Damn me.

Like bikes, you can never have enough cycling kits.

About twice a year I get to the point where I’ve gone through enough of them without washing to go into my older tier of clothing, but really I can make do with what I have.

Kits are expensive.

I probably spend more on one of them than most outfits I wear to work and that’s not even throwing in matching socks!

 

 

My rule is to keep my spending under $200 per kit as you could even easily spend double that on some of the offerings.

Now, my rule is no more kits unless it’s:

A. Super awesome
B. Local
C. Fits me.
D. Probably under $200.

I’ve done a great job the last year keeping my spending down, but that doesn’t mean I’ve gotten rid of my underlying addiction.

I still check Kitwatch, Best Cycling Kits or kitgrid on Instagram a lot for what’s latest and greatest, and dreaming has served as the proper coping mechanism for not purchasing more at this point.

One of the more annoying recent features of IG has been the placement of ads near the top of your feed.

They must be doing their homework because they know to post kits and jerseys for sale when I’m browsing.

My will has been strong to avoid the click bait, but when I saw the ad for $29.99 jerseys, my eyebrow went into full Spock mode.

The top they posted wasn’t a must have look, but it was good enough that I wanted to see what else was going on.

It didn’t take me long to see this:

 

 

That’s a pretty recognizable jersey except for one thing.

It was missing a Black Sheep Cycling logo:

 

 

Maybe I was just seeing things, but I kept looking.

Then I saw another BSC kit duplicated.

 

 

 

And again:

 

 

 

 

But it didn’t stop there.

Rapha was also a victim:

 

 

 

Even smaller manfacturer Atout got clipped:

 

 

Now I’ll admit there was a time when I bought knockoff BMC and Garmin kits, but that was when I was just starting out.

I had no Mr. Miyagi living in my apartment complex so I didn’t know any better.

eBay was the only thing to guide me which is flooded with cheap replicas.

Fortunately, I started getting the message and started supporting actual brands.

And stopped wearing undergarments with my bibs.

The point being is that we’re seeing copies not just of the biggest brands, but moving into the boutique end of clothing as well.

My biggest fear is that manufacturing will get so good that even the smaller, startup brands will see duplication sooner than we think.

I’m not a business expert that can offer up any reasonable solution.

All I can do is keep supporting…but doing my homework first.