Life cycle

By Natasha Paulini on February 23rd 2010

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I meet one of London’s wealthiest mavericks in easily the most diminutive bike shop ever. The matte-black shopfront belies the Aladdin’s two-wheeled treasure trove within: clip-on reflectors nestle next to salmon-pink button badges; racks of reversible tuxedo jackets crowd under 1920s cloche-style hats with luminous white piping.

Two n Fro (twonfro.com), just down from Bumpkin on Westbourne Park Road, is a mecca for the style-conscious cyclist. Founder Karta Healy kicks back on one of the comfy leather armchairs, completely relaxed, but blue eyes still blazing.

“I felt disgusted by the behaviour I found in the US,” says Healy. “But it’s this thing of teaching old dogs new tricks; we need to insist more than our parents insisted. If you see someone riding a bike in a suit, you have permission to ride in one yourself. That is how living by example works.”
Healy was born in New Mexico to a Canadian mother and American father, both Sikh ministers. The family left for India when their son was seven where the whole family was encouraged to practise the Punjab faith.
“Growing up in India, you see resourcefulness everywhere,” explains Healy. “There’s no waste. The layers of society serve a purpose and each one has a role. There’s pollution, but only since plastic has been invented. Its introduction has confused a lot of developing countries’ ecosystems.”

When the family made tracks back to the US, Healy embarked on changing his and his family’s carbon footprint for good. “I insisted that my parents follow my lead in every way,” he says passionately. “I became the enforcer of all the recycling in the household. My mother is incredible at sewing, and when I took up snowboarding, I realised there was no style in ski coats so I started making my own gear. When you make your own things, you realise that our built-up environment can be broken down to its components – you think backwards; deconstruct it. It became a bit of an obsession. I would rather make stuff than buy it.”

The fascination with two wheels came to Healy early, with portentous consequences. It was on a six-week, father-and-son motorcycle tour of Europe that Healy Snr decided move his family once again, this time to the UK. Cameron Healy had already established Kettle Foods in Oregon, but it was to the crisp-devouring UK that the entrepreneur sought to bring his empire.

Healy took advantage of the move, completing not one but two degrees, fuelling his love of design and increasing eco-aware conscience. “Transport, transport, transport was my focus,” he explains. “I started doing a lot more projects that were based around two wheels. It was an obsession that all boys have, in a way. My thesis was on urban vehicles – anything that has less pollution or no pollution, and a smaller footprint; literally how much space it takes up in its parts.”

The industrial-design thesis was rejected, and Healy walked away – “I’d rather have my purpose served than theirs” – but not before the dean asked him to come and teach a subject based on his thesis. Now the Royal College of Art boasts a department based on Healy’s principles.
Undeterred, Healy launched A Go To B (agotob.com). Its mission? To educate the masses on the myriad of zero-carbon vehicles, both four-wheeled and two. The website features, among others, the bulbous three-wheeled Corbin Sparrow, the multi-award winning collapsible Strida and the faintly ludicrous Hovercraft-like Segway, each ranked according to parking ease, weather protection and manoeuvrability.

In his research, Healy concluded that the most cost-efficient, eco-friendly method was, in fact, the humble bicycle. “There’s an excess of human power being wasted; I wanted to harness that, and bicycles do that,” he says. “There’s no technology option that has to wait for a government to create laws to allow it on the street; it’s always been there, and that’s the emphasis. Even more simple is walking, but you still get a thrill out of cycling.” 

Two n Fro began with a new brief: to design everything one needs for inner-city cycling. The intelligently constructed range covers clothing and accessories, from shoes and shirts to head lamps and helmets. Even Two n Fro’s logo derives, fittingly, from a link in a bicycle chain, and everything within the shop’s walls has the strictest of eco credentials.

“It’s stuff I come up with at three in the morning,” Healy says. “I tell myself ‘head to toe’. What are things needed specifically for the city? It’s taking ideas from the sports side of cycling and bringing it to the transport arena: making it as small as possible; something that you can put in your purse or pocket so that it doesn’t get stolen. The performance of what you’re wearing is equally important. The engine is your body, and you have to let it breathe. How do you keep yourself from overheating while not getting wet?”

Healy subscribes to the “cradle to cradle” school of thought, that everything in nature that has served its first purpose has a second one. This aesthetic abounds throughout his designs: used sails become waterproof capes that double as a groundsheet for camping. Sleek sneakers sport old bicycle-tube trim, and car tyres as soles.

“Anything that’s not going to biodegrade you might as well keep it and make it useful,” Healy shrugs. “There’s no such thing as waste in nature. In design, you can use things in its secondary purpose. There’s recycling which is tearing things down and building them up again. Upcycling is just using it for another purpose – there’s even less work needed to make it useful again.”

So far Healy has concentrated on men’s clothing – a self-confessed “dream wardrobe; a real indulgence” – with the collection shown in Hong Kong, Tokyo, London and Paris. The designer tried to ignore his sisters’ clamours for a range to suit their needs, but has recently given in.

“Women in London represent the highest number of new users to cycling and they’re the most curious shoppers,” Healy reveals. “It’s more challenging: women’s body sizes and shapes are so different; men’s sizing is quite straightforward. Women get it, though – they ask the questions.”

Healy’s collections straddle that difficult fashion fence between useful and desirable – one show as dubbed Heels and Wheels – and Healy’s objective is to allow women to be feminine, yet safe and confident on a bicycle.

“Cycling is seen as a student hangover; a cheap option for those that can’t afford a car,” says Healy. “There’s never been anything that says,
‘I’m upwardly mobile, but I want a bicycle.’ Two n Fro is for people who can afford any vehicle, but choose cycling. They now have a set of ingredients that is aspirational – buy a bike, look good without changing your outfit.”

Much has been made of just how cyclist-friendly London’s roads are. Boris Johnson is soon to roll out his public cycling scheme – 6,000 bikes at 400 docking stations throughout the capital – while major bike manufacturer Trek has recently pledged £20k to support London Cycling Campaign’s projects. There is still much to do, according to Healy, to turn London
into a two-wheeled commuter haven.

“It’s a battlefield. The green paint on the road doesn’t save you or tell drivers to respect you in any way. There are many cities that do it better: Tokyo is the most efficient, urbanised and clean with the biggest variety of vehicles. There’s this monoculture in London of diesel and petrol;
we were seduced by the car for so long. Human power is the alternative. With cycling, you can stop and say hello; you can window shop. It’s part of being in the city. And it’s so much sexier.”

Members Comments

• Comment by: lujack4fun 24 February 2010 - 12:44

  he's not an eco warrior. does gumball rally sound eco to you. ridiculous article, badly researched.

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