If I say: yellow jersey, July, tank tops, summer, good vibes, roadside crowds, pastis, apéros, country flags… what comes to mind? 😃 ?
😃 The joyful chaos of the Caravan, of course!
That magical, messy, nostalgic… and totally absurd show.
But without it, let’s be honest, the Tour de France just wouldn’t taste the same, would it?
The Caravan Show: somewhere between nostalgia and total overloads
It’s the Caravan that sets the mood along the roads, building the hype during those endless hours waiting for the riders… who’ll fly by in the blink of an eye.
With its outrageous vehicles, blaring music, over-the-top hosts, and dancers on rooftops…
– Julien Holtz, in his article in french only La caravane publicitaire : une féérie sportive et joyeuse gratuite et itinérante
Without it, there wouldn’t be nearly as many people lining the roads. It’s like going back to childhood. The thrill of catching a gift… even if it’s just some plastic trinket made on the other side of the world, destined for the trash or the back of a drawer.
A keychain, a stress ball, a polka-dot tee, yellow caps, pens, sunglasses, bracelets, candy… who cares what it is, as long as there’s that rush.
The Holy Grail? The red gingham bucket hat — you’ll wear it proudly for the race… and never dare to put it on again..
People will literally dive under the floats just to grab a gadget… it’s madness!
– Julien Holtz in his article in french La caravane publicitaire : la technique du lancer de casquette
And to think… the very next day you can buy it all on the classifieds (photos included).
A cycling cap between tribute and satire
The cycling cap is the ultimate souvenir of this legendary race. Printed by the hundreds of thousands and tossed out by the handful during those three weeks.
It’s only thanks to the Tour and the cycling legends on the podium that the cycling cap is known by the general public. I hear it every time I’m at a fair or event with my VERA stand… “Oh yeah, like the ones from the Tour de France.”
So, with the Grand Départ of the Tour in Lille in 2025 coming up, as a Roubaix-based brand and creator of cycling caps, I wanted to both poke fun and pay tribute to it all… yeah, the madness got to me too, caught in that ambivalence…
That’s when my “Caravane” idea turned into “La FOLIE Caravane” aka Caravan Madness.
Visually, I wanted it to capture all of that.
To bring together all the colors and shapes that shout Grande Boucle.
A timeless design, frozen in time, with iconic and evocative patterns: red polka dots, gingham, the green dot, the red flame, a black frame, a wheel, maybe even some fries?
Everyone can see what they want in it.
So, can it be an anti-goodies cap?
Absolutely! And that’s been my mission with VERA for over 8 years now.
To bring back the true cycling cap.
The one that lasts. The one you keep.
📍 Made locally in Hauts-de-France
🧵 Carefully crafted, well-cut, durable, available in multiple sizes
❤️ And above all, so beautiful you’ll want to wear it every day — not just stash it in a drawer.
So without further ado, here’s my own cap toss… presenting my La Folie Caravane collection:
We love the Caravan and we criticize it. We make fun of it, but we run after it. It’s loud, excessive, generous, absurd… and deeply rooted in the Tour’s imagination.
So with this “La Folie Caravane” collection, I wanted to put it all into a single design:
→ lots of colors,
→ a dash of wittiness,
→ and all the local know-how we’ve been pouring into VERA since day one.
A cycling cap that won’t end up in the trash.
A real object you keep, wear, and love… à la FOLIE !
💛💛💛
Crédits photos : Wikipedia, leboncoin, unsplash.
