Retro cycling brand Prendas Ciclismo, along with premium and custom brand Shutt Velo Rapide, have announced a return to profit for the 2025 financial year.
Cycling Brands Ltd, which owns both online brands, said the year-on-year growth was down to the “strong identities, loyal customers and a reputation for service that has carried us through the downturn.” For Prendas, profitability caps a remarkable upturn in fortunes against prevailing market trends.
Prendas was started in 1996 and became renowned for the quality and variety of its retro jerseys. However, the brand was forced to dramatically scale back its activity during the Covid-19 pandemic, blaming the economic uncertainty and difficulties also caused by Brexit.
Then boss Andy Storey – brother to Paralympic Gold medalist Barney Storey and in-law to 19-time Paralympic champion Sarah Storey – said at the time that the economic uncertainty had “hit our bottom line hard”.
Prendas Ciclismo photoshoot (credit: Prendas Cyclismo)
Cycling Brands bought the Prendas brand in October 2021 and subsequently launched a successful crowdfunding appeal for equity investment, with the intention “to restore the site to its former status as a go-to shop for Europe’s best cycling brands”.
Sure enough, the Prendas brand’s iconic jerseys were revived, bringing the iconic colours of Merckx, Anquetil and Gimondi back out onto the roads. And, after recording a loss of £220,000 in 2024, Cycling Brands has now put its finances back in the black.
The current managing director of the business is another Paralympic cyclist, two-time World Champion and Olympic silver medalist Colin Lynch. Announcing the company’s profitability, he said: “In a year when so many apparel companies have struggled or disappeared altogether, we are proud to have stabilised the business and moved back into profit.
Colin Lynch, 2018 Para-cycling World Champs, Maniago, Italy (credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
“This has been a year of focus and disciplined execution. Both Prendas and Shutt
have strong identities, loyal customers and a reputation for service that has carried us through the downturn. We are not complacent and know the wider market remains tough, but we are confident that our brands are well positioned for the future.”
The same cannot be said for several other British cycling brands. Rapha announced an eighth consecutive year of losses in October, with new CEO Fran Millar admitting “everyone knows the things we need to change”. That same month, Scottish brand Endura confirmed a loss of £4.7 million, citing “challenging market conditions”. Sigma Sports meanwhile described a loss of £925,000 as a “positive year” in light of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.