Lucky Brand’s bikeshare: The road to health never looked this good
I love all my pairs of Lucky Brand jeans. Indigo blue lowrise, black velvet skinnies, printed boot cut … the list goes on. I must wear a pair nearly every day, because they just plain fit … for most every situation.
Lucky Brand’s new corporate bikeshare program is cut from the same cloth. Last fall, the purveyor of classic yet down-to-earth fashion launched LB Spoke: a fleet of custom-made Priority Bicycles for employees in its downtown Los Angeles office to use during the day.
Lucky’s roughly 350 employees can jet quickly from one office to another six blocks away, ride out to a coffee pop up housed in a technicolor shipping container, or pedal around just to feel the breeze on their fashionable backs.
Bikeshare was a “no-duh” for Lucky; its employees already attended free yoga classes during the week and receive $50 as an incentive to join a gym or take up spinning.
“We believe that happiness and performance are completely interdependent and encourage everyone to live by the company’s vision, “Look Good, Feel Good, Do Good,” says Carlos Alberini, Lucky Brand’s Chief Executive Officer and avid biker. “Health plays an important role in fulfilling this mission, so bringing in Priority Bikes was one of the key offerings we knew our employees would really enjoy.”
Less time in the car; less time at the doc
Studies have shown that biking really is a route to health. One long-range study that followed 30,000 people in Copenhagen found those who biked to work lowered their risk of death by 40 percent.
Another round up by The Center for Advancing Health noted that those who hit the gym, but drove daily for transportation gained an average of three pounds more annually than those who biked or walked for their commutes.
And although you can’t put a price on good health, another study suggests that people who cycle just 30 minutes each day can save an average $544 each year in medical bills.
It’s no surprise then that companies like Lucky and others are rolling out bikeshare as a perk. Since bike commuting becomes a way of life, versus another activity you need to add onto an already busy day, its effects are sustainable – for employee and employer.
“Lucky isn’t just a place you work, or a thing you wear. People are as lucky as they make themselves by choosing to do the things that make them feel happy and well,” says Shireen Jiwan, Chief Brand Experience Officer. “We want everyone to live a lucky life.”
Biking made alluringly simple
After buying the bikes, Lucky asked Bikes Make Life Better to help design the LB Spoke program. They knew that grabbing a bike had to be effortless, so Bikes Make Life Better set up an easy check out system. There’s no fussy paperwork or reservation needed. If a bike is available, an employee may check it out at the reception desk and bring it back later.
They also equipped the bikes with locks and helmets, and used a training module developed by Bikes Make Life Better to educate employees on how to ride safely in traffic. The five-minute training is required to be part of the LB Spoke program, and Lucky gives $50 Visa gift cards to those who complete it.
Nuts, bolts, and a kickass paint job
The Priority bikes themselves—12 and counting—are at the intersection of fashion and function. They were designed by the NYC company to be “maintenance free” with a rustproof aluminum frame, internal gearing and braking (means the complicated bits are protected and more difficult to break), and a belt drive train, which doesn’t require grease.
Lucky chose navy and cream-colored frames for its fleet—Americana on two wheels that Just. Plain. Works.
Want to start bikeshare at your company? Bikes Make Life Better is dedicated to helping large organizations use bikes for healthy sustainable transportation. They’ve helped Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Williams-Sonoma, Kaiser Permanente and many others.
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