ce sales. Not bad for a company founded in 2012 by a then-19-year-old Ben Francis. “I have no ambition to start any other business, do any other job or work anywhere else other than Gymshark,” Francis said on stage at the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference in January. “We talk a lot internally about building a 100-year brand, which is a really tough ask, but what this really does is focus our mindset on the long-term versus just the next quarter.” Building a 21st-century-defining brand What then is behind the meteoric rise of Gymshark “across the pond” from its home of Birmingham, the UK’s second city? Speaking to Inside Retail, Hannah Mercer, the brand’s general manager of retail, explained the business had primed itself for success by gaining a strong understanding of the local consumer base. “The timing [of the Roosevelt Field store] isn’t by chance, it’s deliberate,” Mercer said. “It’s defined in terms of our knowledge, our data points, knowing our consumer and ultimately designing stores that are fit for purpose and for scalability in the future. Potentially, we’re looking to expand from the East Coast to the West Coast, so we’re active in our search for where we’re going next. Again, we want to make sure the locations are right and that we land in the blueprint of how we’re showing up as Gymshark in the first round.” For the time being, Gymshark plans to inform and win over its American fan base through interesting influencer partnerships, such as the brand’s 2025 collaboration collection with Bronx native Analis Cruz, city-exclusive merchandise, and in-person brand experiences. In today’s hypercompetitive market, it’s somewhat rare to see a successful apparel brand wait more than a few years, let alone a decade, to launch its first physical store. Yet, it will be the brand’s intentionally cautious approach to expansion that will lead to its goal of becoming a “forever” brand, Mercer explained. “You see many brands expanding rapidly across the world or in certain markets and not necessarily taking their time to get it right,” she added. “For us, Gymshark wants to be a 100-year-old brand. We don’t want to be here now and disappear tomorrow. We want to build a legacy and have sustainable growth.” Achieving that ambition, Gymshark executives argue, requires more than disciplined product focus; it also means rethinking how the brand shows up across channels. That focus is embodied by Jennifer Lai, Gymshark’s head of retail for North America, who joined the business as it began laying the groundwork for physical expansion in the US. “The biggest part of this journey right now is transitioning Gymshark from a purely online DTC player to a wholly omnichannel business,” Lai said. “This is the absolute focus right now and will play a massive part in helping us achieve Ben’s dream.” Lai also pointed to Gymshark’s origins as a key differentiator in its transition to physical retail. “Gymshark’s advantage starts with the fact that it was built as a community-first brand, not a distribution-first brand,” she explained. “Many legacy players grew through wholesale scale and later layered in community. Gymshark grew in the opposite direction – audience, culture and digital connection came first. That foundation creates a level of loyalty and engagement that’s difficult to replicate through traditional retail models. This year is about building with intention, not just pace. Our focus is on establishing a strong foundation for long-term scale – ensuring every store we open strengthens the brand, the community and the commercial model at the same time.” Gymshark’s core strategy was planned from day one. At the NRF conference, founder Francis made it clear that the brand would always resist the temptation to expand beyond its specialty in weight training. “We found that as we’ve narrowed our product base and our focus – and we’ve really tried to become sharp on what we can be the best in the world at – the business has grown far more quickly than if we were trying to sort of appeal to everyone,” he said. While the vast majority of the brand’s sales come from e-commerce today, it is building a steady yet highly strategic approach to global bricks-and-mortar expansion. “It would be very easy for us now to say our stores are working and to go ahead and open 100 stores. We could double that revenue very quickly,” Francis said. “But we really want to be thoughtful with our expansion, as we don’t want to open 100 stores just to close 50. We want to do this the right way for our business, because it’s so easy to over-expand and alienate that core customer. The second that we do that, it’s very difficult to recover from.” Product and content creation are the secrets to Gymshark’s success Beyond store strategy and community building, analysts say Gymshark’s product positioning has also played a critical role in its momentum in the US. At the root of its success, several retail experts noted, has been Gymshark’s adeptness at creating quality products that are both functional and fashionable. Neil Saunders, analyst and managing director at GlobalData, added that much of that appeal stems from products accessible to people across different income levels. “Gymshark is not the cheapest brand, and is not aiming to be, but it is also much more accessible than Lululemon and more premium offerings.” Another key point in the brand’s popularity in the US market is its approach to social media, especially how the brand interacts and engages with influencers. That approach has been