a note from e-RICHIE -
this thread is another departure from the typical Smoked Out effbuilder columns that are now V place fixtures. to continue casting the net out further and catching unique fellow V-istas in the act of being beyond measurably unique, today we introduce Gage + DeSoto. i have known mike and brett for several seasons and on different levels. they are NAHBS pals, and nyc pals, and 'cross pals too. more importantly, their company, like last week's La Rueda Tropical before them, has a beautiful online presence that's equal parts news, commerce, and design. i am a regular visitor to their site and maybe you'll become one too atmo.



MIKE:

Gage + DeSoto started as many small businesses do - as a vanity project. Until recently I was working full time as an IT Manager at an NYC investment firm, and despite the lure of a steadily increasing salary, I was unsatisfied. I decided to take all of the things I loved to do in my ever dwindling "spare time" and give myself some projects. Urban biking and road riding was always part of my life - for 3 years after college ('92-'95 - the heyday) I was a bike messenger in Boston. I also have a love of graphic design (specifically typography) and photography. So in 2008 I formed a company to keep myself honest, and set out to learn how to actually do some of the stuff I had always wanted to do.

I started with screen printing and I came out with a few cycling-related T-shirts. My friend Andrew at NYC Velo agreed to carry them, and to my surprise they started selling pretty well. I then gave myself a crash course in web design and put up a (very) rudimentary web store. Somehow, Bill Strickland from Bicycling Magazine happened upon the site and asked for a few shirts for a photo shoot. He ended up featuring one of the shirts in their "Things We Love" section and I suddenly couldn't keep up with the orders that were coming in. All the while, I kept learning the ins and outs of screen printing, typography, web and graphic design, and even accounting software. (The Gage + DeSoto logo took a lot of abuse during this period as I kept trying to come up with a proper brand identity in real time - a bit like working on your carburetor while doing 65 down the highway). Things finally settled down, and with the help of new friends in the industry, the brand began to establish its own personality (which I sum up as "Design For Cyclists").

I no longer screen print shirts myself, but I still design them (along with kits and a few other things), and I am slowly but surely expanding the web store to carry unique, hard-to-find items such as books and periodicals that cater to the road cyclist. While working with the guys at NYC Velo, I met Brett Cleaver, and he and I quickly realized that we shared not only the same design sensibility, but also a lot of ideas about how a small business could operate in the cycling/race community of New York City. We worked with Rapha on running the highly successful New York Cycle Club last year, and I'm proud to say that Brett is now the other half of Gage+DeSoto. He has forged ahead with new marketing, sponsorship and event ideas that would have been impossible to accomplish (or even dream up) when it was just me on my own. Brett has a natural sense for brands and how they interact with each other and the marketplace, and this is a skill that is in demand in the bike industry more than ever. As such, G+D was a big sponsor of the Red Hook Crit this past year, and our relationship with race organizer Dave Trimble is now close enough that we share an office space and a showroom (in Red Hook, Brooklyn, naturally). We have managed to put together a deep and friendly list of contacts within a fairly short period of time, and we are happiest when we are able to put brands together and make something new.

BRETT:

I'm the new guy to Gage+DeSoto, but (fortunately for Mike) not new to cycling. Growing up in rural Northeast Connecticut with acres and acres of state forest surrounding my home found me on a mountain bike in high school. That was the mid 90's, the golden era of mountain biking for many. In fact, less than 3 miles down the road from my house was a mountain bike race, The Wrath of Sun Valley. It drew hordes of racers every year, even Tom Danielson was there duking it out in the elite race as a junior. It was at that very race that I found out about Spooky Cycles. Unable to afford one as a college student, I took a shot in the dark and offered my services as a free intern. The internship paid off with a Darkside and the opportunity to travel with the team to various NORBA and UCI events. It was through these events and travels that I met various industry personalities. One of which was the marketing director at Bike magazine. Sean Smith took me under his wing and I held a brief cross coastal internship at Bike magazine (that doubled as an independent study for college credits).

It was towards the end of college that I sought another means of cycling. Mountain biking required more time and energy than road cycling. I became the proud owner of an older steel Serotta and I rode it all over CT. I even took it with me when I moved to Manhattan in 2000. Though the routes in NYC weren't as bountiful or rewarding, the riding company couldn't be matched. I met rider after rider in Central Park. Before I knew it, I could turn up in the park any day or time and find a familiar face. As my time in the saddle increased, I was urged to race by my cycling peers. It was racing and a love for cycling that finally took me out of the music industry (where I had spent my initial 9 years in NYC) and into a bike shop.

This transition opened new doors and also introduced me to one Michael A Spriggs. He had a t-shirt brand (Gage+DeSoto) and worked on design and marketing at the shop. We shared interests and even had similar visions. So much, that we proved the perfect pair to launch and run the Rapha Cycle Club in NYC last summer. I left to ride across the US with my wife on our honeymoon. For anyone that may have missed it, we documented our adventure on kissingwithhelmets.com. Upon my return to NYC the Fall of 2010, the Club had finished its run, and Mike and I were both looking for a new project.

So here we are, putting our collective effort into G+D to create a unique marketing, branding and media experience. We offer companies a fresh approach to what they may or may not be doing. Mike and I are operating on a grassroots level that parallels a DIY / punk rock band / streetwear brand. If we think an event would be cool at a coffee shop, we make it happen. Or, if bike brand x needs to meet record label y, we bring them together. We take what some may think are far-fetched ideas and run with them, because no one else is going to. At the end of the day, we want people to say "G+D did what? Oh snap, that's a great idea, actually!" Sure, it's always been possible, but we don't think there has been a brand as deeply rooted in NYC cycling culture that dared (or maybe cared) to try.

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