Santini Cycling Wear and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) are pleased to announce that they have signed a partnership agreement for another four-year period (2021-2024). The announcement comes during the 2020 UCI Road World Championships in Imola, Italy. From 2021 onwards, the partnership will see the introduction of the new UCI World Champion jersey for all disciplines made exclusively of sustainable fabrics and delivered in compostable packaging. Additionally, Santini becomes the Official Provider of UCI merchandising. The two partners will release two separate merchandising lines including a series of products and accessories featuring the UCI logo and another featuring the rainbow stripes, the symbol of the UCI World Championships.
Santini Cycling Wear and the UCI renewed their long-standing partnership agreement during the UCI Road World Championships currently taking place in Imola, Italy. As the UCI Official Cycling Clothing Partner, the Italian brand has been supporting the UCI and its activities since 1988, dressing the UCI World Champions in disciplines such as road, track, mountain bike, para-cycling, cyclo-cross and indoor cycling.
As part of the new developments, Santini and the UCI will provide every UCI World Champion with a new jersey made of eco-friendly fabrics, starting from 2021 at the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Ostend, Belgium. The jerseys for the leaders of the UCI Women’s WorldTour in both the Elite and Young rider categories as well as for the UCI Masters World Champions will also be eco-friendly. These unique jerseys will be produced out of Polartec material and will also be delivered in biodegradable packaging.
Furthermore, the UCI and Santini will introduce two dedicated merchandising lines: the UCI Core Collection and UCI Event Merchandising. The UCI Core Collection will soon be available at main UCI World Championships and also 365 days a year on the Santini website, as well as in select stores. Santini will design the majority of the merchandising items in partnership with the UCI event organisers, capturing the identity of each through creative designs.
“Our collaboration with world cycling’s top organisation has been growing from year to year and is deeply embedded in our company’s history,” declared Monica Santini, CEO of Santini Cycling Wear. In fact, we have been dressing the world’s best riders in many different disciplines from road to track cycling, cyclo-cross to mountain bike for over 30 years now.”
Ms Santini added: “The development of the eco-friendly UCI World Champion jersey epitomises our company’s commitment to the environment. For years now, we have been choosing local zero-miles suppliers and we are using more and more eco-friendly fabrics for our technical cycling wear. Not just the jerseys but also the packaging will be environmentally friendly from now on. All the jersey wrappings will be compostable.”
The UCI President David Lappartient declared: “We are very pleased with the renewal and extension of this historic partnership which links our Federation with Santini, one of the UCI’s and cycling’s most faithful supporters. We would also like to commend the Italian brand’s implication in the development of eco-friendly products. This is in line with one of the priorities of the UCI, which places much emphasis on the promotion of the bicycle for a healthy environment. The UCI World Champion jersey will now be not only a symbol of sporting excellence, but also of commitment to sustainable development.”