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The global cycling apparel market is about $60B
What part of this is in Raphas defined market?
The sad truth is that their end of the industry is now very well populated (garms for performance focussed hobbyists and commuters who probably consider themselves of having a "high design sensibility"). Their almost unique proposition of being cost approachable (not cheap) but very design and quality driven, is now bread and butter from a multititude of other brand competitors. Some that arguably do it better than Rapha.
edit: to add, they also never worked out how to address the image problems that were bourne from their own success + popularity. Anecdotally, I know heaps of riders who like the design and quality but turn their nose up at the label for whatever reason i.e increased retail reach therefore declining exclusivity of the label, ubiquity with certain rider customer types, evolved reputation as being increasingly bourgeoise and unserious kit or whatever other perceived associations there now are due to expanded customer base, etc etc
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hugo7
All the data suggests this is not the case. The global cycling apparel market is about $60B so there's plenty of room for a brand to be 10x the size of Rapha. The growth of MAAP / PNS and the countless other new entrants (relatively speaking) suggests that there is still consumer demand for brands that offer the sort of product they want.
Rapha is in a bit of a mid-life crisis, and it shows. Their desire to be a mass-market something-to-everyone brand has diluted all their brand value. It's all become a bit Uniqlo on wheels.