The lessons for us all:
“Build your business from nothing by doing right things in the right order. Begin online, gain visibility via social media, get advocacy & exposure by going to where your customers go, begin physical with pop-up, and take it from there!”
Gymshark was founded by school friends Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan in 2012. They started drop shipping bodybuilding supplements through a website, and in 2013 began designing and manufacturing their own fitness apparel.
Initially Francis manufactured the garments in his parents’ garage on a made-to-sell basis using a sewing machine and screen printer he purchased with £1,000 of savings. During the first year, Gymshark made £500 in sales per day.
In 2013, the company exhibited at the BodyPower fitness trade show at the NEC arena in Birmingham where it sold out of all its stock in the first day. After the show, Gymshark’s Luxe tracksuit went viral on Facebook, generating £30,000 of sales within 30 minutes.
Gymshark continued to grow rapidly through onboarding some of the world’s most followed body builders. Their advocacy via YouTube exposed the brand to the widest possible audience.
In 2016, Gymshark was named the UK’s fastest growing company in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100. In 2018, Gymshark made sales of £100 million. In 2019, Gymshark launched the Gymshark Lifting Club, a gym and innovation hub, at its headquarters Birmingham. In August 2020, US private equity firm General Atlantic purchased a 21% stake which valued the company at £1 billion.
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