Behind THE AW26 COLLECTION
The hardest part of riding all year isn't December. It's the morning you look out the window and negotiate with yourself. Everything we developed for AW26 exists to make that negotiation shorter. Meet the R&D team behind the collection, and see how experience, testing and rider feedback shaped it.
COPENHAGEN, SEPTEMBER 2026
Taking proven ideas further
For GripGrab CPO and founder Kristian Krøyer, AW26 builds on knowledge accumulated over many years of developing products for difficult riding conditions.
“One of the main themes behind AW26 is taking concepts we know work and pushing them further in performance, in fit, in materials, and in how the pieces work together. For the rider, that last part matters more than it sounds: when your base layer, jacket and gloves are developed as one system, you stop second-guessing what to wear. You just get dressed and go.”
– Kristian Krøyer, CPO
That thinking shows most clearly in the gloves. The proven concepts behind GripGrab winter staples such as Hurricane, Windster and Raptor have evolved into three new gloves within PACR, reconsidered in fit, materials and construction, and designed to work as part of the wider PACR system rather than as standalone pieces.
Tested where you ride
GripGrab's collaboration with Uno-X Mobility gives the development team feedback from professional riders who train through Scandinavian winters, day after day, in the same cold and the same rain that normal riders commute, train and race in. The difference is volume: a pro puts a season's worth of wear on a product in weeks, and finds its weak points before you would. That experience fed directly into two new AquaShield products for AW26, developed specifically for riding in heavy rain.
Magnus Cort shares his feedback with Product Developer Tobias Tybjerg Christensen, who leads GripGrab's glove development. What survives a Scandinavian pro winter will survive yours.
Listening beyond the peloton
Not all the feedback that shaped AW26 came from professionals. Every season, input arrives from hundreds of riders: product reviews, feedback submissions, questions to customer service, conversations with retailers, and a wide network of test riders putting products through real winters. No single comment tells the whole story, and it's rare for one review to change a product. A pattern across hundreds does.
That is why GripGrab has a dedicated Product Insight function. As Product Insight Manager, Morten Vogt Laustsen's job is to gather feedback from every source and find the signals that repeat, so that what riders experience out on the road reliably makes its way back to the drawing board, season after season.
R&D favourites
When you develop cycling wear for people who ride all year, you spend a lot of time testing it yourself. Products are ridden in, washed, adjusted and tested again. Along the way, some become personal favourites.
PACR WINTER JACKET
For Senior Product Developer Anne-Sophie Goetz, choosing a favourite doesn't take long. The new PACR Winter Jacket stands out for its combination of materials and race-focused fit, with a shorter, tighter body and pre-shaped sleeves designed to feel natural in the riding position.
Living and riding in the Jura mountains gives her a full winter of chances to put it to the test. Through the cold months she pairs it with the PACR Winter Seamless Long Sleeve Base Layer and the PACR Insulated Mid-Layer Vest.
PACR WINTER SEAMLESS LONG SLEEVE BASE LAYER
For Product Insight Manager Morten Vogt Laustsen, the toughest test for a winter base layer is the constant shift between hard efforts and easy riding or standing still.
“For me, that's when a base layer really proves itself. You may still be sweaty and the fabric may still be carrying moisture, but if you don't feel clammy, cold or wet, then it's doing exactly what it should,” Morten says.
Made to ride all year
AW26 brings together years of product development, professional rider feedback and the experience of riding through the colder months ourselves. Different products, different needs and different conditions, all developed with the same purpose.
To keep you riding all year.
