Amélie Graef: behind the Rad Race jersey design

Since 2016, Canyon and Rad Race have been disrupting the road bike and gravel bike scenes both at home in Germany and around the world. Rad Race welcomes everyone no matter their background, from big racing events or smaller groups of riders heading off into the Alps together.

Rad Race launches a new jersey for every new season ahead. Each jersey has a special meaning behind it. This year we sat down with designer Amélie Graef to find out all the details behind this year’s Rad Race jersey.

Amélie started her creative career in Munster in 2007, where she switched between art and graphic design. She soon found that the traditional roles available to her at the end of her studies lacked creativity. When GRL PCK was founded, she found what she was looking for: freedom.

She takes as much inspiration from the high fashion catwalk as she does her local riding scene. From haute couture to the Hautes-Alpes, Amélie is on a mission to change the game when it comes to cycling kit that stands a head and shoulders above the rest.

“When I started cycling in 2017, I found that there weren’t many cool kit options out there, especially not for women,” says Amélie who is based in Hamburg, home also to the Rad Race shop. “It was in 2018 when I first designed a GRL PCK kit and eventually Rad Race, too.”

The Rad Race team consists of a men’s and women’s squad, so the task was to create team jerseys as well as a replica jersey for fans and supporters.

Amélie has used her creative freedom to express how she feels about cycling and it shows not just in the final design but in the process too.

“The whole process took around six weeks. The most time-consuming part is incorporating our partner logos, choosing the colours and making it all work across two cuts (men’s and women’s),” says Amélie as she shares the mood board of ideas she had in the beginning. “With this particular design, we had a simple concept: it stands for us, as a group of individuals, coming together as a group.”

Amélie has created a jersey that can be adapted to the rider wearing it. “You can combine this jersey with lots of other colours to suit your mood. Wear it with black or blue for an undercover, stealthy look. Wear it with brighter colours to stand out from the crowd,” she says.