Gymshark: lessons fir CCX

good AFR article of creation of a 100% digital clothing brand off the back of the right social influencers:


“When Ben Francis was working at Pizza Hut making £4 ($7.16) an hour while attending university in Birmingham, he was hand sewing t-shirts and hoping that local gym junkies would buy his product.Less than a decade later, the 28-year-old co-founder of Gymshark is majority owner of a global fitness brand valued at over $US1.45 billion ($1.86 billion).Ben Francis is founder, chief marketing officer and major shareholder of Gymshark, valued at over $US1.45 billion. SuppliedThe company is nipping at the heels of industry giants such as Nike, Adidas and Lululemon Athletica, and is doing it using the ultimate in 21st century strategies - all digital sales channels and marketing that relies wholly on ‘genuine’ social media influencers.Gymshark has assembled a community of over 15 million followers on social platforms.The result is that Gymshark is now one of the few UK start-ups to earn ‘Unicorn’ status – a valuation of over $US1 billion. Private equity firm General Atlantic (the same group that invested in GreensillCapital) bought a 21 per cent stake for £230 million last August.AdvertisementYou won’t find any Gymshark seamless leggings, sports bras, or men’s sleeveless tees at the mall - it’s all about gym culture online fuelled by millennials posting selfies on social media. Fitness influencers have emerged en masse in the growing category — set to top $US208 billion according to Statista.Gymshark sales are estimated to jump by about £150 million in the 2021 financial year to around £410 million selling through one channel - the company’s website. The UK company has not sacrificed profitability for top line growth, and it continues to extend its reach after opening a new distribution centre (DC) in Melbourne in mid-April.It opened a new fulfilment centre in Toronto last year and a North American headquarters in Denver, and plans to open a US fulfillment site next year.The new Melbourne warehouse will cut delivery times to just few days from over a week previously.“Australia, it’s a country full of people that are massively into sports and fitness,” Francis tells the AFR Weekend. “Online and social media, there is a big influencer network. It’s a huge opportunity for us, it’s massively growing from an e-commerce perspective.”AdvertisementGymshark has a suite of social media athletes it partners with such as Australian fitness bloggers Nathan McCallum (826,000 Instagram followers) and Morgan Rose Moroney (867,000 Instagram followers).Francis - who has family living on the Gold Coast - has been visiting Australia since the early days of Gymshark.At 19 years old, Francis was attending university and hitting the gym in free time. In 2012, he managed to save up for a screen printer and sewing machine by working as a deliverer for Pizza Hut. He and his friend Lewis Morgan started Gymshark because they felt there was a gap in the market for fitness clothes that fit properly.Francis says his heroes were YouTubers, and so he sent them products. Gymshark was one of the first brands to promote up and coming athletes and influencers...”