A Guide to our Cycling Gilets

Spring and Autumn, sometimes referred to as ‘Shoulder Season’, are a challenging time to get your cycling clothing right. Temperatures swing, brisk winds blow, and a sudden shower isn’t out of the question. That’s why the versatile gilet – easy to slip on, pack down, and stow in your back pocket – has been such a popular garment in our collection since the brand’s very beginnings.

Our Chroma, Mono and Spectrum gilets give you ideal options for the colder weather, from early spring right through to brisk summer mornings and beyond. Created using technical fabrics made from recycled materials and available in various hues to complement your favourite outfit, each offers a slightly different proposition to suit your riding needs.

What makes this gilet special is the lightweight insulation, equipped with a proprietary phase-change material called Comfortemp®. This absorbs your excess body heat above 28°C and releases it when temperatures fall, helping to stabilise your core temperature across changing efforts and conditions. The Chroma Insulated Gilet also offers protection from road spray and light rain, thanks to an eco-friendly C0 DWR treatment. Easily packable and fitted with thoughtfully placed pockets, it’s a versatile essential for rides across all four seasons—just slip it on to keep out the chill, then stow it away when you warm up again.

Sophie, our product developer comments: “This piece is perfect for layering with its three pockets on the back. The phase-change material releases that stored energy back to you and smooths out the temperature fluctuations you feel during rides."

The newest addition to our sought-after range of gilets is the Mono Gilet – an ultra-light layer given its striking character by an innovative natural dyeing process from Japan, called Onibegie®. Onibegie can express colours and textures unique to plants and the colourways of the gilet are therefore named after their pigment source – Bamboo Black, Rice Beige and Shoot Grey.

Crafted from recycled nylon and elastane, the Mono Gilet is at once race-ready and environmentally-conscious, pairing breathability with subtle weather protection—ideal for those brisk starts and unpredictable conditions. It is sleek, close-fitting and slips easily into a rear pocket when not needed. Perfect for the changeable days of late spring, the Mono Gilet balances weight, coverage and style.

Sophie, our product developer comments: “Apart from the amazing fabric choices and innovative dyeing technology, there is a lot more to this gilet. The panels on the front are more windproof than on the back, so it is better adapted to your riding – it is breathable and very good at maintaining your body temperature, too.”

This garment is the longest running in our collection, and for good reason. Striking as it is functional, the Spectrum Lightweight Gilet features a stretch mesh fabric which was specifically developed for the brand. Windproof, water-resistant and finished in an iridescent ripstop fabric with reflective logos, you can ride confidently in poor conditions. Boosting a double zip and the ability to pack into itself, this is the OG that put Universal Colours on the map.

Sophie, our product developer comments: “This piece is striking - it is very wearable with the two complementary tones that just work well with any outfit.”