Primal Lifestyle Kit

This year Primal Europe added a brand new string to their bow – a range of lifestyle kit suitable for anything from casual rides, to spinning classes, yoga or gym workouts.

With bright and fashionable workout gear being a quickly growing market, Primal jumped on to the wave at just the right time.

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The range includes leggings, capri pants, and Airespan t-shirts and sports bras, all colour matched to create a host of co-ordinated outfits.

The idea of lifestyle kit isn’t completely new to the cycling industry – but in the past it’s often meant baggy tshirts in plain black with the logo of a bike brand printed on the right breast, or a cycling cap you might wear off-the-bike if you’re sure you won’t look too silly. The idea of a cycling brand making the sort of kit we feel proud to go the gym in isn’t quite so established.

Explaining the motivation behind the range, James Smith tells us: “We created this kit after seeing a lot of sportive riders wearing normal clothes, that just didn’t work on the bike.”

“literally pushes water away from the skin”

The goal was to make kit that people could run and jump and dance (and cycle in), that was breathable, sweat wicking and stylish. One of the key fabrics used in the range is the Aire Mélange fabric which features on the seamlessly constructed tops and sports bras. The knit polypropelene and nylon construction “literally pushes water away from the skin”, in Smith’s words – and having tested the tops on the bike and in the gym we do agree it seems to have almost magical properties.

The sports bra is designed to provide adequate support for a range of sports, certainly road cycling, and features mesh venting which matches up to venting on the back of all the t-shirts, for extra cooling.

Airespan Knit Shirts: £35
Airespan Sports Bras: £28
Leggings: From £55
View the range here

Most of the tops carry a fairly muted pastel tone – but when mixed with the loud and proud leggings a whole new style appears. The designers used upcoming trends to pick their colourful mixtures of purples, blues and greens – bringing catwalk fashion into the sporting world, something flourishing action sports have been doing for years.

The leggings all feature wide, yoga style waist bands for comfort, and use a Tiammavo fabric made from a mixture of spandex and polypropelene to create that perfect fun-to-move in stretch.

The range only appeared on the market late last year, and it’s just the beginning. Hinting at what’s to come, Smith tells us they’re already working on a further twenty lines to add to the collection.

We can’t wait to see what’s around the corner – but perhaps checking out the fashion shows of 2017 will give us an idea.