Hidden Gems: Meet Lynn Bye of Fat Lad At The Back

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynn Bye.

Hi Lynn, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
Fat Lad At The Back was my husband and co-founder Richard’s cycling nickname. He weighed about 240 lbs, and despite my best shopping efforts, we could never find cycle wear big enough to fit him. 

We realized that that there were 1000’s of people riding bikes who were just like him and if he couldn’t find gear that fit, then neither could they. 

We decided to use his cycling nickname as our business name – it was fun, different, and edgy. 

Some people didn’t like the name, and ironically often it was thin people who were offended on behalf of fat people but at the same time, many more people loved the idea and instantly connected with the positive brand humour, lots of them saying as soon as I saw it, I knew you were talking to me! 

We started the business in October 2013 and in August 2014 were on Dragons Den UK, but the dragons didn’t get our sense of humour or understand the empowering effect the brand was already having on people’s lives. In the same series, one of the Dragons invested in a product called Skinny Tan – we realized that there’s an awful lot of fatphobia hidden in political correctness, and when people are offended by our name, it says much more about their attitude to fat than it does our brand. 

I am not a cyclist so I had no preconceptions about what our gear should be like – it just needed to be cycling-specific, technical, and fit the changing shape of the body as it got fatter. 

I developed our men’s sizing by making small changes and tweaks to existing factory templates, but I started from scratch with our women’s range because women’s cycle wear just wasn’t female-friendly. 

Our clothing is different to other brands because I am a natural problem solver, I love fashion, understand fit, and I am interested in people and the psychological importance of what we wear. 

We wanted the brand to make a positive social difference and our community needed a place to belong because it was largely spurned by traditional cycling groups. I started our Facebook page in 2013, and a couple of years later our Forum which has become (in their words) “one of the most inclusive, inspirational, and supportive groups on social media.” 

It’s a place for people who support inclusivity to hang out, give advice, ask questions and share each other’s trials and tribulations. I don’t think we have many stereotypical cyclists who are members. 

We’ve always used our customers in our lifestyle photography – they are fat cyclists, and it’s important to show people not only how our gear looks on larger sizes but more importantly, positive role models having a great time on their bikes. 

Sometimes our paid social gets trolled by fattests who make cruel comments about our models – for a time, I used to delete them, but then I decided I couldn’t ignore such bad behaviour. Fat shaming is still the last bastion of the troll, and we call it out because it’s the only way to deal with such a damaging perspective. 

Challenging fat phobia is still a major part of what we do. Last year we ran our edgiest campaign yet – Fat Can’t – it was created to show that people’s pre-conceived ideas of fat people not being very sporty or very fit were wrong but also to draw attention to the abuse that fat people regularly receive. The campaign got banned by the UK Advertising Standards Agency, which was a shame, but we knew it might. I think it’s important to ruffle feathers every now and then – no one ever achieved anything great by falling in line and being beige. 

There can be several barriers into cycling for our customers. Comfort and technicality are the obvious ones, but many also struggle with personal and societal challenges, and we have built a brand which can help with all of these things. We don’t just make great quality, technical cycle wear which fits and flatters and makes people look and feel good – I have been pulled up for saying flatters, but the reality is that most people do care what they look like – we are a socially responsible business which is making a real difference to people’s lives and challenging the way our society sees fat. 

We sell across the globe, and there are small pockets of Fat Lads and Fat Lasses across the USA, which is our largest export market, and the rest of fetch world. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I first tried to find a factory to make the sizes I wanted all I heard was ‘You’ll never sell it’. It took months, but I finally found a small factory who were prepared to give it a go. We’ve now extended the size range, and it’s the largest on the market. 

Offering so many sizes comes with its challenges – we have 11 sizes on some garments – most companies offer only 4 or 5. Comparatively, we don’t sell a lot of our men’s largest size, but I think it’s important to give these customers something to wear. 

I’m lucky that my husband has another company and is the breadwinner in our house so I haven’t just had to just focus on profit – I define our success not only in the growth of the business but also in how much of a positive difference we’ve made to people – it may sound like I’m exaggerating but I know that Fat Lad has empowered 1000’s of people into happier and healthier lives and I think very few brands can say that. 

