Company story: More than 40 years of experience, always groundbreaking innovations, as well as numerous successes, medals and victories. That is the impressive record of the Swiss clothing manufacturer Assos.
Assos of Switzerland – The timeline
The history of the well-known manufacturer of cycling clothing begins in Winterthur, Switzerland. In 1976, Toni Maier Moussa, who was looking for better aerodynamics for rider and bike, founded the Assos company. Even known as a real bike enthusiast, he puts his heart and soul into this project. In the same year, Moussa developed the first prototype bicycle frame made entirely of carbon. A groundbreaking novelty at that time, because even NASA did not build their first space shuttle out of carbon until four years later.
To test the aerodynamics of its carbon construction, a wind tunnel test was used for the first time - today, of course, this is the gold standard for verifying the aerodynamic values of prototypes. In the course of this, Moussa quickly noticed that clothing also has a significant influence on aerodynamics. Until then, cycling clothing was mostly made of cotton.
Knowledge from skiing was used here, since tight Lycra suits were already used here. Together with a friend Hans Hess, who was a skiing expert, they developed the first spandex cycling shorts.
With the invention of spandex cycling shorts in 1978, the future of the Assos company became clear. In the early 1980s the company moved from Winterthur to San Pietro di Stabio in Ticino. The move became necessary in order to be able to meet the increased demand with increasing production volumes. Suitable seamstresses were found in San Pietro to implement this project.
In the following 20 years, Assos accumulated victories at Olympic Games, World Championships and other important races as outfitter for numerous professional and national teams. Assos was therefore quickly recognized in the cycling community as the exclusive manufacturer of the perfect cycling shorts.
Roche Maier joined the company at the turn of the millennium. This generation change also had an impact on the work in development. In 2001, for example, the first elastic seat pad was designed, which was just as important for cycling as the introduction of Lycra pants. In 2003, Assos already had four different versions of the seat pad on the market. In the same year, a one-piece suit was developed specifically for time trials. In the years that followed, the jerseys were further developed into fully elastic garments. In addition, they took on the topic of leisure wear and expanded their collection.
In order not to stand still and to continue to meet the high demands, ASSOS develops its clothing with constant feedback from the drivers of its own factory team. The task of the riders of the factory team, which includes numerous well-known former professional cyclists, is to ride many kilometers on the racing bike while testing and developing the latest products from Assos and giving food for thought to the development department.
Assos of Switzerland – Today
Even today, many cycling professionals still trust Asssos products and wear pants or Assos seat pads, even if this is not always recognizable from the outside. Because some professionals use this service and have the special Assos padding sewn into their team pants.
Through multiple sponsorships of World Tour teams, Assos is able to offer maximum driving comfort at the highest level in competitive sports. This gives passionate and ambitious cyclists in more than 30 countries around the world the same benefits thanks to the global marketing of the brand in over 1.000 independent top bike shops as well as its own boutiques and corporate online stores.
