We are a successful technical sportswear design and sourcing consultancy and also have our own brand of performance running apparel.

Our clients work in Cycle, Outdoor, Ski, Golf, Surf and general sports markets and we offer a turnkey solution to design, development, sourcing and production.

We are looking for a Garment Developer/Technologists to manage the development and production of our clients products from creation of detailed specifications, fittings, size & grading, critical path management and sample approval.

You will need to communicate to the factories on a daily basis via e-mail and resolve all development and production questions.

You must be computer literate with e-mail, word, excel and illustrator and have at least 3 years experience. Excellent communication and organisational skills are required and you must be able to work with the team and also be motivated to work alone.

In return we offer a highly competitive salary based on experience and excellent career prospects.

Please send your CV to stuart@blue-associates.co.uk, with a covering letter along with your current/past salary package and required package.

Blue Associates Ltd – ashmei. Wingbury, Bucks.

“Bob” Ultrarunners training for the Yukon Arctic Ultra. www.ashmei.com

We have been preaching the benefits of Merino wool since our launch in 2011, but we still get asked “Merino is just for winter – right?”

“No” we answer promptly. Merino is for 12 months of the year and any climate. It is the ONLY yarn that regulates your body temperature, keeping you warm in winter and cool in summer.

It also has some other amazing qualities, like the way it wicks moisture, dries really fast and will never stink like nasty petrochemical polyester that love bacteria that causes cheap running gear to stink after a while.

Sure, Merino is more expensive than polyester, but if your jersey lasts for years and still smells fresh even after 100′s of miles and doesn’t need special soaps to wash out bacteria then you are actually investing in value for money, especially if it becomes your favourite jersey of all time.

Posted by Stuart Brooke – founder ashmei www.ashmei.com

He hasn’t been loved for many years and currently has no floor, exposing the steel chassis and worn axle’s and there are no internal fittings or wiring, but this is great as we are basically starting from scratch and giving him a new lease of life.

Phoenix will be fully restored but not to his former glory, but to a new life as the ashmei “airshop” who will tour the country going from race to race, marathon to marathon and will be fully stocked with the ashmei range so you can see the product up close, try it on and understand why ashmei is so different.

We also plan to take Phoenix to some key events in Europe this year, so look out for news of the “Tour” on the ashmei website, twitter and facebook so you can come and see him, the range and meet the team.

We will be following the restoration of Phoenix over the next 10 weeks and again posting these on the website and social media.

http://www.ashmei.com/

We have worked with many of the elite performance brands within Outdoor, Cycle, Marine, Golf and Ski and have watched our products win our clients “Best Product” and sometimes “Best Brand”.

We have also worked with many start up brands, helping them evolve their concept into reality and now watching them enjoy the success of hard work, quality product and a great concept.

In 2009, I got into running as a quick and simple way to keep fit that could be squeezed into a busy schedule and something that could be done anywhere in the world with very little equipment.

My passion for product meant I quickly acquired a massive collection of specific running kit from the typical running brands and running became my escape from work, usually finding time for a midday run three times a week to clear the head and work out life’s troubles.

One day I came back from a typical run and looked in the mirror before my post run shower and noticed that the only running gear I was actually wearing were running shorts and trainers. My shirt was a merino jersey I use as a baselayer when I snowboard and my socks were merino too from my downhill cycle days. I realised this was wrong and started to research the running market to try and find running gear that had similar high performance I was used to when I snowboard and cycle.

I was amazed to find that nothing really existed and was bemused at the way all of the running brands seemed to follow an identical formula of product development and strategy. I found that all of the gear used almost identical fabrics, colours, styling and therefore price points. My research concluded in the running department of Paragon sports in NYC where I wondered if I covered all of the logos up and invited the brand managers from each respective running apparel brand to come and identify their products, if they could actually do this.

