Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Etxeondo, cycling clothes

It is enough to go for a hike to see the evolution of sportswear. Today, we wear garments made of special materials to perform in any sport: running, football... Special swimsuits have already been invented for swimming. But companies that use new and special materials for their garments are not current. Etxeondo is a Guipuzcoan company that for more than 30 years has been designing and designing apparel specifically for cycling.

Marino Lejarreta, Sean Kelly, Perico Delgado, Miguel Indurain, Alex Zülle... throw away the name of any legendary cyclist and it will probably be the jersey of the brand Etxeondo made in Irura.
etxeondo was founded in 1976 as a small textile printing company. The name was taken from the farm where he was based. Soon, he focused his business on cycling and in a few years he was achieving victories in important races. Since then, a lot has changed.

KORTE AMAIA RODRIGO, Designer"The materials have
changed a lot over the years. For example, there was a time when hammers of neoprene, cotton or wool were made that did not dry quickly and gained a lot of weight when wet. We currently use polyesters with silver ions, carbon, immediate drying fabrics, which are antibacterial, with protection against UVA rays. They look like miracles."

Etxeondo adapts these materials to their designs. But despite changing both the raw material and the style, Etxeondo continues to do the most important part of the process as it was when it was created: the prototypes are made manually.

KORTE AMAIA RODRIGO, Designer" We
make the prototypes or the first patterns by hand. In our opinion, the manual elaboration of the pattern is much more accurate. We work in the old way, as in haute couture. In fact, the pattern says whether the garment is technical or not, whether it is aerodynamic or not. "

One of the objectives is to adapt the aerodynamics or suit to the body in the best way possible. The materials used will also give each garment certain technical characteristics. And it should also be considered to be attractive in color and design. The fashion. The fashion. All without forgetting that we are talking about clothes for biking. That’s why every prototype is demonstrated there: on the bike.

KORTE RAMON MENDIBURU, Marketing
"We are constantly testing cyclists, we ourselves are scratchers, and we also have professionals testing our products."

KORTE PAKO RODRIGO, Jabea"Txirrindularitzarako
janzkera oso da teknikoa. The reason for the manual development is to see where we need to improve the garments, for example, to reduce friction. The goal is for the garment to achieve the highest performance in the body. That's why we create, fix, improve, sometimes get angry, create again..."

Once the final prototype is determined, the labor is finished and it is the turn of the machines. From now on the production begins in series.

KORTE AMAIA RODRIGO, Designer"Once we
make the first pattern, manually, and when the tests are finished, we computerize the clothes, that is, scan the pattern. It is also given information during the scan, such as the direction of the thread, what section it is, etc., so that later the workshop machines know how to cut with this information."

The permeability or elasticity, for example, is not the same if the fabric is cut to one side or the other. For this reason, the direction of the fabric in this phase is also made clear in the computerized
pattern. With all the information collected, the scaling of the pieces is then carried out, that is, each piece is passed to all the measurements. Along with that, in this phase, to take advantage of the fabric, they make the puzzle of the pieces. As if it were a tetris, the patterns are arranged so that the excess of fabric is as small as possible. the yield is between 60% and 80%.

No laser is used. With such special fabrics, there is a risk of burning them and, therefore, they are cut with
machetes. The work for Irura ends here. All these pieces are sewn together in Navarre, Castejón; the prototype originally conceived takes shape. We're in a position to get off the road.