It would probably have been easier if we had a more bland name, but I don’t think it would have been worth it, and we definitely wouldn’t have made the positive contribution to changing society’s attitude to fat. Our name is what’s most important about us. 

The negative association society has with fat has made people shy away from us. We’ve even hate mail from people who have been shocked at our offensive and discriminatory brand name. 

We once introduced ourselves to the UK MD of Park Run, and his immediate response was, “You need to change your brand name.” 

If people don’t get the brand in 3 seconds, I can’t be bothered explaining it to them. Fat phobia is entrenched in our society, and if the worst thing you can be is fat, then yes, I get why you may not like our name, but fat ISN’T the worst thing you can be. It’s just a thing, and it’s of no relevance to who you are and what you’re capable of. 

You don’t have to scratch the surface very much to see what an empowering and positive brand we are. If people don’t want to be part of something which has done so much for fat people and for cycling, then they’re not our people, and I don’t really care if our names offends them. 

As you know, we’re big fans of Fat Lad At The Back. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
People assume that we’re a bunch of lads (men), but we’re actually a bunch of lasses (women), and I think that’s what makes us so different from other brands. 

Our marketing message is the antithesis of other sportswear and cycling brands, which are typically performance-driven. We’re not interested in PBs and the competitiveness of cycling. 

We encourage social cycling and cycling for fun – it’s your journey, and it doesn’t matter how fast you go or how far you go, just that you go. 

We use self-deprecating humour, inclusivity, understanding, and humility, and I think that’s because we’ve always had a female-dominated team and, consequently a business which is less driven by ego and more driven by nurturing and the community. 

We don’t take ourselves seriously, but we are serious about our cycle wear, and our designs reflect our ethos. We use the best quality fabrics and components and ethical EU manufacture but have a range we call ‘sophistikitsch,’ which includes our Will Ride For Cake, Powered By Pie, and She is Fierce jerseys as well as our classic. They’re fun, statement cycling jerseys that say something about the wearer and that create lovely, positive interactions between our customers, other cyclists, and members of the general public. 

Most of our gear just has our little cog logo, but we have also retained our original Classic jerseys with our large Fat Lad At The Back and Fat Lass At The Back text for those who want to wear our branding loud and proud. 

We don’t just make larger sizes; we make cycle wear in all sizes because people of all sizes cycle, so our smallest jerseys fit a size 36″ chest and 34″ bust and go up to a 58″ chest and 53″ bust. 

I developed our unique sizing system based on actual measurements instead of the SML system, which is too ambiguous. It’s easy to follow and much more reliable, so customers have a much better chance of getting the right size first time. 

We’ve done several exhibitions and seen 100’s of people of different shapes and sizes in our gear, so we can also give great advice if you’re in between sizes or struggling with our size charts. 

Exceptional customer service is a top priority, and because I know how life-changing getting cycle wear that fits can be, we go the extra mile to give advice and encouragement when people reach out to us for help. 

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Success comes in many guises – don’t get bogged down by the bottomline – if what you do is important to you and is making a difference and you can make a good living, then YOU ARE A SUCCESS. 

Do your research and ask people’s opinion. Not everyone will love your idea, but you’ll get a feeling for whether or not you’re onto something. 

Stay true to your core values, dare to be disruptive, and don’t worry too much if some people don’t get it or don’t like it. I learnt a long time ago that you can’t please everyone. 

Don’t get sidetracked by the disproportionately vocal minority – people are more likely to complain than tell you when you are doing something right, and it’s easy to lose confidence in yourself and your idea. 

Keep asking your customers what they think and engage with them. We use our community and customer base for lots of research, and they really help us develop our products and deliver our message. 

Be honest and transparent – people are fed up of a standard corporate response. It’s refreshing to get a personalized and human reply. 

The best ideas fix a problem. 

When you get it wrong, put your hands up and admit it. People are very forgiving when you make a genuine apology. 

Make people laugh if you can – companies are scared of humour. If you’ve got a personality, let it show. 

Contact Info:

• Website: fatladattheback.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatladattheback/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fatladattheback/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FatLadAtTheBack?
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4JJMqVphfsmTZ88beODGQg

Image Credits
Simon Wilkinson
Col Morley