Desire: Katusha – the pro-peloton veteran

Katusha have had their fair share of time in the pro peloton. Despite over ten years honing and developing exceptional kit for some of the best athletes in the world, we think it would be fair to say that they have remained humble in their own personal pursuit of perfection.

Tea anyone? SS19

We’ve featured kit from each of their collections in Desire for the past few years and some distinctive traits have stood out for us. Firstly, the material choices are always second to none, feel premium, comfortable and performance-led. Secondly, the designs have been understated, favouring subtle patterns and pastel tones over garish colour blocks or fluoro yellow.

For spring-summer – highly relevant, as peering outside would reveal that it is sunny and 23 degrees in the UK – Katusha have gone bold and we’re okay with it.

The hero pieces for this season – LANDSCAPE for ladies and K ILLUSION for men – step away from their block colour roots and introduce a geometric diversion, full of energy that they describe as ‘high street styling’.

The outfits take differing inspiration for the ladies and for the gents. K Illusion, as the name might suggest, embraces geometry and is perhaps reminiscent of Psychiatrist Lionel Penrose’s triangle illusion or the impossible stair (you’ve seen Inception right?). Instead of searching for reality or some other arbitrary pursuit, Katusha hides it’s brand ‘K’ in plain sight.

Landscape becomes pattern

For the women, the landscape itself becomes the muse, with the rise and fall, twists and turns of the road dictating the pattern. If you’ve ever happened upon a topographical map, you’ll notice the beauty in the detail. Densities of dots growing and shrinking to explain the landscape from a birds-eye view (see Tim O’Rouke‘s Road Art collection for inspiration). Certainly a poignant commentary on the development and testing hours that go into each and every product.

Why cover up when your base-layer looks that good?

The ‘lightweight’ jersey has become a thing in recent years, with fabric and manufacturing technology advancing to a point when the structure of a product is supported even with minimal bulk. As you would expect from a high-end apparel brand, let alone one so interwoven with the pro-peloton, materials are exquisite and cut is refined. This is pro-level gear and you’ll know it as soon as you slip it on.

Though some of you may retort that ‘you can see my body through this’ we would argue that it’s a great excuse to show off the jazzy base-layer beneath.

Black shorts, but with much more about them

To round off the collection, Katusha has also refined it’s bib shorts. ICON, for men, comes with design-matched grippers and straps, maintaining consistency without overcomplicating things. ALLURE for women does similar, the dot pattern stretching up the cross-backed shorts highlighting the female-specific accommodations made to the bibs to ensure comfort for its wearer. The attention to detail across the range is impressive, but we shouldn’t be surprised. With the designs done in Switzerland, manufacturing in Italy and a decade of WorldTour development behind them, Katusha should have some of the best apparel in the industry.

It’s certainly worth noting that is you’re a true style aficionado, you’ll opt for the complete outfit, jersey through gloves. Do it like the pros do or not at all, we say (sometimes). For more on Katusha’s new range, head over to katusha-sports.com

This jersey will get you spotted

You’ve got to go for the complete outfit

 

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