Why a non-profit is collaborating with a Swiss cycling apparel company
You may have seen us sharing some content with DirtySox and in the name of transparency we thought it would be valuable to tell you, what's DirtySox got to do with RIDERAWR!
RIDERAWR was born out of DirtySox
My partner is one of the founders of DirtySox and I was having a hard time not getting myself involved in their lives. Every time I went out on the bike I had a new idea! Whether it was content, design or community related, I truly could not keep it to myself - I thought, there had to be a way to integrate women's centric cycling into the culture here in Switzerland.
Not wanting to get involved in "Dirty" operations and wanting to really be women centric I decided to create RIDERAWR as a project that didn't need any external approval and prioritized the voices of a community over the voice of founders.
The direction would be three-fold:
Workshop
We would get together and design cycling apparel the way WE wanted it to feel and look like. Later, we used DirtySox to make these designs a reality, you can get your own jersey and be a physical part of the team here! More about the workshops here.
Content
We wanted to create content that represented cycling in an accessible way to women. You don't have to be insta-influencer perfect to enjoy cycling or ever to share how much you enjoy it. Cycling is hard, sweaty and not so glamorous work and we want to acknowledge that and find a way to say "Your perfect hair isn't what makes you beautiful because underneath your helmet we know that's not a reality, you're beautiful just for being you and engaging in your passions."
Events
Lastly, we wanted to have a physical community because we knew nothing compares to the momentum of riding in a group - metaphorically and in reality! We hosted our first event - The Hive Ride - this past April and it seeing so many badass women show up for one another in the pouring snow/rain still gives me goosebumps to this day.
Coming up (tomorrow- eeeek!) a group of 6 women and 1 filmmaker are embarking on the 24 hour race, something none of us would be crazy enough to try to do alone but together - it somehow seems possible (also stay tuned for the reality check of what "possible" means).
Dirtysox supports us at these events by providing some dope prizes and HammerTime team sox for the 24 hour race!
LONG STORY SHORT...
For us, DirtySox is an enabler meaning it allows us to do what we want to do anyway but better and leverage an already established community that was hopefully looking for a bit more femme action! We are super excited to see where this collaboration takes us and more importantly takes you - the reader - said femme - and what we can do together with that momentum.
Questions? Feedback? Discount codes? Please get in touch weriderawr@gmail.com
Thanks for reading, happy cycling!
Hugs - Helena
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