Ever wonder what it’s like to work at one of the world’s most premium cycling apparel brands? While visiting London, we popped in for a quick look and lucked out when founder and CEO Simon Mottram offered to give us a tour. Here’s a walk through of their office, offering a glance at how they manage a global cycling kit brand 100% in house. From sales to design to marketing to management, it’s all here. Manufacturing is spread across several European and Asian factories, and they’re considering expanding that to include the U.S. now that North American has overtaken the UK as their largest market. Let’s have a look at how they do it…
Located near the very cool Coal Drop redevelopment in the Kings Cross district, Rapha’s HQ is tucked into an old industrial building on a side street. It’s easy to miss if you’re riding by quickly, save for the near constant stream of cyclists rolling in and out. And on Wednesdays, no one needs report to work until 1pm…the morning is for riding.
RCC may as well stand for Rapha Coffee Club, because they employ a barista to keep the entire office well caffeinated. For free. It’s amazing.
All employees are encouraged to ride to work. They provide a parking space and “race number” for everyone, plus showers and changing rooms, a full kitchen, and did we mention a full time barista!
Simon’s #1.
The tech and customer service department sits on the mid level of this split level office. The customer service team sits behind the glass walls to keep the noise of their phone calls from disturbing the web and e-commerce development team. They design, build and manage their entire web operation in house.
The merchandising and marketing teams sit upstairs.
Did you know Rapha makes custom kits? They do, and this is the team that helps you get your designs on their clothes.
A full time atelier and support team designs, patterns and sews samples to test for fit, materials, and more before anything is sent to manufacturing. This helps them prototype ideas quickly, and reduces the amount of errors found when things are sent to the factory. They’re working on up to three seasons ahead at any given time.
Huge thanks to Simon and his team for showing us around (and for the cappuccinos!).
