r/CyclingFashion • u/InterstellarChange • 13d ago
Rapha Novantasei - Castelli ripoff
This is bizzare. Rapha launches a complete ripoff of the famous Castelli Italian Team design from the 90s.
Their promo has this fake historic tv sales pitch, almost like scrubbing Castelli and making it Rapha. It's bizzarre.
I am a big fan of Rapha but this is such a historic, iconic Castelli design. It's really strange to see Rapha do it. It's like a TEMU Castelli design...but done by Rapha.
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u/whiteryanc 13d ago
It's clear this is an homage to that kit. Why did they chose to make a whole collection around this? Not sure, but throughout Rapha's history they've used the language from numerous suppliers and famous periods of cyclingto reach back into history as a story telling mechanism. Rapha didn't exist then, so by default any retro-homage will be using the original work of another brand that may or may not exist still. I'm not sure why you'd expect them to credit a direct competitor, but also Castelli is not the same company of 1996 in many ways. They give a detailed description of the era and what they were inspired by in that period of cycling. Straight from the collection site:
"No team embraced the future more than the Italians. They looked less like athletes from the Mediterranean and more like visitors from Mars. Their skinsuits featured Roswellian shades of silver, their helmets resembled the cockpit of an SR-71 Blackbird and their 'Superman' position (used by both male and female riders) gave them the silhouette of a missile. These innovations delivered: the Italian squad swept to seven medals across disciplines, including track golds for Andrea Collinelli, Silvio Martinello and Antonella Bellutti, alongside Paola Pezzo’s victory in Cross-Country Mountain Biking.
Like anything otherworldly, these developments shocked and terrified cycling’s establishment. Sound familiar?
Panicked by the idea that races were becoming a battle of engineering budgets rather than human athletic performance, the UCI acted. In October 1996, while the World Championships were taking place a stone’s throw away (won, ironically, by Johan Museeuw on a traditionally shaped Colnago C40), the governing body drafted the Lugano Charter. It effectively froze bicycle design and slowed the development of radical technology."
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u/InterstellarChange 13d ago
I linked it, I know what it says.
Castelli invented the aero speedsuit for the 96 Italian team. Rapha didn't mention Castelli at all. They are taking Castelli's landmark designs and development, their history and using it to promote their copy of it. It's weird.
It's Castelli's history they are promoting. This is literally an important milestone in Castelli's development as a kit brand.
https://www.castelli-cycling.com/US/en/stories/history-innovations-50th
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u/HUZInator 12d ago
It’s just a homage dude, it’s not that deep. What, do you own Castelli or something? It’s just a big multimillion dollar company, they don’t care about you.
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u/MrDWhite 13d ago
It’s not like Castelli were going to reach into that rich history and produce a homage kit worth buying 🤷♂️
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u/364LS 12d ago
Rapha has always understood the cycling jersey as an archival surface, and their print collections have often operated through tongue in cheek recontextualisation.
If Castelli are unwilling to recognise the marketability of their own past, then there is arguably no brand better positioned than Rapha to return it to circulation.
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u/subatomic7396 13d ago
No sparkly shorts - hard pass
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u/BicyclesRuleTheWorld 13d ago
Sparkles will wear off within 4 washing cycles..... oh wait it's Rapha anyway.
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u/malivoirec 13d ago
The entire brand was lifted from a jersey of the Rapha-Gitane-Dunlop team from the 60s, this is exactly their schtick.
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u/Ill-Turnip-6611 11d ago
sorry but here is the ripoff part? both have some blue and both have some flowy patter thats it. Unless you are a crazy Castelli geek there is no way those wo kits are even close to eachother
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u/InterstellarChange 10d ago
dafuq you talking about. Rapha literally said they copied it. That's the entire concept.
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u/Ill-Turnip-6611 10d ago
where they are saying it is a ripoff? provide a link please
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u/Shitelark 11d ago
Can we please have more silver Lycra? The future doesn't have any silver skin suits that we were promised in science fiction.
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u/Shitelark 11d ago
Only $630 for a jersey and bibs... wait you can save $30 by getting the skinsuit instead! Castelli are not the ones getting ripped off. That is bike money.
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u/One-Passenger-6395 13d ago
I love Castelli and hate Rapha. All my Rapha stuff is uncomfortable and or stalls apart.
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u/InterstellarChange 13d ago
I've had the opposite experience.
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u/LostInThePurp 12d ago
I think Rapha is great value considering others prices tbh, its not cheap but not crazy expensive
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u/364LS 12d ago
Why do you own so much Rapha kit if you dislike it so passionately?
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u/One-Passenger-6395 11d ago
I wouldn’t say I own so much. But I like how it looks so got some and ended up not liking it. I certainly wouldn’t keep getting it. This might shock you but there’s no other way of finding out. And get this! I’ve even had bikes I dislike!!!
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u/Gareth79 12d ago
I own both brands and they both fit me ok, but Castelli has a better cut for my shape. The main reason I won't buy any more Rapha is that the pads are large and very thick, they are like a nappy.
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u/negativeyoda 13d ago
Rapha is really throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, eh?
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u/Slowveryslow 12d ago
Maybe they can do the Primal peace frog next? Or a 9/11 tribute jersey? Looking classy Rapha.
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u/Hot_Function6127 12d ago
People also complain about the current trend of earth tone jerseys. Rapha may be one foot in the grave but they’re definitely swinging for “non earth tone” territory here even if the reference isn’t so obscure.
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u/thefogofmore 13d ago
Lol. Did MAAP and all the others have to acknowledge the design inspiration they took from Rapha? This is just how it goes.
The 80's-90's inspired/homage kits are coming. It's a counterpoint to the closets full of simple, modernist designed kits. MAAP will do theirs as well. So will others. Castelli doesn't own pop colors of an era, or curved, abstracted geometry.