Our Story

Lean started on the roads all over the world: alpine climbs, coastal highways, wet northern lanes, cobbles and long climbs in places where nobody knows your name. Too much of the kit we rode in was made to look fast in a photo, not to work when it matters.

The Founders

Jacob Slot raced as a youth and junior cyclist in Denmark. After a series of crashes he stopped racing and moved to Tirol, Austria, where he turned to the mountains, exploring remote ranges on skis. Out there he saw outdoor gear evolve first-hand: technical, thought through, uncompromising. But his mind never really left cycling, and every time he came back to the bike he noticed the same thing. The quality simply wasn't there.

So he teamed up with Thomas Gstir, a fellow rider who, like Jacob, calls Tirol home.

Thomas is a problem solver. A fanatical gear developer and helicopter pilot who has a gift for technical solutions: how a seam behaves under load, how a fabric moves with the body, how one small detail can fix a problem riders have simply learned to live with. Where others accept a compromise, Thomas keeps looking for a better way.

Together they set out to create the products they missed when riding.

Made in Denmark

Every Lean piece is made in Lejre, a countryside village 40 km outside Copenhagen. The roads around Lejre are also an important training ground for elite and professional riders. Out here you share the roads and the coffee stops with them, world champions included. What better place to make cycling gear?

Our production partner is a small local company built on a socially responsible platform. We work in small batches. It keeps us close to every piece, lets us test and adjust as we go, and means we know exactly who made what you wear.

Our materials come from Europe, mainly Italian fabrics, chosen for how they perform rather than how they read on a label.

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Lean is for riders who go out early, come home late, and don't need anyone to tell them why.