Attaquer’s Women's core range is their everyday kit that blends style, comfort and performance. We've been testing a full kit of jersey, knicks, gilet, arm warmers, their winter weight under shirt, and socks. Designed in Australia and made in Italy. Sounds pretty good to us.

Words - Lana Adams Pictures - Max Hardy

Sydney-based Attaquer (French: ‘to attack’) aims to give their customers ‘kit that makes you look good, feel better, and ride faster.’ Founders Greg Hamer and Stevan Musulin combined their experience in cycling, fashion, and brand management and launched in 2012. It's firmly aimed at high quality, high performance, and eye-catching aesthetics. Their flying skull logo has to be one of the coolest to grace lycra.

THE JERSEY

The first thing that struck me was the quality - the kit itself has a kind of shiny sheer to it that instantly feels luxurious. Attaquer have used a variety of fabrics on the jersey and bibs that all feel very high quality.

I would consider this jersey to be the best fitting of those I own, and it truly feels tailored to a woman's body.

I prefer my jerseys to fit tight so I was very pleased with the overall fit. I usually fall between a XS and S jersey depending on brand, and went with a S Attaquer jersey. They definitely live up to their description of being race fit. The slightly longer sleeve length is fantastic, and often overlooked in women's kit - so extra points for that attention to detail.

My one critique of the jersey is narrow rear pockets that I could only just fit my reasonably sized iPhone 4. In total I could fit my iPhone, card wallet, keys and arm warmers with no room to spare. There’s no way the gilet was packing down into the pockets either, which limits its versatility.

THE BIBS

After a few wears I can quickly confirm this is one of the most comfortable chamois I have ever used.

The sizing of the bibs was perfect, I am usually a standard small and went with that size. They felt fantastic the moment I pulled them on, with a really nice level of compression throughout the legs. It's also nice to see the pattern continued up the bib straps!

Both the jersey and bibs use thermobonded silicon grippers - which I had not experienced before. The ones at the end of the sleeves of the jersey at first seemed incredibly thin and tight, and I was skeptical of their comfort, but after a few rides I got used to how they felt and they stretched out with the circumference of my arm to fit firm but comfortably. I have quite thin upper arms (classic cyclist am I right?) even for my slender body type, so I'm not sure how women with similar body types but stronger arms would go with the grippers. The gripper of the bibs was wider and equally firm.

THE GILET

The gilet fit nicely and provided a decent level of wind blocking. I was also caught in a light shower whilst wearing the gilet and it provided warmth whilst keeping me dry. The higher neck is fantastic and made a real difference in feeling the cold. The reflective detailing along the bottom of the gilet is such a nice addition, it's so subtle but effective. This should almost be a standard in design as it detracts nothing from the garment but makes such a difference once illuminated.

THE REST

Attaquer's Winter Weight Undershirt is so nice I've started wearing it as a t-shirt off the bike.

The arm warmers are fleecy and warm, definitely on the heavier side of other arm warmers I've used. They are fantastic at blocking the wind and the grippers kept them firmly in place on the arms.

Socks are a collaboration between Attaquer and original cool sick brand The Athletic, specifically a collaboration called Bande des Filles celebrating women's cycling. They are comfy, soft, the perfect colour scheme and most importantly the perfect height.

The full Women's Core range is available from the Attaquer website.