‘It all began because I was a very poor student who was into riding bikes and needed some pedal straps,’ says Restrap founder Nathan Hughes as he and mum Helen Griffiths show Cyclist around the company headquarters in Leeds. ‘I decided to try to make some for myself out of old car seat belts, and then I sold a few to mates. It was only supposed to be a stopgap while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life but it evolved from there.’
‘Me and Nathan – well mostly me – used to make everything,’ chimes in Griffiths, who now sits as head of human resources. ‘We had an end-terrace house with a cellar, so Nathan would be down there cutting the seatbelts and sealing them on a heated chisel while I’d be upstairs on a sewing machine borrowed from my uncle. At a push I could sew three pairs of pedal straps in an evening. Even six years ago we were still scissor-cutting around cardboard cut-outs to make bags. Makes me go cold just thinking about it.’ And no wonder,, from bikepacking luggage to Brompton handles to, of course, the inimitable pedal strap.
