Overnight Success is a new podcast about the entrepreneurs, personalities, and passionate people who make up the sport of cycling, and the inspiring stories behind the icons they’ve built. The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that any lasting business takes years to build.
Over the past decade, MAAP has risen to become one of the most successful and highly regarded apparel brands in the market. Born in the age of Instagram brands in 2014, MAAP was part of an explosion of such micro-brands with a design-led ethos that were popping up all over the place. Cycling apparel was going through a big change at the time. People were loving non-traditional and playful kits and they were beginning to become a fashion statement just as much as they were a technical product. The barrier to entry for apparel was getting fairly low as custom kit was accessible to anyone, and social media was a new way of gaining a following and building a brand.
I’ve known the co-founders of MAAP, Jarrad Lawrie and Ollie Cousins, since before the inception of the brand. Since their early days we’ve done many kit collaborations together and I’ve had enormous respect and admiration for what they’ve built.
While all of us reside in the city of Melbourne, Australia, and while we see each other from time to time and we have many mutual friends, I actually didn’t know their founding story in detail until now. I’ve wanted to do this episode for a long time now and I’m glad I finally got the chance to sit down with Jarrad and Ollie to share their remarkable journey.
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