Editor’s note: In the March 1 issue of Bicycle Retailer, our Through the Grapevine column led off with an item about Quality Bicycle Products’ plans to sell T-shirts bearing the logo of Café Roubaix Bicycles, the Canadian retailer that briefly became a social media sensation in December after getting embroiled in a trademark dispute with Specialized Bicycle. The dust-up famously ended with an in-person apology from Specialized founder Mike Sinyard to Café Roubaix owner Dan Richter.
Unbeknownst to BRAIN, however, QBP pulled the plug on the T-shirts before their planned launch at last weekend’s Frostbike open house and expo.
QBP sent BRAIN the following statement Wednesday:
This week, Bicycle Retailer shared news of release of a Café-Roubaix T-shirt design from Mechanical Threads. The T-shirt design had been scheduled for release at QBP's Frostbike, but the project was canceled prior to the event. Shirts were pulled from inventory and no T-shirts were ever sold or promoted to dealers.
(QBP founder and president) Steve Flagg concluded this design didn't align directly with QBP values and canceled the product. Flagg said, “While we are always looking for new ways to support our specialty retailers, ultimately we realized that this product wasn't a great decision for us."
Mechanical Threads is a QBP-owned brand that creates bicycle-themed apparel for independent bicycle retailers.
For more information about Mechanical Threads please contact Jason Gaikowski at jgaikows@qbp.com.
