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The Sorella 2022- 23 cycling kit was revealed at the November annual meeting (ordering of this spectacular kit will be available January 2022 but you must be a current member to be able to order, so if you haven't renewed yet, get that knocked out!).

The team of clothiers wanted to present a unique kit that members and the race team would love to wear. To simply say that this was an enormous challenge and one that caused great anxiety is an understatement. The process started back in February of 2021 and went through some key steps: concept, design, drawing and approval. The process first begins with looking around for new fresh ideas (concept). Lots of pictures are taken of kits at trails, races, and online for brainstorming. Many ideas from all sorts of directions were given. Through all of this there was a main theme in all the ideas:

1. The team and the board wanted high visibility using vibrant colors that matched the orange from the previous kit
2. Lots of movement within the kit
3. A geometric theme

A team of 5 Sorellas and an additional young lady who had knowledge of how to draw in a graphic design program met one evening (nothing like a nice dinner to get the creative juices flowing!). With a bunch of colored pencils, large sheets of paper and access to the Sorella style guide we narrowed/condensed the 7- 8 to just 3 designs. With the help of Tina Evans, a genuinely gifted graphic artist (and long time Sorella!) we were able to bring the hand drawn designs to life and present designs true to what the actual kit would look like. The board chose the “Puzzle” design.

Now that the hard part of creating a design was over we were able to send graphic files of our design to Hincapie. The club was assigned to a graphic artist, Maria Gutierrez, another gifted graphic artist and one that we have worked with many times in the past. Maria took the graphic files that Tina Evans had created and rendered / drew them in the program that she uses. We also sent Maria our style guide so she can use the actual colors and fonts. This process usually takes at least a few weeks. Some decisions may be how Maria may interpret our designs as she has to redraw it. One of the decisions we made in the process was to limit the amount of white on the kit.

Next the placement and size of logos. The placement and size of logos depends upon the level of sponsorship, and these must be approved by our sponsorship director Diane Schleicher. She knows the current sponsors, their level sponsorship they get us current logo files com. This process can take a few more weeks. Maria places logos on jerseys as we specify, we then approve or ask for changes. If changes need to be made, we may need current updated logo files, size change or color change. We decided for the highest visibility of sponsors black would be the color of the logos with the exception of Bike Law. Signing on a new sponsor and getting correct files took us several days this year during the approval process.

Once we have the jersey approved, Maria begins the process of drawing the other clothing items that Sorella has requested. This process of drawing, presenting and approving will be done on all clothing items that include such items as: shorts, bib-shorts, jackets, vests, skin suits, bibs and leg and arm warmers. Maria draws over 20 pieces of clothing! This process can take three plus weeks.

One spectacular piece of clothing the club is excited to present is the Stars and stripes jersey. This will be worn by our National winner Kim Nelson. She will wear this kit this year and then be eligible for a stars and stripes leg and arm banded kit forever.

After a lot of back and forth, ensuring everything was just right, the final piece was made last November the 16th and the clothing line ready to present to the Club! 

We, the board, and board approved positions, hope that you love wearing this latest Sorella kit.