particularly effective in a market shaped by social media and influencer-led discovery, retail analysts have said. “Gymshark has been very successful at creating a real buzz around its brand, which has, in turn, helped it drive sales,” Saunders said. “A lot of this marketing success stems from an understanding that its younger target audience is seeking authenticity and community from brands. Gymshark has delivered on this by doing things like partnering with influencers on social media, using content generated by its fans, and sponsoring events. Even in a large and complex market like the US, this has really cut through.” Melissa Minkow, global director of retail strategy at CI&T, told Inside Retail that what distinguishes Gymshark is not just its community focus, but the discipline with which it has protected that identity while scaling. “Gymshark has always been a community-first brand committed to keeping its core audience at the forefront of its marketing and products,” Minkow said. She noted that very few brands have stayed true to their audience while pursuing growth strictly aligned with their brand identity, yet Gymshark has maintained this disciplined approach. This is evident in the brand’s approach to content creation. As Francis explained during the NRF panel, “In 2012, it [our approach to content creation] wasn’t any more intentional, other than us trying to produce the content that we were consuming.” Francis recalled that he was a “kid” who naturally gravitated to YouTube as a content-streaming platform and counted YouTubers and bodybuilders among his heroes. What has become a more obvious strategy for promoting a brand’s products and connecting with consumers was, at the time, a yet untapped territory. Gymshark has more or less organically excelled there with content like viral fitness videos, including the “66 Days: Change Your Life” challenge, the Gymshark Athlete program – a brand ambassador initiative for fitness creators – and user-generated content (UGC), like non-sponsored shopping hauls. “If you see any Gymshark content, you’ll generally see three words alongside it, and those words are ‘We Do Gym’, because for us, it’s about making sure that we’re very clear about who we are and what we do,” Francis said. “From the influencers that we work with to the content we produce for our monthly product launches, everything is tied in to the core message that Gymshark is the best producer of gymwear in the world.” Minkow praised Francis’s ability to tap into the power of YouTube and influencer-led content creation long before the field had become hypersaturated with retailers, as it is today. “Content has become such a core pillar of retailers’ strategies in the last year, since they’ve seen how successful it is at driving discovery,” she said. “And Gymshark was one of the first brands ever to invest fully in creators as a part of its business. From collaborative workout videos to community meetups, Gymshark has always leveraged loyalty among the bodybuilding elite to solidify its positioning. That investment in community and commitment to a niche allowed it to resonate authentically with those who could immediately identify with the brand values, as well as those who found that aspirational.” Leaning on the strength of seasoned retail executives That long-term mindset is also reflected in the leadership talent Gymshark has brought in as it enters its next phase of growth. In many ways, the story of Gymshark’s rise mirrors the careers of Mercer and Lai – two executives who left legacy retailers to build a new challenger. Mercer was a former senior manager of womenswear at Harrods and a leading executive with sportswear giants Nike and Adidas. Lai served as head of retail, wholesale, and franchise Apac for Dyson and as senior director of retail and franchise operations in Western Europe and Central Eastern Europe for Adidas. In addition to sharing a former employer, Adidas, and long-term experience in athletic wear, both Mercer and Lai have extensive experience expanding retail operations across multiple international markets. It is this global awareness of how consumers behave worldwide and a passion for building an exciting brand’s presence in a new market from the roots up that ultimately compelled both Mercer and Lai to leave the legacy brands they were working for to join a still relatively independent player. As Lai told Inside Retail, “I’ve spent much of my career helping large organisations evolve – whether it was leading omnichannel transformation in North America at Adidas or resetting retail ecosystems across the APAC region at Dyson. These roles focused on modernising complex infrastructure. Gymshark, on the other hand, offered the chance to design the system from the ground up in North America – from long-term expansion strategy to store experience to people to operational rhythm. “What drew me to Gymshark was the rare opportunity to build the physical retail expression of a brand that was born digital but has one of the strongest communities in the world. After many years with established global brands, I was excited by the shift from optimising scale to shaping the blueprint – defining what world-class retail looks like for the next generation of consumer brands. Gymshark sits at the intersection of performance, culture and community, and that’s where modern retail is headed.” This story first appeared in our Inside Retail US magazine, to find out more, click here. Further reading: Gymshark’s Jennifer Lai discusses building range before chasing titles