  so people are testing the items we
• 24:38
  have out at the moment and we're gathering feedback through
• 24:42
  feedback forms on how to keep getting
• 24:44
  better so i love hearing all of it and i
• 24:47
  need to so that's in terms of garments and
• 24:50
  then in collaborations there's so much happening
• 24:53
  next year is really exciting
• 24:56
  I can't say too much because some of
• 24:59
  it is not set in stone no problem so I
• 25:02
  feel like you're jinxing it a little bit but I'm hoping to really touch and
• 25:08
  work together with a lot more women on all different levels of the sport and
• 25:13
  create good together get more women to cycle get more funding for women and
• 25:19
  it's a really exciting place to be.
• 25:22
  It is, and I'm excited to see what's next. I just have a few rapid-fire questions.
• 25:29
  Favorite ride or route? So I'm half Swiss, half German, but I think my favorite
• 25:35
  routes will always be around the lake in Switzerland. Nothing too hilly.
• 25:39
  I'm not the most talented climber, but a scenic route.
• 25:43
  Doesn't love a scenic route. The best, yeah. A flat ride around the lake.
• 25:49
  Perfect, yeah. I'm a big fan of Via Verde or anything like that. It's just the best.
• 25:56
  Go-to piece of RideLuca gear you can't live without.
• 26:01
  So I would say currently it's our new padded shorts.
• 26:06
  Just because it is super hot in the UK, believe it or not, right now.
• 26:10
  They're a bit shorter in length than our bib shorts for maximum tan.
• 26:15
  They have a pocket on the side and are just super easy.
• 26:19
  So, yeah. Nice. I love pockets. You just said the magic word.
• 26:24
  Honestly, pockets for everything. women yes women
• 26:27
  love pockets more pockets everywhere
• 26:30
  a cyclist who inspires you i think
• 26:33
  all female cyclists who on any level but also who are defying the odds in in
• 26:40
  in racing i'm hugely admire but also women the day-to-day woman who are doing
• 26:47
  incredible things and i know you just had Sarah Ruggins on the podcast,
• 26:51
  and her story and her achievement just gives me goosebumps. So, yeah.
• 26:58
  Yeah, she's incredible. Anyone doing something that defies the odds.
• 27:02
  How about finish the sentence?
• 27:04
  Cycling is? Cycling is freedom. Like that.
• 27:07
  I resonate, yeah.
• 27:10
  Oh, Luca, it's so good to see you and chat with you. I can't speak highly enough
• 27:16
  about RideLuca. and can't wait to see what's next.
• 27:20
  And I wish you most success with the brand.
• 27:26
  And I know you're going places. You really got something special.
• 27:29
  Thank you so much. Honestly, your kindness, your words and having me on the
• 27:33
  podcast means the world.
• 27:35
  And I'm excited to see you and create such like ride together. Sounds great.
• 27:43
  Really, really, really excited to be in touch. Me too. Thank you.
• 27:49
  And that's all for today's episode. I want to thank the listeners for tuning in.
• 27:54
  Your support means everything. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider
• 27:58
  following, leaving a review, and sharing it with your friends.
• 28:02
  Music.