FAQ

I will try to make this short. Before there was cycling in my life, it was all about soccer. I lived soccer from age 16 to 35. (I only started cycling to recover from double ankle surgery in 2006). During the 1990 world cup,  a dude from Ireland named Packie Bonner made an amazing penalty save against Romania in the knockout round.  From that moment on, my friends and I all started calling each other “Packie.”  Somehow that evolved over time to “Don Packie”  which over time morphed into “Don.”  Before we knew it, “Don”  became  “Donnie” and for years this was the preferred nomenclature in my circle of riding friends (Donna for the ladies).  So Donkey has its roots in all of this, but wait, there’s more …

The DL also means being in the know about something not everyone understands, and like Donkey Label now, we had our own language that made perfect sense to our group,  but was very confusing to outsiders. Certain friends were Don, some more formally were Donald; a few if they were really on the DL could garner a “Ronald” or even a “Ronnie.” One day in, or around, 2000, Donnie turned into “Donkey” and to this day still sticks.  Donkey is a unique animal and an equally unique word;  it can be used in so many ways – positive or negative.  But in general, it is just an animal that is pretty hard not to love.

When it came time to put a name to this crazy thing I was doing,  I found myself in the Paris Roubaix Museum in Belgium looking at old race team names and famous climbs trying to find inspiration for some sweet cycling name that would really tie the whole thing together. One day my special lady friend basically said, “stop trying to conform to what you think people want, it has to be “Donkey.” That is who you are and if people are too cool to wear a donkey on their kits, then they wouldn’t buy your stuff anyway. She was right. Donkey was there waiting for me the whole time and I was lucky that, knowing all of this, he still took me back.  I love our brand and am glad that we are making the finest stuff available and all of our pieces have a donkey on it!

Told you it was short. Thanks Packie.

Read this please. Our approach to sponsorship is “don’t find us, we will find you.” That said, if you are an ambassador for our brand we will get to know each other and things will work themselves out. (Translation – buy our products, try them out before sending us the form letter you send everyone else. Lose the form letter and think about things from both sides of the fence, then,  if you truly love what we have going on and want to suggest a mutually beneficial relationship, we are all ears).  Special note* If your name is Fabian Cancellara ignore all of this – we would love to have you on the DL.

Yes! We are always looking for that partnership that fits our ethos and our product line.  

We also love to create custom designs for teams, businesses, or anyone who loves our product quality but wants something custom. We can collaborate with you on a design, create designs for you to choose from, or use your designs.

If you're interested in a collaboration or custom kits, shoot us an email at info@donkeylabel.com

We have a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. If for any reason you are not happy, we will take the product back.  Exercise common sense. The product should be unworn with the exception of our bib shorts. See bib short guarantee for more details.

Jerseys like bikes are made to be ridden hard but also cared for. Our products will rip, wear, get dirty, get bloody, and greasy, and they will get lots of compliments. Enjoy that process but be smart about how you wash them (similar colors and absolutely no velcro in the mix). As a general rule for all cycling clothing…. hang dry.  If you plan on rolling down a Velcro hill into a razor blade pit, please wear another jersey.

We strive to make all of our products as close to Minneapolis, MN as possible. We currently make some of our jerseys here in Minnesota and some in Europe. Our skin care products are made in small batches by hand in Wisconsin, our socks are made in North Carolina. Tool rolls are made in the spare bedroom, so I’m sure you get the rest of the picture.  We don’t like spending money on moving things long distances with petroleum based devices any more than anyone else, and we try to support local businesses run by people we know and like.

DLHQ is 100% solar powered,  we brew our own kombucha, we love visits from out of town customers (email us first), we love feedback, we love compliments, reviews are super helpful in opening others up to trying our stuff.  We try our best on all fronts to make our company fun and easy to work with and to create value.  We (the editorial we,  I...) think the big lebowski is the best work of art bestowed on to mankind.