| Santini Cycling | |
| Type: | Cycling clothing |
| Currentowner: | Santini spa |
| Origin: | Italy |
| Introduced: | 1965 |
| Markets: | Worldwide |
Santini Cycling is a cycling clothes brand of the Italian clothing production company Santini Maglificio Sportivo. Established in 1965 in Bergamo, Santini was born from Pietro Santini's deep passion for cycling. Proudly made in Italy, each garment is the result of dedicated work by a team of cycling enthusiast designers.
Santini Cycling is an icon in the cycling apparel industry, with a history that spans years of dedication to the art of producing technical clothing for cyclists worldwide. Santini's story began in 1965 when Pietro Santini founded the company under the name Santini Maglificio Sportivo.
After the initial years, where production was dedicated to general wool garments, the company moved towards sportswear, and cycling apparel, in particular. This happened thanks to Pietro Santini’s deep passion for cycling as a sport and the strong friendship with Felice Gimondi.
The 1970s marked a significant shift for Santini Cycling. During this era, the company began to experiment with innovative materials like Lycra for cycling shorts, gradually replacing the traditional wool with synthetics. An even more significant breakthrough was the introduction of synthetic, anti-bacterial paddings, gradually replacing the traditional chamois.
1977 is the year of the first international cycling team sponsored by Santini, named Peugeot/Esso-Michelin. The beginning of sponsorships Peugeot/Esso-Michelin was the first real international team sponsorship for Santini and was a huge leap forward for the company in terms of distribution and brand visibility.
Another important invention was the introduction of the use of Polyamide in the manufacture of jerseys to increase their aerodynamic effect. And in 1979 Santini started producing coloured shorts: before that time this garment was traditionally black.
At the beginning of the 1980’s the sublimatic printing process was invented and Santini was one of the first producers to introduce it in the world of professional cycling. As cycling teams needed a way to include more sponsor logos on their apparel, the traditional embroidery process proved both time-consuming and impractical.
1984 sees the launch of the Iconic Team La Vie Claire jersey. The team La Vie Claire colours were based on the artwork of Piet Mondrian, giving them a unique appearance in the peloton. The design is considered one of the most memorable jersey designs in cycling history. Manufactured by Santini, it is still very popular with cycling fans all over the World.
Santini became the official supplier of the UCI World Championship in 1988 and started producing the World Cup jerseys for all the various events. More teams and more races meant greater visibility for cycling as a sport, this led to new partnerships with high profile sponsors that demanded accurate brand representation. New skills and technology which enabled a faster way to produce cycling apparel was fully embraced by Santini to cope with this demand, firmly placing the company at the forefront of the industry.
The ‘90s saw the introduction of new highly breathable and windproof membrane technologies. Santini was the first to introduce Gore Windstopper fabrics into cycle clothing. The soft-shell Windstopper fabric was ideally suited to cycling, providing a rider with a highly breathable and stretchable fabric, offering wind protection, warmth and thanks to a DWR coating, a high level of water resistance too.
1992 saw Italian cyclist Gianni Bugno triumph at the World Road Championships in Benidorm, Spain, wearing a Santini jersey, successfully defending his world title. It was a period when cyclists began to see significant advantages from using technologically advanced materials.
1993 marked the first year in which Santini became the official technical sponsor of the Giro d’Italia and supplier of the Maglia Rosa, an association that lasted until 2017, with every Maglia Rosa proudly made in Italy.
In 1998 Santini became the official supplier to the Mercatone-Uno team. Marco Pantani would achieve greatness by winning both the Giro and Tour back-to-back that year becoming the first Italian rider to win the Tour since the great Felice Gimondi.
The years when Pantani raced for Mercatone-Uno generated a huge level of national sporting pride, pushing Italian bike racing to the forefront of the world stage again, cementing his place as one of the greatest Italian sportsmen that ever lived.
The collaboration with Australian cycling began in 2000 and continues to this day. Santini devoted considerable resources to research and development of advanced fabrics and manufacturing technologies to create high-performance cycling apparel.
In 2002 Santini became technical clothing partner of the iconic Mapei-Quickstep team. The design of the jersey became legendary, and it is still nowadays a true icon of cycling recognized by all cycling fans all over the world.
In 2007 the team Lampre-Fondital was one of the strongest team in the peloton winning 31 World Tour races. The jersey design, thanks to a combination of flashy blue and pink colours, became quickly famous and it is still nowadays a milestone of cycling.
2015 marked Santini’s fiftieth anniversary. Fifty years of manufacturing some of the world’s most famous cycling jerseys; with a heritage bounded undeniably to the very history of the sport of road racing. This authenticity and proud legacy led the company this same year to become the official clothing partner of Eroica, the international, world famous vintage cycling event. This collaboration saw Santini reprising original production methods to design an entire line of vintage replica wool cycling garments; some of which were based on precise items manufactured decades before.
Successful collaborations with high-profile cycling teams like Trek-Segafredo led to the introduction of apparel that could provide protection in adverse weather conditions. One result of this research was the introduction of anti-abrasion Impact shorts, used by the Trek-Segafredo team at the Tour de France. These shorts represented a significant leap in cycling apparel innovation.
2019 saw Santini partner with the Ironman Group, the world’s leading triathlon and multi-sport series organization. Santini became the official supplier of all technical apparel to all Ironman events; plus, in collaboration developed a series of co-branded capsule collections showcasing some of the worlds most advanced triathlon apparel.
In 2021, Santini Cycling established a prestigious partnership with the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. As part of this collaboration, the jerseys worn by classification leaders in these iconic races proudly bear the Santini name. Santini also sponsors other significant cycling events like Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Fleche Wallone, Paris Tour, and important stage races such as Paris-Nice and Criterium du Dauphiné. On these occasions, Santini creates special collections to celebrate the values and importance of these races.
In 2021, Santini invested in a new headquarters in the heart of the city of Bergamo. Santini renovated an old factory, creating a genuine campus where the office building and the production facility are surrounded by over 10,000 square meters of park.
Santini cycling is and was also the cycling clothes sponsor of a number of cycling teams including: