With a heavy heart, we share the news that GT Bicycles appears to be slowly shutting down. After a joyous and hopeful homecoming back to So. Cal. not quite two years ago, the once iconic Southern California brand is laying off employees, and halting production.
Just last February, after being home in So. Cal. for a year, GT announced that they were on the mend and ready to shred again by hiring more employees. They jumped from 8 to 23 employees and the future was looking bright.
PON, the company that snatched the brand from the clutches of the Cycling Sports Group, already owned another iconic California brand, Santa Cruz, and seemed like a good home for GT. When PON decided to bring GT home after 15 years on the East Coast, we were all excited as the move seemed to be the right choice.
The future of the brand looked promising.
But, here we are. GT has said that it will sell through its remaining inventory through 2025, and then “pause the brand”. There was some other verbiage from GT’s Managing Director, Jason Schiers, that they are using the pause to focus “on core strengths, and refining our strategy to position GT for long-term growth”. Well, we’ve all heard stuff like this before, and while we are hopeful, GT’s future looks very dim.
A Word from Phil Kmetz
Phil (of Skills with Phil) confirmed the news yesterday on his youtube channel. According to Phil, this was a surprise to most of the GT team and GT athletes, with the official news being announced to them this week.
I Bleed Blue and Yellow
As you may or may not know, I got my start in the bike biz at GT Bicycles back in 1995. The brand was an absolute force to be reckoned with as it dominated every discipline. We even had a Formula One semi-truck as a race support vehicle.
The industry was calling us “The Firm”. We started marketing on that reputation with our “Fast, It’s Corporate Policy” ad campaign. To quote Ron Burgandy, “We were kind of a big deal.”
There are so many stories I could share with you about the amazing people who helped build that brand into what it once was. And I am stoked that I was there for a lot of it. Working for GT Bicycles changed the trajectory of my life for the better. Hell, I found my wife of 24 years while working for GT.
That work environment has been the dragon that I have been chasing since I left, and there has never been another place like it. The people I met through my years at GT have become lifelong friends.
I hope for the best outcome for the brand and the employees. I would like nothing better than to see them come out of this “pause” and rebuild themselves to the brand’s former glory, whatever that may mean in today’s bike industry.
Here’s to the GT Bicycles of the past and hopefully of the future!
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