Karl kopinski

Without a shadow of doubt one of the the things I’m most proud of is the ASCND jerseys. They were a collaboration between myself, Karl and Jonny Piper. I spoke to Jonny back in 2019 and told him I wanted to produce some kit to raise money and asked him if he could help. Not only did he offer to help but he introduced me to Karl. I was aware of Karl’s work mainly through Rouleur and his portraits which include Wiggo, Cav and Sir Paul Smith were incredible, I then looked a little deeper and realised what a big deal it was.

The three of us had a call and and immediately clicked, I had an idea of want i wanted and the colours but essentially told them to ignore what I say and get on with it. The original jersey was about my journey through the darkness into light and the second was an experience Karl had on a climb in Tuscany where he rode through the mist and then the weather cleared to expose a view and the sunlight broke through.

The results blew me away, I couldn’t quite imagine how it would go from a painting to a jersey but Jonny took care of that. Production was by Rapha and the reception was wild, I thought we might sell around 40 or 50 to mates but in the end it exceeded 500. They went all over the world, Europe, North and South America, Australia and loads to the far east.

The original feels like a stone cold classic. Whenever I see one on the road or someone tags me on socials the sense of pride and achievement hits me every time. The money that went to the charity was not insignificant, from memory I think we exceeded £13,000 with the two runs. There aren’t many if any “charity” jerseys this cool.

Thanks to both Jonny and Karl for making these happen and to everyone who purchased them.