To say that the calender is the navel of the Gobikis perhaps an exaggeration, but what is certain is that it is the most magical place in the world. GobikThe calender is the place where ideas are captured in the fabric and the garment begins to take shape, color and relief to go out into the world.
Ricardo Fluixá leads one of the company's largest teams, the calender team, after nine years in the company. Gobik. "When I joined, the company employed about twenty people," he says.
A TRANSFORMATION FULL OF PASSION
This is how Ricardo recalls his evolution at GobikI was in the wood sector and I wanted a change. I met José Ramón and Alberto -cofounders of Gobik- from cycling together. Soon after, I became part of this passionate family".
His joining the company ended up marking his life. The process was intense," he smiles, "but rewarding. Everything was very familiar and close, we grew up together and we put an incredible amount of love into it. I don't know what the formula for success is, but I'm sure that none of these ingredients is missing," he remarks.
It was not easy, the calender is quite a challenge: "We handle a large number of variants and it is a process that never stops, where one part of the team receives the printed paper and another picks up the already printed fabric, where we can already see the original colors".
In between, the water-based ink from each print evaporates and is transferred to the fabric, in a magical, agile but painstaking process, because it means solving a full-fledged puzzle. A jersey can be composed of up to ten pieces.
GROWING WITH Gobik
Ricardo admits to being a very different person from the one who landed in Gobik almost a decade ago. "The evolution is total, at all levels," he continues. My first calender was a chaotic machine, today we can say that we have one of the largest cycling textile production centers in Europe. Something that is almost dizzying, but which we have achieved thanks to the close and direct relationship between us. Personally, I feel very fulfilled.
Today he is responsible for the calender, or rather the calenders. Around them, a team of 23 people, coordinated by Ricardo, carefully take care of each piece of the puzzle. They are the ones who keep the DNA alive. Custom present in Gobiksince its beginnings.
Because they are the cog in an immense chain, without pause, always active, like Ricardo and the values that he has internalized by working at GobikFrom these nine years I take with me a continuous learning process, a process in which I feel I am a very important part. Here I see that I am part of a success story, that we have dressed UAE in the Tour, UAE in the Tour, UAE in the Tour, UAE in the Tour, UAE in the Tour and UAE in the Tour. MovistarI'm proud of that, a story that has given me confidence and the desire to continue on this path that has given me so much.
Q&A
Do you go cycling?
Yes, I have been for a long time now. In summer I do more gravel and road, in winter I prefer MTB.
How many kilometers do you ride per week?
I don't really keep track, I usually go out three times a week, twice at lunchtime, about two hours, plus the long ride at the weekend, more than 120 kilometers.
What music is on your Spotify?
Rock, of course, with people like Fito or Benito Kamelas, although I like to vary. I even listen to Alejandro Sanz sometimes, but not that reggaeton for sure.
Series or movies?
The Big Bang Theory.
Wine or beer?
Both, each in its own time.
Tour, Giro or Vuelta?
Always the Tour, where the best riders go in their best form.
