BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Attacus Apparel announced yesterday that the launch of a full women’s summer collection will coincides with the appointment of new managing director Emily Childs.
Co-founder and (now) previous managing director Jimmi D Nichols placed the significance of gender equlity in the industry at the heart of the decision in a letter to BikeBiz. He said: “Co-founder Emily – who also featured in the 2017 edition of BikeBiz’s ’30 under 30′ – has been an integral part of the company since its launch in 2015. We are both confident that this is the perfect time for her to take the reigns as we focus on growing our brand to obtain an equal 50:50 gender split.”
In an open letter posted on the Attacus website, Childs wrote: “As a female cyclist, and one of maybe only a handful at the helm of a cycling clothing business, I’m all too aware there’s a particular area of our offering that’s been long-overdue.
“So I can’t tell you how excited I am to say, on International Women’s Day nonetheless, that our new women’s range is finally coming to fruition next month.
“We set up Attacus with the aim to do things differently. We weren’t corporate bigwigs with loads of cash to invest in return for a slice of the ever-growing cycling industry pie.
“We were two regular cyclists with full-time jobs – one with a vivid vision for a kit he couldn’t get his hands on anywhere, the other with the knowledge to digitise the concepts and build a website to see if anyone else wanted it too. Plus a small amount of savings we were willing to gamble on the idea.
“I’m very proud that the introduction of our first fully-fledged women’s collection coincides with my soon-to-be move to take over as managing director of Attacus – as we focus on growing our brand in a way that both promotes and actively supports inclusivity and equal representation in the sport.”
(The above is an abbrieved version of the full piece, which can be found on the Attacus website here.)
