Best cycling clothing brands: Our pick of the top companies making great products and a positive impact

Nathan Williams for Rapha
(Image credit: Rapha)

As cyclists, we spend a lot of time focusing on gear. Everyone wants to talk about the fastest bikes, the best wheels, and all the accessories that help us get the most out of every ride. There’s nothing wrong with that, it's fun and there’s no reason you can’t obsess about it from time to time. 

Just remember that one of the best returns on investment is the clothing you wear. So, if you are in full gear obsession mode, you might want to start with the best cycling jerseys, the best road bike helmets or the best cycling shorts. If you're in the market for a new bike, check out our guide to the best bike brands.

Recent updates

Last updated on 06th of May 2025

Updated the guide to ensure time of the products included were current, and the brands represented are still those we consider the best. To reflect new product releases, the Velocio Alpha Zero jacket, POC Cytal and POC Cadence Cargo Bib Shorts have been added to the guide based on our reviews and personal experience with these products.

1. Rapha

Rapha is a relatively modern voice in the world of cycling brands. Two decades ago founders Simon Mottram and Luke Scheybeler picked a name from a cycling team in the 1960s and started making fashion focused road cycling clothes. Then, in 2013, the sponsorship of Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers) signalled a bigger entry to the world stage and more focus on performance. That's not what lands them on this list now though. 

In many ways, the winding down of the Team Sky sponsorship in 2015 is when Rapha started down a new path. Instead of jumping to another men's team, the next sponsorship choice that Rapha made was for UCI Women's WorldTour team Canyon-SRAM. The wild design was unlike anything else out there and there's no doubt it was a statement. The brand was signalling loud and clear that it was raising up women's racing.

Then, in 2018, Rapha made another statement with the introduction of the Explore line. The Explore line is a signal that Rapha is about more than traditional European racing. Arguably, these two signals have come together to define what makes Rapha the brand it is. The brand continues to sponsor both men and women in the WorldTour but the name Rapha is also synonymous with off the grid riding of all kinds. 

Rapha publishes an impact and sustainability report and it keeps a close eye on how the products it makes impact the world, with an increasing emphasis on recycled materials. 

2. Castelli

It's not a requirement to have a rich history if you want to make some of the best cycling clothing, but some brands have it. Castelli has a history spanning back to a small tailor shop in Milan in 1876. Since then, Castelli has earned quite a few industry firsts as a brand. 

It was the first brand to manufacture Lycra race shorts, the first to use the sublimated printing process for jerseys and shorts, the first with thermal winter clothing, the first to make aero skinsuits; the list goes on and on. It clothed Fausto Coppi in silk racing jerseys when the rest of the peloton was still wearing wool, while the Gabba was the original high performance jersey for racing in poor weather, a much-imitated innovation that's seen yet another upgrade to the Gabba R.

Today it still clothes some of the top pro racing teams and makes some of the best technical cycling clothing available across a range of price points. 

Important for this article though, Castelli went through a change of ownership in the late 90's. Today Castelli is under the same corporate brand umbrella as Sportful. The parent company still hails from Northern Italy and MVC group has dedicated a significant portion of the website to sustainability efforts. Part of that is details about an initiative launched in 2021 to rethink the products from the ground up. The idea is to make the end product "more durable, reusable, easily repairable, and recyclable" and it's worth highlighting. That kind of thinking benefits a company, the customers, and the environment and that is the best kind of sustainability initiative.

3. Sportful

The history of Sportful is like many other technical clothing companies - an innovator and athlete created clothing they wanted to wear and it never stopped growing. In this particular case, in 1972 Giordano Cremonese, became intrigued by the challenge of a new 70km cross-country ski race taking place near his home. He felt that the clothes available at the time were inadequate for such a long race in a cold valley. 

His solution was to create his own using state of the art - for the time - acrylic fabrics. In 1985, after establishing itself as a successful ski wear brand, Sportful began to develop cycling clothing. As mentioned above, the Sportful parent brand acquired fellow Italian clothing brand Castelli in the late 90s.

Today, both brands are subject to the same corporate sustainability initiatives. Instead of secrets and competition the parent company uses the added purchasing power to drive the sustainability of both brand names. In particular, parent company MVC highlights the switch away from using long-chain PFAS to shorter C6 chain solutions as it continue to move towards PFC-free waterproofing such as that used in the Sportful Fiandre fabrics. 

4. Pearl Izumi

Pearl Izumi is a brand of dualities. It's unassuming, with a wide distribution network. Walk into many small bike shops or outdoor stores with bike sections and Pearl Izumi tends to be there. The prices are relatively affordable and the gear is well-made. Look a bit further though and Pearl Izumi has another side. There is incredibly innovative and tech-focused gear in the Pearl Izumi portfolio. It was the first with mountain bike-specific apparel, the first to use the BOA closure system for its shoes, and the first to make a lobster cycling glove. 

