Bike Shorts Brand Guide

Today's global manufacturers ride circles around the competition

SUGOi, Pearl Izumi and Swobo are among the biggest bike short brands in the world. Who created these brilliant marketing and designing machines, and how did they get to where they are now?

SUGOi: Japanese for "incredible"

The SUGOi brand was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in the mid-1980s, the brainchild of a road bike racer and a fashion designer. David Hollands and Carol Prantener started small, designing a single pair of shorts to supplement the inadequate supplies of Europe's bike short brands. After finding success, they expanded their market to encompass all cycling apparel, then further expanded to create the array of athletic gear that SUGOi is known for today.

Pearl Izumi: from Japan to America and back again

Founded in Tokyo in 1958, Pearl Izumi started in Tokyo, Japan, with apparel designed by a father for his up-and-coming bicycle-racer son. Extending the company into the United States resulted in a windfall of success. Today, Pearl Izumi continues to design bike shorts that are wildly popular with amateurs and enthusiasts alike, and has spread their original bike short brands to encompass a number of other sports.

Swobo: the new face of bike short brands

Tim Parr started Swobo in 1991 from a bedroom in Marin County, California, when, according to him, "nobody else would hire him." In 2001, Swobo was sold to Santa Cruz Bicycles, but when the Swobo brand was relaunched in 2005, interest was so great that Parr and company decided to enter the bicycle manufacturing business themselves, and now the brand's future is brighter than ever.

Though the world of cycling apparel is ever-changing, these popular bike short brands have shown they have the quality and marketing savvy to remain on the market for generations to come.