At this point I knew there was a gap in the market for a higher level of performance gear with a completely different look to the establishment. I spoke to several retailers and journalists about this concept, nearly all of them saying this was a great idea but make sure the clothing was not any more expensive as runners don’t spend money on their kit.

I didn’t believe this, as running shoes are a big investment with gels and hydration also add up. I also believed runners were prepared to trade up but have not been given the opportunity to do so as nothing currently existed. I also knew we could not improve performance and quality without using more expensive materials and manufacturing craft which would in turn increase the cost and therefore retail price.

Our strategy was simple and one we have used for some of our blue chip clients when we develop their best clothing – Don’t compromise on quality, performance, features and style, ignore the cost of the product until we get the product right.

This strategy has resulted in the launch styles winning “Best in Test” over and over again and “Best Brand” several times by gear reviewers and specialist running press.

The range is developing fast with a much larger product offering being launched this year and a women’s specific range that will be the same size as the men’s range by the end of this year.

So there you have it. That’s why we started ashmei and some background to our pedigree on the design and development of sportswear. We have established a great following of loyal customers who come back time and time again to order the new product as soon as we launch them which is a great compliment to our vision and we thank you very much for this support.

I hope you enjoy the gear and we are very interested in your views, comments and opinions that we will digest and use to develop the brand and the product to maintain our position of being “The finest performance running clothes in the world”

Being a trained sportswear designer with over 20+ years experience and the founder of ashmei, I will make sure this focus does not steer towards sales, marketing or distribution as the company grows. I have seen this happen time and time again through our sister company Blue Associates who design sportswear for blue chip sports brands and within a short period of time their brand looses it’s identity and creativity and becomes stale.

This is something I have noticed happen to the running industry. Sure there are pockets of genius with brands developing new products or technologies that think outside the box, but generally the industry has lost it’s focus on product.

Running clothing in particular has not really progressed since the launch of cheap synthetic materials. It seems apparent that a certain look, feel, performance and price now drive the industry so that we end up with a range of product that is almost identical. If you don’t believe me, pop into your local specialist running store, ignore the branding on the chest and try to see the difference between each brand. It’s quite scary how similar they all are, with almost identical price points, features, materials, construction and look.

That’s the main reason we launched ashmei. We knew we could do better. Offer product that worked better, looked better and was made better. Style is classic and understated and materials and components are selected purely on their performance rather than price.

Since our launch we have identified several of our competitors have placed orders for most of our styles. Some even place orders for every size! We are flattered by this, however it does frustrate us too as we know why they have bought our gear and we will be watching them closely, but where is the creativity and innovation. Where is the benefit to runners to develop masses of product that looks or performs exactly the same? Why have lots of brands if we all do the same thing?

Competition is good for the industry, but I wish there was more innovation and “out of the box” thinking just like there is within other sports like cycle, Ski and Outdoor with brands that have created their own niche within a saturated market giving the consumer a wider choice of product rather than a simple choice of logo.

by Stuart Brooke – founder of ashmei

We are over the moon. ashmei has just won the ISPO SPORTSWEAR BRANDNEW 2013 and will present the brand at Europe’s largest sports trade show held in Munich in February 2013.

The competition was strong with entries from around the world, concluding in 93 finalists presenting their innovations to the public and industry experts to vote for their favourite.

I have been visiting Ispo for over 20 years and I am totally chuffed to bits to now be part of this show and exhibit in the hall that is the “buzz of the show” with massive press coverage, PR and exposure to the world’s premium sports buyers.

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Vulpine bike clothing range
The Vulpine bike clothing range in action. Photograph: Vulpine

One of the best gauges of cycling’s ever-increasing popularity is the explosion of “commuter” clothing ranges, designed to be functional both on and off the bike.

My instinctive reaction is often sceptical: if I’m riding quickly or a long distance, nothing beats cycling gear, but there’s no reason why other trips can’t be tackled in ordinary clothes. There’s nothing specifically bike-unfriendly about, say, a pair of jeans.