That's just the product-specific side of the brand though. When it comes to sustainability and representation, the brand puts others to shame. In a way that is almost completely unmatched, Pearl Izumi has embraced the idea of making the world a better place through the footprint the brand leaves. The goal for materials is ever-shifting and always getting harder based on progress made. Right now, the brand is currently on track to reach a goal of 98% of products made from sustainable materials. 

It's also worth looking at the roster of athletes Pearl Izumi sponsors. They are people who look different to traditional cyclists. People like Brook Gowdy, who proudly states “I surely can go forward and be the representation for the young girls like me, the young girls of colour, to know that these trails belong to them, that this community of mountain biking, that belongs to us too.” 

5. Endura

Endura cycling clothing is a brand founded in Scotland in 1993 by Jim MacFarlane. Jim was dissatisfied with the cycling clothing available at the time so he made his own. Despite his interest in time trials, the brand found its feet producing mountain bike clothing. The weather in Scotland being what it is, it will come as no surprise that it makes performance clothing that excels in all conditions. Today, the company produces technical clothing for both road and off-road disciplines. 

Until recently Endura was the clothing sponsor for team Movistar who developed and raced in Endura’s Pro SL and D2Z Aero kits. Endura left the WorldTour in October 2019 stating that the UCI’s restrictions were a "developmental dead end." With fewer restrictions, Endura hopes to further develop cutting-edge clothing. 

6. MAAP

MAAP cycling has only been around since 2014 and is a relative newcomer in riding apparel. There's a definite fashion element to the brand founded by Oliver Cousins and Jarrad Smith. The pair bring decades of design and fashion experience to the table and have previously worked with the likes of Stussy, Mambo and Globe. 

There is no doubt that MAAP gear is stylish. It's not to the detriment of performance though. MAAP’s fabrics come from Swiss and Italian mills with production in Milan. The brand has even worked with sports scientist and founder of Adaptive Human Performance Ken Ballhause to design its own chamois. That's only one aspect of what performance means though.

An equally important performance metric is longevity. Cycling clothes are expensive and we want them to last but clothes that last are also better for the environment. If you check the MAAP sustainability statement, there is a lot of information about the brand's use of Bluesign or Oeko-Tex certified fabrics. That's positive, of course, but sometimes that feels like a conceptual idea. When it comes to the clothes we buy the statement "we can ensure that every current product on offer is designed to last as long as possible" is an easy win for both the environment and the pocket book.  

7. Velocio

Hailing from New England, Velocio was co-founded by Aussie former pro, Kristy Scrymgeour. It is a brand with foundations built on providing cycling kit to women and women alone, flying in the face of male-oriented marketing prominence. Today, the brand caters to all genders but continues to champion diversity and inclusivity with its broad range of sizes and willingness to showcase a variety of body types and ethnicities in the marketing of its products. 

Beyond the concepts of inclusion, there's a strong culture of sustainability built into everything that Velocio does. One thing that means is lots of recycled materials. To that end, in April 2018, Velocio transitioned the Signature Bib Short to 100% recycled lycra. The brand didn't stop right there though. Starting with the 2019 collection, "Velocio incorporated recycled fabrics into more than half of the collection."

On a technical level, the brand's clothing has impressed each time we've tested it, from winter gloves to summer shorts and everything in between. It is also committed to reducing its environmental impact, using BlueSign and/or Oeko-tex certified materials, renewable energy and biodegradable packaging for everything it makes and sells. 

8. POC

When you think about the best cycling clothing brands it's unlikely you think about POC. The brand is best known for its helmets and we've got two of them in our best road bike helmets buyer's guide. There is more to the brand though and you can find some of the best clothes made with a POC tag on them. 

As we've explored those clothes on this site with reviews like the one covering the POC Supreme jacket, something else has come up. POC is moving aggressively towards better business practices as they relate to sustainability. It means items like the POC Myelin helmet that uses recycled materials, glueless construction and a design with disposal in mind and it also means clothes with a similar focus on sustainability. 

As with most of the companies listed here, POC has a part of the website dedicated to this info. Instead of just calling it an impact report though, the brand calls the initiative Project Blueprint. On the site, there is one piece of text that sums it all up beautifully. POC states "This is in no way a process with a finish line to cross, we will have to keep learning and questioning old truths going forward as new materials and innovations become available."

Josh Ross

Josh hails from the Pacific Northwest of the United States but would prefer riding through the desert than the rain. He will happily talk for hours about the minutiae of cycling tech but also has an understanding that most people just want things to work. He is a road cyclist at heart and doesn't care much if those roads are paved, dirt, or digital. Although he rarely races, if you ask him to ride from sunrise to sunset the answer will be yes.
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 140 lb.
Rides: Salsa Warbird, Cannondale CAAD9, Enve Melee, Look 795 Blade RS, Priority Continuum Onyx

With contributions from