By David Russell
When Desiree and Juan Briceno decided to leave Venezuela in 2008 amid political and economic unrest, they had a few essential criteria that had to be met in choosing their new home. The couple wanted a combination of opportunity, lifestyle and great weather.
“Adelaide ticked all the boxes for us,” Desiree told Inside South Australia. “We had the opportunity to come visit first and look at the city and we pretty much fell in love with it straight away.”
On that holiday Desiree and Juan visited Sydney and Melbourne as well, but found the decision to pick Adelaide for themselves and their four-year-old son an easy one.
“We could see the difference between all the cities, the pace, the service in restaurants, and everything in Adelaide was way better,” says Juan.
Desiree and Juan Briceno.
“We came from a big city – Caracas – with loads of traffic. We wanted a different lifestyle… People from Adelaide were really friendly and open too, with that laid back personality.”
Fast-forward eight years and the Briceno family has grown to include a young daughter and Biketivist, a fledgling cycling apparel business. Desiree and Juan, who both work in marketing, have long harboured a dream to start and grow their own business.
“(That’s) coupled with our passion for cycling, so we thought ‘why not start a cycling apparel brand’,” says Desiree. “There’s huge opportunity in the market at the moment and it’s growing massively. So we wanted to develop a brand that was loud, proud, rad, as well as having great quality.”
Biketivist jerseys and shorts are designed in Adelaide – Desiree came up with one of them herself – and are manufactured in Italy. There’s also caps, t-shirts and water bottles. This season has been a resounding success, with only a handful of kits left for sale. According to Desiree, striking design has been key to the brand’s popularity.
“People are quite fashion driven in the cycling scene and want to look different to their fellow riders – they don’t want to look like they have a uniform. There’s definitely room for variety and for more brands out there.”
Desiree and Juan are busy designing season two. To snap up the last of this season’s range visit biketivist.cc or look for their products at Bike Society stores.