Canadian cross-country mountain biker Geoff Kabush has been wearing Garneau apparel and accessories for over 20 years. In 2017, the relationship between this ‘living legend of mountain biking’ and the Québec-based company will move to a new level thanks to a new personalized partnership. Geoff Kabush will be wearing Garneau apparel once again this year, and will also be involved with the marketing department and in product development.
The Olympian in Sydney, Beijing and London now begins the last leg of his professional cycling career. To finish on a high note, Geoff Kabush surrounded himself with long-standing partners for the 2017 season. The athlete is also an ambassador of clean cycling, having contributed to launching the ‘Race Clean Own Your Victory’ program in collaboration with Cycling Canada. Geoff Kabush is also the only athlete member of the governing body’s administrative council.
Eric Sakalowsky, Global Marketing Director at Garneau, said “Marketing is constantly evolving and Geoff is the ideal partner to showcase all of our expertise. By creating marketing content and helping the development of a complete line of custom apparel, Geoff Kabush’s involvement with us is unique. The whole team is very proud to bring this long-standing partnership to a whole new level.”
Geoff Kabush said “In 2017 I am embarking on a new solo project which is motivating and inspiring for me in many ways. I have built some great relationships over the years and one of the partnerships I’m really excited to continue with is Louis Garneau. Racing on the Louis Garneau sponsored National Team and several different trade teams over the last 20 years, I’ve experienced a lot and seen the evolution of their products. The fit, comfort, and technical options across all seasons are really impressive and I always have exactly what I need for the conditions.”
Kabush continued, “This year brings something new and exciting as it is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to work directly with Louis Garneau’s custom design team. I helped with input before on some designs but this was the first time I’ve had the chance to inspire and create my own look. Starting from scratch was a little intimidating but I just looked back at ideas and experience for what jerseys I’ve liked over the years and what inspired me.
“I’ve tried to keep at least one jersey from every year I’ve raced and have quite a few special custom kits and jerseys from over the years. This gave me quite a library to pull ideas from. I was drawn to classic big panels across the chest similar to some of the original retro old school wool team jerseys. I felt like this simple panel design really highlights my partner’s best and avoids the design looking too busy.
“In addition to classic panels I wanted to add another dimension and uniqueness to the design with some geometric shapes. I mentioned I liked the geometric work LG had done with the Easton-Garneau CX team kit as an example.”
He added, “For colours, I was inspired by some paintings I came across from a local Squamish artist, Andy Anissimoff, which showed some on the beautiful west coast colours that I identify and feel at home with. I’ve always really liked different shades of blue and I thought a little orange accent from my tire sponsor Maxxis would make for a nice combination.
“From these original ideas, the LG design team generated some initial design sketches for me to review. I quickly saw something I liked and after some small changes to get things exactly how I wanted them, we arrived at a final design for review. The design team then transferred the design to all the different custom pieces I’ll be wearing this year. The process was super simple working with the Louis Garneau custom team and I’m super excited how things turned out.”
