Well Herd, it’s safe to say 2022 has been a whirlwind year here at Stolen Goat! There’s been laughter, excitement and plenty of bike rides. But we’ve also had to navigate a fair few pot holes and punctures along the way. Check out CEO and Founder Tim’s End of Year Review as he reflects back on the, at times wild and bumpy, ride that has been 2022.
Road bumps aside, 2022 has been a year where we’ve seen more of you than ever choosing to Join The Herd. We’ve had the opportunity to meet some of you in real life at shows. Some of you have even given up your time to come and play bikes with us to feature in our photo and video shoots! And as ever, you’ve been keeping us up to date with your adventures by sharing your Tails from The Herd with us on social media. We’ve said it time and time again, but that’s because it’s true: you Goats sit at the heart of everything we do. Seeing you all getting out there, doing what you love and doing it in style inspires us. Your support keeps us going. And in turn, we hope we can continue to empower you to Find Your Freedom and Adventure More by creating top notch kit you can count on. To each and everyone one of you that continues to join us on this goat-inspired adventure: a great big thank you.
We’ve got plenty of exciting things coming up in 2023 that we can’t wait to start bleating about. But for now, we’re taking a look back at some of our highlights from the year just gone.
January: Supporting Wheels for All and becoming the official kit sponsor for the Cycle Show
We started the year with the privilege of being able to support our friends over at Wheels for All by donating 10% of our online sales during January. Wheels for All centres offer adults and children with disabilities and differing needs the opportunity to experience the joy and freedom of cycling, using adapted cycles with the support and guidance of Wheels for All trained leaders. You can read our interview with CEO Ian Tierney to find out more about the incredible work that they do. It’s certainly an initiative that is close to our heart and that we firmly believe in, so we were delighted to be able to present Wheels for All with a cheque for £4500 at the Cycle Show in London later in the year.
Speaking of the Cycle Show… January 2022 saw us finally being able to bleat about the fact that we were set to be the official kit sponsor for the show at Alexandra Palace! We absolutely loved the custom jersey we created for the show and it was great getting to see it out in the wild.
February: Launching the Stolen Goat Swim collection
February saw the launch of our brand new swim collection. Our product developer, Mark, worked incredibly hard with our suppliers to create a range of swimwear which offers premium quality, top-level performance and looks incredible. Add in the fact that the fabric is made from recycled plastic bottles and it’s a range we’re very proud of!
We even took Baby Nik for a swim to celebrate. The rest of the Herd might be amphibious, but Nik certainly isn’t. Still, he’s just about forgiven us after spending the rest of the year with his hooves firmly on dry land!
March: SS22 launch and Stolen Goat Race Team
In March we launched our SS22 collection of spring/summer jerseys. This collection included some of our favourite designs to date – and the best news is, some of the best-selling styles which were a huge hit with The Herd our currently available in our Winter Sale!
March also saw us make the official announcement that we are the headline sponsor of the Stolen Goat Race Team: a collective of riders who see a start line and say: “bring it on”. Who aren’t afraid to stick on a number and see what happens. Who embody the Stolen Goat spirit of ‘Adventure More’. They ride together, support each other and race all over the country. Time trials, road races, MTB, CX… you name it, they’ll probably be racing it! Led by team manager, Simon Jodrell, this bunch of racing goats have certainly been making their mark on the race circuit this year. Check out our interview with Simon to learn more about the team and make sure you follow them on Instagram to keep up with their latest adventures.
And if you’re busy admiring the race team’s awesome-looking kit… you can get your hooves on your very own version! Shop the Stolen Goat Race Team collection >>
April: Unleashing the new MTB range and meeting The Herd at the Cycle Show
In April we finally got to let something we’d be working hard on behind the scenes out into the wild: our new mountain bike collection, here to help off road adventurers stand out from the crowd on the trails! We’re all about trying to help as many of you to Find Your Freedom so it was great to expand our offering to include you Goats who prefer to take the route less ridden.
And if that wasn’t enough excitement for one month, we also got to spend an incredible weekend talking all things bikes (and ice cream) at the Cycle Show at Alexandra Palace in London.
