Castelli

Back in 2011 when we first opened, the cycle clothing market was very different. As a tech focused store, our shelves were stocked with brands that refelected this and Castelli was chief among them.

Like most independent specialists, over time we settled into a clear view of the brand: technically excellent, professionally delivered, but visually a little stuck in its own image. That's the likely assessment of anyone who has watched the likes of MAAP, Rapha and PAS, reframe what cycling clothing looks like over the last decade. Castelli's fabrics, fit and construction have always been on the front line — podium-level kit at every Tour for nearly twenty years — but the design language ran on a separate track from a lot of the cycling-apparel market for a little too long.

That's changed, and it's changed deliberately. As Castelli reaches its 150th anniversary in 2026 (the original Vittore Gianni shop opened in Milan in 1876) the brand has loosened its visual identity in a coordinated, considered way. The scorpion stays. The wordmark stays. But the way both are deployed across the line is more relaxed, more confident, and considerably more attuned to the modern colour and graphic palettes that the disruptors in the category have moved toward. A meaningful part of that shift is people. Andrew "Monty" Montgomery joined Castelli at the end of 2024 as Product Line Manager after running MAAP's European business, with earlier stints at Rapha's London flagship and Paul Smith on the fashion side. His remit isn't to make Castelli look like MAAP - it's to bring Castelli's product expression in line with what riders now expect from premium kit, while keeping every gram of the technical credibility intact.

You can read that across the latest and most popular ranges in particular.

Aero Race and Corretto sit in Castelli's tight, aero Race fit; Espresso in the close-but-comfortable Tailored fit; and Unlimited - the gravel-and-adventure range - moves between fits depending on the piece, picking the cut that suits the use rather than the other way round.

Aero Race is Castelli at its most uncompromising - race-day kit shaped by the wind tunnel and CFD, in a true Race-fit cut. The current flagship is the Aero Race 8S jersey, the eighth generation of the line, with a claimed 6% CdA (drag) reduction over its predecessor delivered through CFD-engineered seam placement and a textured, ridged front-face fabric on the sleeves that manages airflow across a 30–55 km/h aero envelope. The back panel and underside of the sleeves are perforated heavily for thermoregulation, so this is race kit that's also genuinely climbable in heat.
Sitting alongside it is the Free Aero Race Bibshort — the bib the WorldTour races in: a five-panel build replacing the previous ten-panel construction; 215 g/m² Forza 2 high-compression fabric at 32% Lycra; a gripper-less leg opening that took twenty-eight prototypes to settle on; and the refined Progetto X2 Air seamless chamois with 3mm gel inserts at both the sit-bone and perineal areas. Open-mesh straps for breathability, a small radio pocket on the back, and a 15–35°C operating window. Together, the 8S and the Free Aero Bib are the most-decorated race kit on the market - and the visual update means they now look as contemporary as they ride.

The Corretto sits in a similar climate window to Espresso - warm-weather on-the-bike performance kit - but it's a different proposition in design language and attitude rather than technical positioning, and it comes in the same Race fit as the Aero Race line. It's deliberately a concise range: a tight set of pieces in a curated colour palette, aimed at the rider who wants race-cut fit and Castelli's technical bones but wants the kit to read as a considered, deliberately styled outfit rather than a workhorse. This is where Monty's influence is most visible across the line - restrained graphics, modern colour pairings and a tonal confidence that places the range firmly alongside what MAAP, Café du Cycliste and Pas Normal are doing visually, without conceding any of Castelli's fabric and construction credibility. Same job as Espresso on the temperature gauge; a different conversation on the rail.

The hugely popular and incredibly relevant Espresso family sits toward the long-day end of the on-the-bike ranges. It is kit built for a range of conditions and a less furious pace, in the close-but-comfortable Tailored fit. The 2026 Espresso 2 jersey is the centrepiece: an open-knit Italian-made Air_O Stretch shell at 105 g/m², rated 18–35°C, engineered for high horizontal stretch and limited vertical stretch so the back doesn't drag down when the rear pockets are loaded; UPF 30 sun protection; laser-cut sleeves that lie flat against the arm; and a redesigned dedicated pocket panel that supports a properly loaded jersey across four hours plus. Castelli has tightened the fit by roughly half a size versus the original Espresso, for a more tailored countenance, refreshed the logo treatment with bolder graphics, and launched ten new colourways. The Espresso family extends well beyond the summer jersey — a thermal Espresso jersey rated 12–18 °C, plus gilet, base layers and accessories — so the range scales across the calendar rather than parking itself in pure summer. It's the line germane to most riders - those that test themeselves and push on the club run, but tend to ride longer and who wants Castelli's all-day comfort credentials.

The Unlimited range is Castelli's answer to gravel and adventure — on-the-bike kit shaped by mixed-surface riding, multi-hour days, and the reach-into-cargo-pockets practicality that pure road cuts can't deliver. Unlike the other three ranges, Unlimited isn't pinned to a single fit category: pieces sit at different points on Castelli's fit ladder depending on what each use case calls for, from race-cut speed when the gravel goes fast, to more forgiving cuts when bikepacking layers and bag clearance matter. The range is held together by purpose and aesthetic rather than a fixed silhouette. Cargo pockets, more durable face fabrics, and gravel-friendly construction details — reinforced panels, bag-friendly cuts — extend the line into something genuinely usable away from the road. It's the most overtly trend-aware part of the new Castelli line, with cargo and adventure cues that read well on and off the bike, executed with the same Italian construction that runs through the rest of the range.

The interesting thing about this moment in Castelli's story is that the technical authority has never been in question. What's new is that the design language has finally caught up — and the two are no longer at odds. For us, that means a brand we've danced with for years, now looks as good on the rail as it has always performed in the saddle.