There's no denying that those folks at Perren St have been busy this past season, turning out some really nice new products to compliment their three clothing collections, the training & racing range, city range and ladies collection. Their latest offering, set to be a huge hit this summer, is their exquisitely titled 'Grand Tour Shoe'.
I love the clean monochrome look, similar to the fizik R3 shoes. The perforated upper looks like it will compliment the grand tour gloves really well, im sure an intentional move on Rapha's part. Im a sucker for anything sparkly and white when it comes to cycling gear, so I have to say for me the white ones win over the black ones, although I reckon the black ones will look suitably 'epic' when someone like Kristian House is wearing them drilling up the front of a Premier Calendar race in the rain ;)
The shoes of course feature all those natty little details that we have come to expect from the brand, including insoles emblazoned with Anquetil & Coppi, individual dust bags, reflective heel logo, and a comprehensive arch support system (the Giro SuperNatural system) to tailor the fit to each foot.
A collaboration between Giro & Rapha, the shoes will feature an easton carbon sole, and an exclusive Yak upper made by footwear textile aficionados ecco. Its clear a lot of thought has gone into the execution of these clogs, with rapha pulling in experts within the footwear arena to perfectly execute such a wager into a new area of the market for them. First impressions certainly do look grand for this shoe, I for one cant wait to check them out in the flesh soon.
The shoes are set to hit general release on April 10th, with a comprehensive set of sizes to be offered, from 39-48, including half sizes to enable the best fit. The shoes will drop at £300, no small investment for sure, but I suspect the life-cycle (no pun intended) of these moccs will be plentiful, therefore going some way to soften the blow on the wallet of a buyer. The outlay will also secure some of the top end technology available in cycle footwear today, short of a full custom shoe such as the D2 offerings.
Below are the gorgeous custom decoupage rapha shoes created by artist James Straffon, they are simply stunning! for more info on James' cycle inspired art, check out his website
1 comment:
I really love the white ones ...awesome!
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