Gymshark
Gymshark is a British fitness clothing and accessories brand.[3]
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Industry | Apparel Accessories Sports equipment Athleisure |
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Founded | 2012 |
Founders | Ben Francis Lewis Morgan |
Headquarters | Solihull, England[1] |
Key people | Ben Francis (founder)[2] |
Products | Sportswear Fitness fashion |
Website | gymshark.com |
History
Gymshark was set up in 2012 by Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan when they were 19 years old.[4][5] [6]When Gymshark’s revenue reached £250,000[7][8] Francis and Morgan both dropped out of university to focus on Gymshark. The company was named the UK's fastest growing company in 2016[9] in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100.
In August 2020, US private equity firm General Atlantic purchased a 21% stake in the company, taking the valuation of the company in excess of £1 billion. Following this, the company announced that it would be pushing forward with global expansion plans.[5]
Locations
Gymshark's head office is at Blythe Valley Park in Shirley, West Midlands.[10]
Gymshark also has an office in Hong Kong,[11] and in 2019 the company opened its North American office in downtown Denver.[12]
Products
Gymshark sells fitness apparel for men and women[13] including workout vests, hoodies, t-shirts and leggings.[14]
Controversy
Black Friday 2017 saw Gymshark's website crash for eight hours, causing customers to take to Twitter to complain to the company. The site crash cost Gymshark an estimated $143,000 in lost sales. Francis sent over 2,500 handwritten apologies to customers affected by the website crash.[15]
References
- "How Gymshark grew by 200%+ year on year and hit £41M in sales (Updated 2019)". Beeketing.
- "Ben Francis". Forbes. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
- "Gymshark sportswear brand looks to raise investment". Financial Times. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- "Former student's sportswear business is booming". Aston University. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- Thomas, Daniel (14 August 2020). "Clothing brand Gymshark becomes UK's newest £1bn start-up". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
- TWK. "Fast Track". Fast Track. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
- Kelly, Liam. "Gymshark tilts at Nike and Adidas". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
- "The 26-year-old with a £100m sportswear brand". BBC. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- "Gymshark predicts £100m sales this year, new HQ to drive fast staff expansion". Fashion Network. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- "New Solihull HQ for sportswear brand Gymshark". BusinessLive. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- "Gymshark – Hong Kong". Oktra. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- "Gymshark Opens North American Headquarters In Denver". SGB Media. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- "Gymshark takes a bite of the sportswear market". Drapers. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- "Fast Track Gymshark Company Details". Fast Track. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- "Holiday Disaster to a $128M Global Brand: Behind Gymshark's Multi-Channel Empire". Shopify. Retrieved 19 January 2020.