Rapha and Paul Smith team up once again for a limited edition bunny-themed club kit by the iconic designer and longtime friend of Rapha’s founder Simon Mottram. And there are even two editions, the classic RCC-only version in navy blue, plus a public access Paul Smith kit in black.
As for the EF Pro Cycling team kit, it’s pink again but a bit more understated than years past, even with a touch of argyle still lurking inside. It also adds a fun EF Bucket Hat for those fans looking for something more creative than a cycling or baseball cap – made a bit famous this spring while holding a Roubaix cobble overhead…
Rapha + Paul Smith 2023 limited edition cycling club kit
This year’s Rapha + Paul Smith kit is said to be a nod to a golden era of cycling, where the pros raced in full-color kit, but fans often ended up sharing the more monochromatic kit that they would see in newsprint and black & white photography. So the club-only Rapha RCC + Paul Smith kit comes in multi-tone blue, while the publicly accessible kit that you can buy directly from Paul Smith shops features a black base.
Both actually get plenty of color beyond the tone-on-tone leaping rabbits of the main body fabric, with colorful side & zip accents, plus the classic Rapha arm band. The Rapha + Paul Smith collection includes a $215 / £170 / 195€ Classic Long Sleeve Jersey, $40 / £32 / 36€ Cap, $360 / £295 / 335€ Pro Team Shoes, $25 / £20 / 23€ Pro Team Socks, and $188 / £155 / 175€ Pro Team Full Frame Glasses.
“Paul and I are really just two long-time fans of cycling. We share decades of excitement about racing and veneration of cycling heroes – something that brought us together from the earliest days of our friendship. This collaboration was our opportunity to bring that shared history to life, and to tell the stories of so many other friendships founded in cycling from around the world.” – Simon Mottram
“Collaborating with Rapha and Simon once again has been such an honour – working with someone with shared ideals is always a great pleasure. We were both brimming with ideas for this latest collection, and I hope it shines with our love of the sport as well as our fascination with vintage cycling jerseys.” – Paul Smith
Find the Rapha Cycling Club exclusive blue kit here at Rapha.cc, or the black kit via PaulSmith.com directly.
2023 EF Education-TIBCO-SVB and EF Education-EasyPost team kit
Over the weekend Rapha’s latest pure pink pro kit went live too, with EF debuting the latest version of Rapha’s newly redesigned Aero Jersey. I guess we hadn’t yet taken a look at this season’s pink EF Pro Cycling team kits – their 5th year of eye-catching EF kit, which are a bit more subdued this year in various tones of pink. “Each shade of pink is a nod to the past, the present and future of the team, representing the evolution of the team as a whole.” But we have seen them popping up on big podiums in early season racing, so the least of which being Alison Jackson’s fun TikTok-ready victory dance in the Roubaix velodrome.
Now you can get the same short sleeve aero jersey of the EF Education-TIBCO-SVB women and EF Education-EasyPost men for $215 / £175 / 200€. Or just go straight to the Paris-Roubaix celebration with the same Bucket hat as Alison for $30 / £25 / 28.50€, although you’ll have to wait a little while longer to snatch that one up.
Also in the running area the $295 / £240 / 270€ Women’s or Men’s Pro Team Bib Shorts, the monochrome $135 / £105 / 120€ Women’s or Men’s Pro Team Training Jerseys, two-color $25 / £20 / 23€ Pro Team Socks, a $30 / £25 / 28.50€ EF cotton Cap, $25 / £18 / 21€ EF Musette, or a $23 / £18 / 21€ EF Lightweight Snood (aka buff).
