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About FORCE

From a 5 x 7 m small shop in Zlín to modern warehouses in Otrokovice and sponsoring a professional team in the World Tour. The family company KCK Cyklosport-Mode s.r.o. of Dalibor Kmenta owes its success and breaking into the elite in the field of cycling equipment to the stable and supportive base in Zlín. 

 First shopFirst shop

Betting it all on one card sometimes doesn't pay off, but opting for their own brand of cycling gear was a slam dunk. However, those in the Zlín region today would fail to recognize FORCE cycling equipment, which has been conquering the cycling world in recent years at elite World Tour races.  

From a small shop to the well-established brand

KCK Cyklosport-Mode s.r.o. was founded in 1991 by Dalibor Kmenta, a Zlín businessman and passionate cyclist, and two of his friends. All of them were active in cycling in their youth and dreamed of making it to the elite. And when their plans of becoming professionals fell through, they turned their attention to opening a cycling shop. The name of the company KCK was thus derived from the initial letters of the founders' surnames and soon after opening they were one of the first to offer products of leading international brands in the Czech Republic. 

Since 1995, the company has been led by Dalibor Kmenta, who took over the reins of the company's management after the two other partners left the company. From the original small shop, he managed to build a company with sales of hundreds of millions of crowns a year. The decision to bet on their own FORCE cycling range brand had a significant influence on this. "I said to myself, why should I just serve someone when I can go it alone and convince other retailers to sell our brand?" says Dalibor Kmenta, the company's director. 

 Three generations of FORCE

FORCE conquers the World Tour

2019 was a significant year for the FORCE brand's entry into the world of major cycling when they managed to establish cooperation with representatives of the French team B&B Hotels - Vital Concept. As a second-tier stable, the team was not guaranteed to participate in the World Tour, unlike the elite teams. However, a small miracle happened and in January 2020 the team was nominated to start the biggest and most famous stage race, the 2020 Tour de France.  

"September 10, 2020, was the longest stage of the program and the second to finish was experienced local rider Pierre Rolland from the B&B Hotels - Vitals Concept team. For the French team, which was competing in the Tour de France for the first time, the second place on the stage was their biggest success thus far, which also made us more visible, thanks to FORCE goggles and helmets," says Kmenta, explaining the importance of this event in support of the FORCE brand from Zlín.

Dalibor Kmenta

 

The biggest highlight for the FORCE brand so far has been the collaboration with the Belgian World Tour team Intermarché -Wanty -Gobert, which dominated the Spanish Vuelta for nine days last year. This year has already brought a number of successes and visibility for the FORCE brand in Zlín. After Jan Hirt and his success in Oman, the FORCE brand was involved in the emergence of other great victories. In March, the famous spring classic Gent-Wevelgem was a success for 21-year-old rider Biniam Girmay from Eritrea and in April, Norwegian rider Alexander Kristoff in Scheldeprijs, Belgium. 

FORCE for all

Under the Force brand, the Zlín-based company supplies the shop with all cycling needs - from clothing, and helmets, to trainers, lights, tyres, tools, computers, bags, lubricants and washing products, cosmetics and even wheel sets. The products are most often manufactured in Asia, as well as in Italy, Poland or directly in the Czech Republic as in the case of cosmetics.

"For example, we now have around twenty suppliers for textiles and over the years of cooperation, we have already identified who is good for shorts, who can make us better jerseys for a more expensive collection, and who makes the best jackets or gloves. It's not that one company sews the entire collection, because we are simply more satisfied with some things and less satisfied with others, so that's why the number is so high. We have over 120 suppliers for FORCE in total," explains Ing. Andrea Mrázek Kmentová, the current general director of the company, who has been communicating with customers around the world for more than 10 years and also designs some of the women's clothing. 

 Andrea Mrázek Kmentová

And it doesn't just apply to textile suppliers. For other components, such as lights or bags, certified suppliers are also selected on the basis of quality and reliability. Some of the highest quality products are even manufactured in the Czech Republic, where the complete development from drawing to the final product takes place.

The FORCE brand gradually began to become more widely known not only in the Zlín region, but also in the rest of the Czech Republic, where it steadily holds 40-50% of the domestic market. The strongest foreign partners with the largest FORCE purchases include Denmark, followed by Spain, Portugal and Italy. Promising new cooperation with Japan is developing.

The FORCE brand is no longer the equivalent of just cheap and affordable products, but over the past few years, and especially thanks to its participation in road cycling races at the highest level of the World Tour, it has risen to the position of a brand that is able to dress even the most demanding customer from head to toe. "The core for us are not professionals, but demanding hobby cyclists who want high quality comparable to world brands, but still at a reasonable price. Despite this, our products are also carried by the World Tour team and many professionals. The end result will be that our customers can buy a top product or, on the contrary, affordable goods and everyone will be able to choose from a wide range,” adds Kmentová. 

Force team in 2022