David Millar knows a thing or two about cycling apparel. Having spent over 20 years in the cycling world - 18 of those as a professional cyclist - he’s all too familiar with the garish logo-emblazoned lycras and dodgy fits thatpredominatethe industry - the poorly made kits that hinder performance rather than heighten. It was only natural then, for him to develop his own label based around a necessity for cycling garments that fuse functionality and technicality with style. He took the opportunity to do so after retiring from professional cycling in 2014. “When it ended I wanted to do something different while making the most of everything I'd learnt over the previous two decades,” he tells me. “I was supposed to go to art school, I ditched that to become a pro cyclist, CHPT3 is the amalgamation of all the performance tech I value and the creative I love.”
The label was launched in 2015 to high acclaim from both cycling enthusiasts and the sartorially-inclined.Yet whilstwidely lauded, its roots are very much in the personal. The name CHPT3 honours Millar’s entry into a new phase of his life. “In my final year of racing I kept being asked, ‘What’s the next chapter?’” he says. Millar was banned from professional cycling in 2004 after being caught doping and returned to the sport in 2006, viewing the opportunity as a second chance, a homecoming of sorts. “I knew I wanted to create a company and brand that would do things differently and I didn't want to use my name as I felt it bound us to the past. My career was split in two by a doping ban... the second part of my career saw me becoming one of the leading voices in the global anti-doping movement - and so this is my third chapter, CHPT3. In many ways it's like a three act play, we're now in the third act, which we all end up in: the point of resolution and completion."