May: Chasing the sun and getting voted ‘best on test’
If you thought we’d have put our hooves up for a bit after a very busy first quarter of the year… you’d be wrong! May saw us announce that we were the official kit provider for the 2022 Chase the Sun events. This epic feat of endurance sees participants riding from sunrise to sunset across some incredible routes. The great news is, we’re back for 2023! So if you fancy an adventure that is sure to provide you with stunning scenery and long-lasting memories – get your entry in and get your Stolen Goat x Chase the Sun kit on order!
In May, our women’s tri suits were also voted ‘Best on Test’ by 220 Triathlon Magazine! Our 2022 race suits flew out of the warehouse and it’s been awesome seeing you multi-sport goats putting them through the paces out on the triathlon circuit. There’s only a few suits left, so if you want to get your hooves on one and we’ve still got your size we’d recommend getting it in the bag pretty sharpish! We’ll also have some incredible new tri suit designs coming out in Spring 2023 so rest assured you’ll able to hit those start lines in Stolen Goat style.
June: Tour de Stolen Goat and becoming road.cc’s official kit provider
June was a busy one for the HQ Goats as we headed first to the Tour of Cambridgeshire and then over to Birmingham for the National Cycle Show. After a couple of years with very few in-person events, it was so great to get to meet some of The Herd out in the wild and we were blown away by how many of you came to see us. Thank you!
June was also exciting because we announced that we are now road.cc’s official cycling kit provider. You might have already spotted the road.cc team taking their SG kit out for a spin. And the best part is, if you’re a fan of the design you can also add the road.cc kit to your own collection!
July: 10 years of Stolen Goat!
In July we celebrated one whole decade of Goat-inspired madness! We’ve come a long way since we were first founded in Tim’s ShedQuarters and we’re proud to now be part of a global community of adventure-loving Goats. Check out Tim’s interview to read more about the Stolen Goat story so far.
As part of our birthday celebrations, we also launched our new customer reward scheme: Goat Coins!
You can now earn Goat Coins every time you shop with us, ready to put towards your next kit purchase. It’s just another way for us to say thank you for being part of our Herd.
August: “This is Herd Mentality…” AW22 launch ft. the Stolen Goat Herd
After a hot and sticky summer, it was time to launch this year’s autumn/winter collection! This collection saw the introduction of our new and improved ranges, complete with upgraded features, even better comfort and performance… and of course, plenty of our signature stand-out style.
Our AW22 launch video featured real members of the Stolen Goat Herd. We were incredibly lucky to spend some time up in North Yorkshire playing bikes with some of our customers. We even got to go to a real life goat farm on this shoot and spent an afternoon quite literally herding goats… it was as chaotic as it sounds! A huge thank you to everyone who took part in this shoot. Placing The Herd community front and centre is something we’ll be doing more of going forward, so stay tuned for our SS23 video and keep an eye out on our Facebook page for upcoming “casting calls”. You might just become our next Goat superstar!
October: In-store exclusives
An unseasonably warm October brought with it the launch of our ‘In-store Exclusives’ collection. Featuring some stunning jerseys and jackets, this collection is available exclusively this season from our awesome network of Stolen Goat stockists. We’re strong supporters of local bike shops, and we’re lucky to work with some really great stores and people so we wanted to create this exclusive collection to encourage more of The Herd to pop down to their local shop and see what’s on offer. Head over to our Stockists page to find your nearest store!
December: Alpine Epic Jacket featured on the road.cc recommends list
December has been a tinsel-clad blur or Christmas gift guides and trying to get Baby Nik and Baby Scruff to stop nibbling their Christmas jumpers.
Seeing our new Alpine Epic Jacket featured on the road.cc recommends list was a great way to finish the year. This jacket was an entirely new product this season and we worked really hard to create a jacket that was not only incredibly warm, but also ultra-aerodynamic and super comfortable. We’re really proud of the result and it was great to hear that the experienced product testers over at road.cc have been loving the jacket too! If you fancy getting your hooves on one… ride this way >>
And just like that, another year has whizzed by! Here’s to 2023: more adventures, more time spent doing what we love… and more excuses to treat ourselves to Stolen Goat kit. Thanks again, Herd, for all your support. We’re only a small team here at SG HQ, and you Goats mean the world to us.
Happy New Year Herd!