UK Enterprise Awards 2021

163 | UK Enterprise Awards 2021 Best Custom Mountain Bike Apparel Company 2021 Whether you are looking for merchandise to kit out your entire team, starting your own brand, or you simply want a high-quality custom print item, Dirtyrides MTB Apparel is the place for you! At Dirtyrides, you are in charge of your own creativity. There’s no minimum order quantity, meaning that a single one-off jersey, t-shirt or hoodie is as acceptable as a mass order to outfit an entire company. Plus, the cut and all-over dye sublimination process means there’s no fear of your creation peeling, cracking or fading. It all started when founder, Phil Auld, decided to create a few jerseys for his Facebook friends back in 2016. Still a relative newcomer to the sport of mountain biking, Phil found inspiration one morning whilst watching some fellow bikers coming down the ‘Mega Mission’ trail in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland. “I was sitting with my brand-new jersey on, which had cost around £60, along with my £100 shorts on, and feeling pretty good about myself,” Phil begins. “Then I see roughly 20 other riders coming down the trail with the exact same kit on! I felt I was part of a fan group!” From this moment, Phil got to thinking about how he could flaunt his individuality and stand out from the crowd, as well as keeping costs down. However, Phil soon found that it was as simple as he had initially imagined and it was a real eye- opener to him. Starting from scratch, Phil began hunting for a company that would be able to supply him with the materials he required, these being lightweight, sweat-wicking and quick drying. After many a fruitless Google search, and hundreds of emails back and forth, he eventually stumbled upon a company that would be able to provide exactly what he wanted… now however, he need a factory to put it all together for him! “It was mind blowing – I initially got a few runs of jerseys made and then did loads of different tests on them - from stretching the life out of them, to going out on the bike and testing them for breathability. The first six months was really going nowhere and all I was doing was just pumping money into a product that I didn’t yet know would work!” It was a huge gamble for Phil although he lives by the mantra of taking risks in life and so he ploughed on, setting up Facebook pages and Instagram accounts in order to showcase his products on social media. “The hard part was getting people to trust a company that they had never heard of before,” he states. “Especially when you’re competing against the likes of well-known brands such as TLD and FOX, but I always said to myself “these guys had to start somewhere too.” And I’m still continuing to learn every day.” The first item of clothing that Phil custom designed, and which started selling, was a blue jersey with a skull design on the front and his company logo. He sold it to a few friends of his and, even though he knew it wasn’t the greatest design, it was a real buzz to see his first jerseys going down the trails. Phil soon started to design more complex jerseys, using different materials, and they really started to take off with riders. “I think I started to understand what people really wanted, and they also began to realise what they wanted too… so it started to slowly take shape.” Even though the brand is now well established, Phil still encounters challenges from time to time. “One of the most frustrating things is when a customer tells me they want a design with something custom on it and so I do it, only for them to tell me it’s not quite right. I can end up redoing a design several times only for them to finally say: “Actually, I liked the first one you did!” However, the free design element is part of the service we provide and it’s the customer’s choice as to how they want it, so we just go with it!” Phil and the team at Dirtyrides support various riders and teams, including their main sponsored rider, Connor Smith, who races the UCI DH circuit, although lately not a lot of racing has been taking place. “Connor is a fantastic rider and has a big future ahead of him,” enthuses Phil. “He also races for TEAM YM RACING, so we also help by sponsoring them with their clothing.” Regarding the future, Phil is keeping things close to his chest. “I never really want to look that far ahead,” he laughs. “What I did have planned for my 10-year plan quickly happened in just five years! The way the business has grown over the last 12 months alone has just been incredible and, if I can have brand recognition at a level where people are buying because they know it’s top quality but at a lower cost, then I’m happy. If I’m making the MTB community happy and bringing them closer together, then I feel I have achieved my goal.” Contact: Phil Auld Company: Dirtyrides MTB Apparel Web Address: www.dirtyridesmtbapparel.co.uk Apr21631 From humble beginnings to distributing globally, Dirtyrides MTB Apparel has gone from strength-to-strength in a very short space of time! We speak to Founder, Phil Auld, about what has made the company so successful.