This attitude has been reinforced by some unexceptional early examples of the genre. A couple of years ago I was cautiously positive about the Bspoke range of in-the office/on-the-bike clothes. In retrospect I don’t think moleskin trousers with a generously cut, MC Hammer-style gusset are the future.

But equally, I’ve been proved wrong. One of the most-worn items in my cycling wardrobe is a pair of ultra-light, sleek and supremely versatile shorts by Surface, the clothing arm of the Charge bikes empire, equally at home in the saddle, on the beach or mooching round the house. I’ve been stopped several times at traffic lights by riders asking where to buy them. This isn’t the sort of thing that usually happens to me.

After that long introduction, down to business. I’ve been trying out examples from two new ranges which offer something of a contrast, not least in origin. One is the Commuter series from Levi’s, the clothing behemoth’s entry into the cycling world.

The other comes from Vulpine, a tiny venture set up by a cycling-mad couple who left their jobs to pursue their dream.

It’s fair to say that this difference shows. The two items I tried from Levi’s bear the hallmarks of things designed by a committee given, from on high, the brief: “This cycling stuff seems quite trendy, how can we get on board?” Inevitably, the range’s website shows a very cool model holding up a narrow-handlebarred fixie, albeit with front and back brakes, probably on the advice of the company lawyers.
Levi’s Commuter series jeans Trousers from the Levi’s Commuter series

The two most obvious innovations on the jeans I tried out were on the same lines: an extra loop of fabric on the rear waistband from which to hang the ubiquitous mini-Kryptonite lock, and reflective seams on the inside, for rolling the trouser up the calf in the approved courier-style fashion. The slightly stiff, crinkly fabric is supposedly more resistant to water, stains and odours, but to me mainly felt a bit hot.

I was even less impressed with the grey long-sleeved shirt, which seemed equally boil-in-the-bag despite a breathable mesh strip at the top of the back, hidden with a neat seam, and small mesh patches under the arms.

I think it’s wonderful that cycling is now seen as sufficiently aspirational for such a vast company to want to hitch itself to the bandwagon. I’m just not hugely enthusiastic about the clothes. Worse still, the Commuter series is currently a men’s range only. Maybe the Levi’s focus groups forgot to mention that women also ride bikes.

By contrast the Vulpine range is clearly a labour of love. Even the items I was less keen on were well thought out and beautifully made.
Vulpine cotton rain jacket The Vulpine cotton rain jacket

The star was a lightweight cotton waterproof jacket which managed the near-unique trick of being both fairly impermeable to water but reasonably breathable. Even if you don’t like the slim, almost militaristic styling – I think it works very well ­– you can appreciate details like a neat bum-guarding flap, tucked out of sight when not in use with a magnet, and the ultra-cosy rings of delicate fleece around the inner cuffs. Vulpine also do a thicker softshell jacket, which again looks well-made, even though the one I was sent ended up being too big to try out properly.

I even – and these are words I never anticipated typing – liked the gilet, a clothing item I’ve previously scorned. Slim-fitting and lightweight it makes short work of chilly mornings and takes almost no space in a bag.

The merino button jerseys and crew-neck T-shirts were slightly less to my taste, if undeniably sleek and comfy. I found them a bit too snug to resemble something you might wear to work, unless maybe you work in a gym.

There is, of course, a catch. The Levi’s range isn’t cheap, but £80 for a posh pair of jeans is not so exceptional these days. The Vulpine range is that bit more: £195 for the rain jacket, for example.

It’s almost pointless rehashing the arguments over such prices. At one extreme some ascetics affirm a pair of sellotaped bin bags provide sufficient rain protection and it is immoral to pay more; others think £200 is worth it for a well-made, comfy jacket which will get a number of years’ use.

The more relevant lesson, I’d argue, is this: the more a company appears to genuinely love and be obsessed by cycling, the better their cycling gear.