Jelenew, an American cycling apparel brand, recently announced its mission "to promote the development of global women's cycling." This initiative is expected to raise women's profiles in cycling and help them get involved in cycling.
For historical reasons, cycling has been a male sport for a long time. Men have always dominated the cycling field regarding the people participating in the sport and the sports equipment that serves them. Everything is from a male perspective, serving male customers. For historical reasons, cycling has been a male-centered sport. Men have always dominated the cycling field regarding the people participating in the sport and the sports equipment that serves them. Thus, almost everything is designed from a man's perspective. For example, when the world's earliest cycling pants appeared in 1890 as "unpadded wool shorts" for men, and in the 1900s, the first built-in cycling pads were created as cycling grew more popular. At that time, mostly men were riding bikes and the manufacturer sewed antelope skin on the crotch of wool shorts to solve the problem of the raised skin of male cyclists' genitals being chafed by wool shorts.
In fact, the history of cycling is also a history of women's liberation.
In 1888, the first modern bicycle was born. This bicycle had the same size front and rear wheels and was made in much the same way as the bicycles we use today. With the rapid popularity of this type of bicycle, by 1892, the number of bicycle riders was nearly 400,000. But it was almost impossible to see women among them. And then, Frances Willard, a feminist leader and leader of the largest women's political group, "the Woman's Christian Temperance Union" in the United States, began to think about whether and how women should ride bicycles. In November 1893, after a week of training, at 53, she learned to ride a bike and became the first woman in the world to cycle. Through her own actions, she realized that cycling was a sport that could make a difference for women because cycling allows women to "keep a clear head and firm hands" and gain the freedom to get out on the road and have a healthier body. To that end, she also wrote a book, "A Wheel Within a Wheel:
How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle" encourages women to bravely ride a bicycle, try everything they have never done before, and go to a broader world.
Since then, more and more women have tried riding a bicycle. In 1894, American housewife Anne Londonderry completed a bicycle ride around the world with only a revolver and a few changes of underwear. Many people organized women's cycling clubs.
And the development of cycling has brought about the liberation of women's clothing. Because the way of cycling makes women unable to sit sideways with their legs together like horseback riding, wide skirts become a hindrance to cycling, directly triggering the rise of women's "rational dress movement." Women called for abandoning the cumbersome skirts that flattered men and were full of restraints. Subsequently, wearing skirts was shortened, and the inner petticoat was replaced with wide lantern pants became popular. At the beginning of the 20th century, fashion designer Paul Poiret designed a wide, draping pant that officially brought trouser suits into the realm of women's fashion by abandoning the corsets worn by Western women for over 300 years.
However, both riding a bicycle and wearing pants were greatly opposed by men of the time. They considered women wearing pants an act of indecency and asked for the same rights as men. And riding a bicycle was even more unethical, as they believed the friction with the bicycle's saddle would cause female sexual arousal. Doctors also invented many conditions to "scare" women. Many medical diagnoses of the time claimed that women would suffer from chronic dysentery, depression, panic attacks, and even a "bicycle face," which was characterized by redness, pallor, and dark circles under the eyes.
After many years of development, women's cycling finally gained mainstream recognition - as an official event in the 1984 Paris Olympics. Although as early as 1868, the first women's cycling race in history appeared in France.
For all these reasons, Jelenew was born to promote the development of global women's cycling. Women cyclists need to be genuinely respected by society, and women's cycling clothing needs to be truly valued. Jelenew wants to establish a brand new set of rules in the cycling industry, to make more women's voices heard, and to give women cyclists practical cycling clothing that meets their high-performance needs and highlights their femininity and style.
Jelenew is also doing its best to promote the development of global women's cycling. It is known that the development and production of Jelenew's products follow the needs of women entirely and from a female perspective. Their cycling apparel is based on ongoing testing and genuine feedback from a team of co-creators, including many cycling teams and many enthusiastic cyclists and triathletes, and together with their own experts, their products are designed specifically for women from a female perspective. Jelenew is researching how to satisfy the professional group for the ultimate functionality of cycling while also focusing on the simple type of needs of the general public, hoping that they can easily enjoy the joy of the cycling lifestyle in their daily lives, all at their own pace. For this reason, Jelenew has developed a new series of 1+1 collections to help them better start cycling and enjoy it.
We hope that in promoting the development of global women's cycling, Jelenew will keep its original intention and stick to its mission. We also hope to see more and more brands like Jelenew focusing on women's cycling and bringing this healthy lifestyle to more people.
