Gymshark: Every Niche Needs a Brand
Believe it or not, Gymshark was built by gym-goers, but not by gym-goers with a huge entrepreneurial track record or any steps already in the clothing industry.
You see, Ben Francis was nineteen years old, living in Birmingham, studying at university, delivering pizzas for extra cash, and lifting weights nearly every day. Like most serious gym-goers at the time, he wore whatever workout gear he could find, even though none of it felt quite right. The clothes were either oversized, poorly fitted, or clearly designed for a different kind of athlete. Francis was lean, young, and part of a growing generation that cared about both performance and appearance. At this point Francis had discovered a gap in the market.
Before Gymshark, Francis experimented with fitness apps and online projects, none of which turned into meaningful businesses, but what they did give him was comfort building things on the internet and an understanding of how online fitness communities behaved. When he and his friend Lewis Morgan registered Gymshark in 2012, it was not yet a clothing brand at all. It was an online store selling fitness supplements through a dropshipping model. They held no inventory, packed no boxes, and made very little money. It took weeks just to generate the first sale.
The supplement business worked mechanically, but it revealed a larger problem. When they added gym apparel from third-party brands to the site, the products felt uninspired. Francis saw an opportunity not just to sell clothing, but to design something he actually wanted to wear. With little capital and no manufacturing background, he bought a sewing machine and screen printer and began making basic workout vests in his parents’ garage. His grandmother helped teach him how to sew. Orders were packed by hand and the designs were simple, but the goal was not scale; It was fit.
At the same time, Francis was spending hours on YouTube and Instagram, following fitness creators who were building large audiences by documenting their training. Instead of buying ads, he sent these creators free Gymshark products. There were no contracts, no campaigns, and no expectations. The creators wore the gear because they liked it. Gymshark grew strongly because people saw clothing they wanted on people they already had a connection with.
This approach unintentionally positioned Gymshark at the center of a new marketing channel. Influencer marketing had not yet been formalized, but Gymshark treated creators as partners. These early athletes helped shape the brand’s identity, and in some cases were rewarded with long-term relationships that aligned incentives beyond one-off promotions. Gymshark began to embed itself inside the gym community.
The Holy Grail of Marketing for DTC Brands
For direct-to-consumer brands, influencer relationships can compress years of trust-building into months. Unlike traditional advertising, influencers sit inside a community rather than speaking at it. Their audiences are self-selected, highly attentive, and already aligned around shared identity and behavior. When done well, this allows a brand to enter a market through credibility instead of interruption. Gymshark did this. Instead of treating influencers as paid channels, it treated them as extensions of the brand itself. By building long-term relationships with fitness creators who genuinely trained, posted, and lived the lifestyle Gymshark was selling, the company embedded itself directly into the culture it wanted to serve. The result was legitimacy. Customers did not feel marketed to; they felt represented. That distinction is why influencer marketing for Gymshark became a growth engine rather than a line item, and why it translated into strong brand loyalty, organic sharing, and sustained demand.
The company’s first major inflection point came in 2013 at the BodyPower Expo in Birmingham. Francis and Morgan spent nearly all the company’s cash to secure a booth. It was a high-risk decision for a business still operating out of a garage. When the doors opened, the Gymshark booth was overwhelmed. Fans who had followed the brand online showed up in person, eager to meet athletes and buy products they had only seen on screens. Gymshark was not the biggest brand at the expo, but it had the most energy.
That same weekend, Gymshark debuted a more refined product: the Luxe Tracksuit. Unlike earlier DIY apparel, this piece required proper manufacturing and upfront inventory investment. Once again, Francis bet the company’s resources on a single moment. When the tracksuit launched online shortly after, demand spiked so quickly that the site nearly collapsed. In under an hour, Gymshark generated more revenue than it previously had in months.
The product resonated with this community Gymshark had been trying to penetrate. Shortly after, Francis dropped out of university and committed fully to the business.
Over the next several years, Gymshark scaled aggressively. It remained direct-to-consumer, selling exclusively through its own website. This gave the company control over customer data, margins, and brand presentation. It also meant Gymshark had to build operational muscle quickly. Manufacturing, logistics, customer service, and international shipping all became real constraints as demand expanded beyond the UK.
Product expansion followed usage. Gymshark introduced women’s apparel, initially with mixed results, and iterated quickly based on feedback. Over time, collections like seamless leggings and form-fitting tops became core revenue drivers. The brand’s audience expanded beyond hardcore lifters to a broader group of fitness-oriented consumers who identified with the brand’s aesthetic and tone.
As revenue climbed into the tens of millions, Francis made a decision that many young founders resist. He stepped back from day-to-day operations and brought in experienced leadership to help professionalize the company. A seasoned CEO and chairman were hired to strengthen execution, while Francis focused on brand, product, and long-term vision.
By the late 2010s, Gymshark had become one of the fastest-growing private companies in the UK, shipping to customers around the world and employing hundreds of people. Remarkably, it did so without taking outside investment. Growth was funded almost entirely through operating cash flow, giving the company unusual control over its direction and ownership structure.
That changed in 2020, when Gymshark accepted its first external capital. A minority stake was sold to General Atlantic, valuing the company at over one billion pounds. Gymshark was already profitable, but the partnership provided capital and strategic support to expand further into the United States and explore new channels.
Around the same time, Lewis Morgan exited the business, closing the chapter on Gymshark’s founding partnership. Ben Francis remained the majority owner and, shortly after, returned to the CEO role to lead the next phase of growth himself.
Gymshark’s strategy evolved, but its core principles did not. The company remained community-first, digitally native, and disciplined about brand expansion. When it eventually entered physical retail, it did so cautiously, opening flagship stores designed as community spaces rather than traditional points of sale.
Gymshark won by understanding its customer earlier and building with them rather than for them. What began as a teenager’s frustration with gym clothes became a global billion dollar business by using culture, community, and distribution as strategic assets, providing a brand for one of the largest niches out there.
Works Cited
- Forbes. “How Gymshark Built a Billion-Dollar Brand Without Traditional Advertising.” Coverage of Gymshark’s influencer-first marketing strategy and DTC growth model.
- Harvard Business Review. Articles on influencer marketing, trust-based distribution, and community-driven brand penetration in direct-to-consumer companies.
- Business of Fashion. Reporting on Gymshark’s rise, its use of fitness creators, and the role of cultural relevance in scaling modern apparel brands.
- Marketing Week. Analysis of Gymshark’s influencer partnerships and long-term brand ambassador model.
- McKinsey & Company. Research on DTC brand growth, customer acquisition through community channels, and the economics of trust-based marketing.
- Francis, Ben. Interviews and public commentary on Gymshark’s early growth strategy, influencer relationships, and community-led marketing approach. Forbes, Fast Company, and podcast appearances, 2016–2022.