There’s a two-word phrase Jarrad Smith picks out to describe MAAP’s cycling kit: “affordable luxury."
“It’s not outlandish like a Louis Vuitton handbag, like five grand or something,” the brand's co-founder says. “But it’s a product that can bring you joy, get you exercising, get you involved in the community.”
Smith is sitting on an enormous, custom-made, neon green sofa in MAAP’s new London store. The floor beneath him is paved with cobblestones – a nod to the store’s location in the backstreets of Soho – and light is shimmering from the metal walls. Opened this month, this is the 11th of what the Australian brand likes to call a ‘LaB’, a hub that stands for ‘Life around Bikes’, which hosts ride-outs, events, serves coffee, and, crucially, sells cycling apparel.
The jerseys on the rails carry price tags from £130 to £235, the bib shorts from £195 to £265. It’s not the most expensive kit on the market – some brands ask for more than £300 for their bib shorts – but it’s certainly not far off.
“I feel like people are willing to pay slightly more for a more premium product,” Smith says.
“Just recently we launched the new Pro Air jersey, and it’s my favourite jersey, and it’s probably one of our most expensive jerseys. But the performance of it, and the fit, and the way the fabrics work, and the way it performs, it’s just reassuring that when you wear it, you feel really good in it, and I think you’re happy to pay for that because it’s just so rewarding.”
MAAP’s business results seem to prove Smith's theory; although he doesn’t go into details, he says the company is profitable, and has always been a “very high-growth brand”.
Some of its competitors in the same market, however, have found the going to have gotten tough. Rapha, for example, whose Soho clubhouse is only a few minutes’ walk from MAAP’s new LaB, recently revealed annual operating losses of £21.2m.
In a press release shared with Cycling Weekly, Rapha stated its “numbers reflect deliberate decisions to invest in our brand, product quality, cycling communities and customer experiences,” calling these “choices that will strengthen the business over time.”
For some customers, the losses were a comeuppance for what they believed was prohibitively priced products. But Rapha is generally cheaper than MAAP. How does Smith justify criticism about the cost of his jerseys and bibs? “It depends who’s saying it,” he says.
“If we weren’t selling them, I wouldn’t make them. They’re probably potentially not our customer, or it’s a bit out of reach and they don’t want to spend that much, or they don’t appreciate the aesthetic of it as well.
“We’re not putting a price tag on our products because of the MAAP logo on there. It’s the cost to make it: the design team, the fabrics we select, sustainable fabrics. To make one jersey, there are four fabrics on it, and it’s expensive. Most of the fabrics are coming from Italian mills and the best lycras in the world.”
Smith also points to the comfort of the clothing. “Especially with a bib,” he says. “When you get more serious and you’re riding more and more, that comfort in the saddle is probably the most important part of the ride.
“I think if you’re new to cycling and you’re a bit nervous to spend so much, you might start [with a cheap, entry-level brand]. But once they’ve tried our bibs, people are like, ‘Ah I appreciate it. I get it. It’s so much more comfortable. Now I can ride more.’”
Smith founded MAAP 12 years ago in his garage with his business partner, Oliver Cousins. Inspired by surf and skate fashion, the pair set out to make a high-end product that people around the world would love – affordable luxury, as Smith would call it. Today, they have stores in cities like Shanghai, Los Angeles, and Berlin.
Opening in London, though, seemed to push against the tide. This summer, a similar showroom in King’s Cross, VIA Atelier, shuttered its doors with a notice citing overdue rent payments. It was just one example in a wider trend of bike shops closing across the country.
Did MAAP have any concerns about opening against this backdrop? “When we were first looking into it, it was still Covid, all the retail was shut, and we were coming in all guns blazing then,” Smith says. “I don’t think the market was any worse than it was at that point because these shops were literally all boarded up.
“Within the cycling industry, yes, some of them are shutting down and whatnot, but for us, business is going well and everything’s been very positive.”
The LaBs are all part of the company’s expansion. This February, MAAP hired its first CEO, Ian Elliott, who was formerly the head of marketing. “As we’ve grown, we’ve had to learn to run a bigger business,” says Smith.
“The challenge, I think, is just making sure we’re continuing to innovate – new products, new ways of doing things with fabrics – and also finding new partnerships and keeping it relevant.”
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One thing Smith is excited about going forward is MAAP’s growing off-bike range, which now includes a £415 puffer jacket, launched last Thursday.
Likewise, he says sponsoring the Australian WorldTour team Jayco AlUla, which MAAP has done for the past two seasons, has been “awesome – it’s like a dream come true”.
“I think what’s critical about it is validating our performance and product. Probably early on, people thought we were just a bit more of a fashion-y brand, but we actually were rooted in performance. We just try to make it look aesthetically pleasing in our style.”
The Jayco-AlUla deal is due to run up at the end of 2027, though there are options to renew. For Smith, it’s important that his brand is represented at the highest level of the sport. “It’d be like playing tennis without having someone at Wimbledon or the Australian Open,” he says.
It's that same thinking that has led him to opening 11 stores around the world; a bold strategy, some might say, particularly in a saturated market and against a global shift towards online shopping, but Smith is confident it’s the right one.
“We’re quite astute to making sure all our ducks are in a row, and we sort of don’t focus on other brands and other businesses,” he says. “We’re always very busy focusing on our own trajectory.”