I just watched a recording of Dragons Den featuring the cycling company – ‘Fat Lad at the Back’ – (FLAB)
I thought there presentation was quite good and was a bit surprised the grumpy old dragons didn’t get the potential of the label and market segment.
Fat lad at the back on BBC. Photo by BBC
If I was a dragon, I think I would have taken a punt, I think the cycle-wear has a lot of potential. It can carve a niche, amongst those MAMILs who will enjoy the irony of riding the label FLAB – not everyone’s cup of tea, but I suppose it makes a change from Rapha and Sky replica jerseys.
In a way being rejected by the Dragons, is probably one of the best bits of advertising they could get. I think people will like the label even more, now that the Dragons have said it won’t work. There’s nothing better than proving a few millionaires wrong.
Perhaps if I play my cards right, after the hill climb season, I could get my first official brand endorsement deal with ‘Fat lad at the back’. It would be the ultimate post-modernist irony – whatever that is.
Fat Lad at the Back (FLAB) is a Yorkshire based firm which offers cyclewear to riders with up to a 60inch waist. Founders Richard and Lynn Bye appeared on TV August 2014. One motivation for Fat Lad at the Back was the difficulty in getting good clothes for cyclists are bigger than the typical ‘cyclist dimensions’.
(though I could add, I’ve never been able to get arm warmers thin enough to stay up! though I can’t see a specialist cycling company being created to meet that niche…)
About Fat Lad at the Back
“1 long weekend, 3 fat lads, 4 alpine hills.
This was the alcohol infused challenge we set ourselves.
Our own Etape du pain, conceived of some misguided idea that 3 middle aged men in lycra, collectively weighing in excess of 280kg’s, could cycle Alpe D’Huez, Col de la Croix de Fer, Télégraphe and Galibier in 3 days.
Who’ll be last up the hills? We joked and laughed about having a jersey printed for the previous days fat lad at the back, a Yorkshire version of the Lantern Rouge.”
Fat Lad at the Back website
Related
- Fat Lad at the back have been taken on by Evans Cycles