72andSunny Amsterdam Made Awesome Waterproof Onesies for Biking in the Rain

If you've ever visited Amsterdam you know that a majority of people bike most places and it rains all the time. For those that have to bike in the rain, it's pretty much guaranteed that no matter what type of rain gear you've got on, you're going to get wet. The crew at 72andSunny Amsterdam, who frequently experience this inconvenience on their way to work, came up with a solution to the problem. It's called the Raynsie, which is essentially a stylish, waterproof onesie. "People cycle in the rain no matter the weather and it's not like it's a hipster thing," Nic Owen, 72andSunny Amsterdam managing director, said. "It's 80-year-old grandmas going to do the shopping. If people need to go out, the weather may suck, but they're going to go out and get there." That can-do spirit of the Dutch people was the inspiration for the design of the Raynsie, which 72andSunny Amsterdam created in-house. The agency worked closely with KTC, a Chinese premium manufacturer and an affiliate of the Fair Labor Association, to ensure that the products were made responsibly. A few other things from Dutch culture inspired the product as well, mainly the patterns and colors. One Raynsie style, Dip, is meant to capture the Dutch custom of dipping their food into sauces. It comes in three colors (yellow with red "dipping," green with a blue dipped sleeve and a black get-up with reflective material for nighttime riders). The other style, Hagelslag, comes from the Dutch tradition of putting colorful sprinkles (called, you guessed it, Hagelslag) on top of bread and butter in the morning. These Raynsies have colorful sprinkle shapes on them to mimic the tradition. "It's an abstract and loose inspiration, but again everything kind of circles back to the personality of the city we live in which we are all so charmed and inspired by," said 72andSunny Amsterdam creative director Rey Andrade. Prices range from 299 euros to 350 euros (the reflective suits cost a bit more) for each garment. Another cool thing about the product is that it neatly folds up into itself, so it's compact and easy to carry, with no extra bag involved. "If something goes into a bag, the bag invariably ends up I don't know where," Andrade said. "Obviously this is solving a really specific problem, but to that end, you should be able to carry it with you in your bag every day." The idea for the Raynsie first came to the 72andSunny Amsterdam team over three and a half years ago, when the agency was only about 20 people and was still in the process of scoring some major clients. Hoping to create something that would give back to the community, the team came up with an idea for a garment that would actually keep the always on-the-go Amsterdam native dry no matter how much it was raining. "There wasn't anything that combined style and performance so we thought there was a gap in the market. We fiddled about as a bunch of amateurs trying to make something come to life and failed miserably," Owen said. "But we really approached this thing like an advertising agency would approach something." Owen added that in the process of creating the Raynsie he and his team really learned to appreciate what it takes to create a product from scratch and how difficult it can be to actually build something and build it well.

Brand Marketing

72andSunny Amsterdam Made Awesome Waterproof Onesies for Biking in the Rain

Introducing the Raynsie

Katie Richards

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Katie Richards