Spotted #6
Adrian Dinsdale
As usual, our feet have been sore walking the streets of London to give you our daily dose of the typography, logos and graphic design delights that we spot around and about in the wonderful city that we call home. 'Spotted' is our weekly round-up of the shots we've taken, along with some insight into one of the brands that has caught our eye.
Of course, not everyone travels on foot in London. In recent years, cycling has become more and more popular. And one brand capitalising on this is clothing company Rapha. When Simon Mottram, its founder, went on the hunt for investment to launch a new premium clothing range for cyclists, enthusiasm was not exactly written across the faces of those to whom he pitched. Cycling had yet to become the fashionable pass time that it is today and Mottram had difficulty selling his vision.
It took over 200 meetings for the money to be raised to launch the brand and a number of years of hard graft before things started to take off. But Mottram's perseverance brought results. As cycling became more fashionable, Rapha's ability to tap into the glamour of the sport's past and tell a compelling lifestyle story has seen turnover reach in excess of £50m per annum, with thousands of customers worldwide and a number of Rapha-branded stores in major cities.