Visiting Italian steel-frame bicycle makers has been my preferred way of getting lost in Italy. Great makers like Cannatella, Marini, Tommasini, Faggin, and Simoncini have become acquaintances. In some cases, I can even say friends. Others, like Scorza, Chirico, Lazzeretti, and Marnati, are no more. Only their frames and jerseys remain behind to tell their stories.
It's hard to say why we’re attracted to certain objects, but wool cycling jerseys are high on my list. They tend to have bold quirky type, strong color, the touch of the maker, and murky untold stories.
I met a fashion designer and expert maker, who inspired a collaboration. Use select too-far-gone jerseys from my collection and give them a second life in a new design. No real plan, other than to play, following the instinct and to see what we could make together. That led us to a series of new one-of-a-kind, custom-crafted T-shirts that suggest the glory days of steel-frame cycling.
Ron Miriello designed a collection of 24 custom jerseys, all hand-assembled.
