Gymshark
2012
Gymshark was founded by school friends Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan in 2012. Both aged 20, they set up the brand while studying at university. Francis studied at Aston University before dropping out, and worked as a delivery driver for Pizza Hut when he first established the company.
June 2012
Gymshark is a British fitness apparel and accessories manufacturer and retailer headquartered in Solihull, England. Founded in June 2012, Gymshark creates and distributes its own range of fitness wear.
2013
Gymshark started drop shipping bodybuilding supplements through its website. In 2013, it began designing and manufacturing its own fitness apparel.
2013
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.
2016
In 2016, Gymshark was named the UK's fastest growing company in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100.
2016
In 2016, Morgan partially exited the business retaining 20% of the company, to focus on his other ventures, property development company Ernest Cole and fashion label Maniere De Voir.
2018
In 2018, Gymshark moved from its office in Redditch to a new 42,000 square foot headquarters on Blythe Valley Business Park. In the same year, Gymshark made sales of £100 million.
2019
Gymshark also has offices in London, Hong Kong, Mauritius. In 2019, the company opened its first North American office in downtown Denver.
2019
In 2019, Gymshark made sales of £175.2 million with profit of £18.6 million. Around half of its turnover was generated in the USA. The company reported a 68% growth in sales in 2021 to £437.6 million, up from £260.7 million a year earlier.
2019
In 2019, the company opened a new 8,000 square foot office in Hong Kong. In September that year, Gymshark launched the Gymshark Lifting Club, a gym and innovation hub, on the same site as its headquarters in Birmingham.
2020
In 2020, the company was valued at over £1 billion. Ben Francis is the majority owner of the company. In October 2022, it opened its first retail store, on London's Regent Street.
February 2020
The company does not rely substantially on brick-and-mortar stores, but did open its first pop-up shop in London's Covent Garden in February 2020. In 2022, Gymshark opened its first permanent store in Regent Street in London.
August 2020
In August 2020, US private equity firm General Atlantic purchased a 21% stake in the company which valued the company in excess of £1 billion. The company said it would use the funding to further expand globally.
November 2021
In November 2021, Gymshark appointed Gary Vaynerchuk as an advisor to the company's board.
October 2022
Gymshark opened its first store on Regent Street in London on 29th October 2022.
