PEARL iZUMi
Before there was a PEARL iZUMi, there was a man and a bike. He rode that bike 38 miles a day, every day. Not for exercise or for the fun of it, but to deliver clothing to his customers in a neighboring village, this was back in 1955 and the man’s name? Kinji Shimizu. And in nine short years, he’d go from lugging clothing on a bike to redefining what every cyclist wore on them.
In 1964, one of Kinji’s sons, Hiro, raced for the Japanese national team at the Asian Cycling Championships. The team ordered its usual fourteen cotton kits. And special fifteenth. After the races, the team director filled a helmet with scraps of paper with each racer’s name. As fate would have it, Hiro’s name was pulled. He won the special jersey. It was made in Italy and 100% nylon. Unlike anything, he’d ever seen before.
Later that year, Kinji created his first kit based on that made in Italy design. He used only the best materials he could find. Kinji continued pushing his concepts. He was endless in his endeavors, constantly researching new fabrics and studying the body in motion. Over the next five decades, this obsessive approach led to innovation after innovation building the foundation for today.
