Team Dream was founded on the idea of having fun while riding your bike. The goal is not to rain on parades (even if those parades bear a striking resemblance to your parade). If we are talking “who did it first/best” with fade designs then you can talk for hours about who your personal favorite is. FC Barcelona still takes the cake IMO. Gradient fades, or ombré, have been used in cycling for ages and I have no claim to owning them. Team Dream has always been a sort of homage to my favorite iconic designs and I try to be as open about that as possible.
The last three years have been quite a ride, and now Team Dream has gone from a joke/side project to a proper small business with 4 employees. It wasn’t that long ago that all of our products were housed and shipped from my shitty old van in Topanga Canyon. My girlfriend, Carla, and I would stay up super late handwriting addresses and filling out customs forms. I would try to write as many personalized post cards as possible back then and it was a really great time. I think a lot of our friends and customers, who are amazing, by the way, are extremely loyal and maybe feel the need to protect our brand identity. The people who wear Team Dream have literally watched us grow every step of the way. If they feel the need to stick up for a tiny company like ours when they see a big company like Rapha put out a similar product, I totally get it, but I want to be open and honest. I have absolutely nothing against Rapha, and actually have quite a few friends who work or have worked for them, but they do also have a history of coming pretty close to my designs in the past (multiple times). I wrote to Rapha UK last year in hopes of discussing but never heard back. Referencing another design or pulling inspiration from somewhere else is completely fine, but I prefer to do it from outside of contemporary cycling.
Again, I am not the inventor of the gradient jersey design and Rapha is 100% entitled to do whatever they wish. I reference a ton of soccer jerseys, iconic designs, fashion and anything else that strikes my fancy. I also do my best to be honest and, most importantly, bring something new to cycling. These fades have been on my radar since the beginning stages of Team Dream. We (Endo Customs & myself) could never really get the fade “just right” so it took a long time to produce a finished piece that lived up to our standard. We played with different ideas until pinstripes came up & there you go! The gradient, much like the stripes or polka dots cycling companies regularly visit, are one of the most basic graphic options available. The simplicity of the gradient jersey means that the concept is very easy to replicate…and I am cool with that!
Bike apparel has now become highly fashionable and this is how fashion works. I’m not sure what the story is with Rapha’s new pieces because I have yet to speak with anyone there, but our goal here is still the same. Regardless of who did what/when/how, we will do our best to ensure that the products we produce here in LA are some of your favorites, and if we happen to influence a few big companies along the way, then that’s cool too. Now, let’s go ride bikes :) #itsallgood -Sean