A Fondness for Fitness: How Gymshark took D2C Branding to New Heights

Gymshark's story resonates with me. I run Mantaro (a brand accelerator), and while not a gym shark, I do consider myself a gym rat. Gymshark, a fitness apparel brand, is one of the big D2C (direct-to-consumer) success in recent history. In this post, I'll dive into what we can learn from the twenty-something founder and CEO of Gymshark, Ben Francis.

The university student and gym-enthusiast Francis had tried his hand at building several apps (including a website that sold license plates). After a few failed first attempts and some lukewarm successes, his latest seventh attempt to build a business in fitness succeeded swimmingly. What started as a backroom operation, with Francis and friends sewing gym vests and t-shirts (his grandmother taught him how to use a sewing machine), turned into a billion-dollar brand after receiving a capital infusion by General Atlantic.

There are four major lessons from Gymshark’s success:

Gymshark fitness apparel, photo via LABBRAND

Lesson 1: Pivot quickly to find product-market-fit.

Gymshark didn’t always sell fitness gear. Initially, Francis started Gymshark by marketing workout supplements. While delivering pizzas to make ends meet, he got the idea to launch a website and started selling supplements directly to his (then) small consumer base. After realizing he couldn’t fund enough inventory to meet the demand he faced on a delivery driver’s salary, he transitioned to the idea of drop shipping supplements from other suppliers. Drop shipping is a retail method where a business doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. When a drop shipping retailer sells a product, it purchases the item directly from a third party that ships the product directly to a customer. In this case, Gymshark would be the storefront for other DTC brands that would advertise goods on its page. For every sale purchased on Gymshark’s site, the drop shipping supplier would charge Gymshark, and Gymshark would charge the customer in turn.

Gymshark’s first launch of fitness supplements on its 2012 website. Photo via BenFrancis.com

Though he stopped dropshipping soon after, he used the short-term creative solution to build his website, direct traffic and raise funds to get the business to a level where it could purchase its own product, taking the third party dropshippers out of the equation.

Lesson 2: Collabs, no ads.

Ben Francis next to shipping packages of products, Photo via Gymshark

DTC marketing brands (especially in the fitness industry!) often depend on collaborations. For Francis, his luck turned when he attended a local trade show to learn how to market himself better and network within the gym industry. The next day, a photo from the trade show displaying his workout wear suits began to go viral on Facebook. He realized that having popular figures wear his fitness apparel would gain more following on social media and lead to more online sales. This influencer marketing strategy essentially helped spread the word about Gymshark, and is emulated by other businesses today (check out this recent Economist article featuring the influencers industry). Additionally, collaborating with other companies with similarly aligned branding and products is a mutually beneficial way to boost sales and exposure.

Lesson 3: Build a transferrable skillset

In school, Francis was barely passing classes, and instead opted for his interests in sports like football. It wasn’t until he discovered an IT class at 17 when he found a love for tech and computing. Around that same time, he also started going to the gym and discovered his fondness for fitness. Francis’ ability to transfer life lessons learned from his extracurricular life into the classroom, were pivotal to his life’s path. This, he said, changed his life.

“These early lessons of structure, consistency and hard work were some of the most important lessons I’d learn in my life. I applied these same lessons to my school work, and went from getting Ds & Es at GCSEs, to As and Bs at A level. The structure, consistency and work ethic I found in the gym I realized, could be applied to different areas of my life and it would work. This changed my life.” — Ben Francis

Transferring lessons and skillsets from difference experiences can help build familiarity even in unfamiliar settings.

Lesson 4: Understand - and build - your Community

On his site, Francis stresses the importance of deeply knowing and curating your community.

Wellness and fitness has been a trend since the 1980s. But the rise of 'athleisure', first for women, and then for an increasingly male audience, was about to take off in the early 2010s. Young adults around the world were beginning to realize benefits of working out and fitness lifestyles, in addition to gaining 'status points' for keeping in shape.

But the real burgeoning game-changer were social media platforms, and photogenic fitness attire was made for it. Francis' social media savvy allowed him to build and curate the Gymshark community ground-up. His ideal audience: 16-25 year olds who, like him, are obsessed with fitness. Employing a sizable social team, the brand stays active on Instagram, Youtube and Tiktok to entertain and engage its nearly 20 million followers across various platforms.

Gymshark fitness wear featured in “Best Clothes for Running,” Photo via Gymshark Central?

“We took big risks, we risked all we had several times. But most of all, we had a ferocious understanding of what our community wanted, we obsessed over it. We understood what they wanted, and we solved their problems.” - Ben Francis

Several stars aligning gave Francis the opportunity he needed for Gymshark to soar. He's on the way to build the UK's biggest athletic wear brand, and has his offices right outside Birmingham. The biggest perk for his employees? You guessed it: An on-campus lifting club and gym.