- Having that transaction
go through, was like,
such an amazing feeling.
There was never a point
where I was thinking,
"Oh, God, we might lose 15 grand here."
15 grand for me was a
chance to find out what if.
Again, for me to drive a van
as really really cool, like.
(Noel laughing)
- So after half an hour, I
had to turn the website off,
because there was just,
there was just too many sales
going through right.
We completely sold out.
Yeah, that year was, that year was
incredibly, incredibly tough.
I wish I could say it was
some genius move right.
Where we'd sort of worked out
what this business plan is.
It was nothing like that.
Within 30 minutes, we did
30,000 pounds in sales.
- But at this point, this
is properly scrappy, right?
- Oh yeah.
I can't describe how manic it was.
- That was everything you had?
You emptied the bank account?
- Absolutely, yeah,
completely went all in.
We're onto something really special here.
- So in today's video, we're
gonna try something new, and
we're gonna be recording some
sort of long form content,
which I'm really excited to do.
This actually came from this man's idea.
Of a internal podcast.
- Yeah, because we got
so many offices now,
around the world, we've
got like, back in the day,
when we had a company update
we'd all get together in the
cinema and one of us, me, Ben,
Steve, Rene, Paul, whoever,
we would stand and address
the whole nation of
Gymshark, which is like 150, 200 people
and tell them what was
happening now in the company and
what our plans are next and whatever.
But, pretty soon we're gonna
have the Denver office open,
we've now got 400
employees just here, right.
Mauritius, Hong Kong, so
we needed a better way
to communicate at scale, basically,
so we're in a podcast world now, right.
- So, yeah, we recorded our
first internal podcast last
week, and it was talking about
sort of the initial stages
of Gymshark, so that everyone
worldwide truly understands it.
And the feedback has been so
positive, that we thought,
why not, let's see how it
goes on my YouTube channel,
we'll put it out there, we'll have the
conversation publicly, and
hopefully, this is something
that, you know, goes well,
and if you do like it,
please, don't forget to comment,
subscribe, all that stuff.
Let us know that you enjoy it,
so that we can obviously, record more.
So yeah, it went so well
internally, we thought we would
give it a go publicly
on my YouTube channel.
So yeah, here we go.
- Let's do it.
- Come on then, let's talk
about the start of Gymshark.
Let's discuss.
- The thing that, so the
story that Ben told me,
in fact, the first day I met
Ben, the story that I heard,
that really impressed me
was, the first ever event,
BodyPower and like, I think
expos, more so, back in the day,
were so, so important
to the fitness industry.
I think they've been, quite sadly,
becoming kind of less relevant.
But, that being said, for us,
they were super relevant, right?
- Yeah, like, I mean, if you go back to
that first BodyPower, well, not
go back even further, right.
The first BodyPower I went
to was prior to Gymshark.
So Gymshark, obviously, didn't
exist at that point, and
to me it was, it was a place
that me and my mates went to
after school, or after work.
Just because it was like that
cool place where all the,
sort of, big American body
builders were coming together
in Birmingham, which was
just like, completely just,
it was just something
that didn't happen right.
- Weird as well that it's
Birmingham, where it happens
to be around the corner.
I feel like that's strange.
You've got the royalty of the
fitness industry in our hometown.
- I think that, well, looking
back, right, at the time,
it certainly didn't feel like this.
But looking back, they
talk about, sort of,
the stars aligning, to get
GymShark to where it is.
Like you say, the fact that
BodyPower, the biggest event in
the UK, and at the time, albeit
it wasn't the biggest thing
in Europe, I think it was
like the best in terms of,
sort of, the quality of the event.
From the people attending, the
athletes, also the companies,
it was certainly up there in the world.
So yeah, the fact that that
happened 20 minutes away from
where I was born and grew up, is just--
- You think that's one
of the stars aligned
to make all this happen?
- Yeah, definitely.
So, yeah, that first
BodyPower was nuts but
before even that, like
I said, we went as kids,
we went just because it was
the cool place to go and
that was the first place for
me, that I ever really wanted
to be involved in fitness,
and it was at that place,
where I thought, regardless
of how it is, whether it's
supplements, whether it's
clothing, whether it's through,
you know, fitness and
competing, whatever it was,
I just wanted to be involved
in fitness, in general,
so that was--
- Well, when you say that,
you say you and your mates
went there and you walked
around, and you know,
all you're heroes and
all that sort of stuff,
paint the picture for me of you and
you're mates of that time.
How old are you?
What you're doing?
Is it college?
Is it part-time jobs?
- At that point, I guess,
17 years old, your typical
17 year old lad.
I think we was at, what
was it at, sixth form?
17 years old at sixth form,
massively into the gym.
To be honest, at that point, the gym was
literally everything in our lives.
And like I said, to have, to
be able to be at the epicentre
of fitness, for albeit,
just for one weekend,
was super cool.
So yeah, we just, we were
typical like, love the gym,
in the summer we would diet,
in the winter we would just
bulk up and eat a load
of food, following--
- You say typical.
I think that's typical now
but I think, back then,
'cause you and me aren't dissimilar ages,
I think back then being 17 and
being that obsessed with the
gym, where you know sort
of cutting and bulking,
and doing all that kind of stuff.
I think you were definitely at the,
what would you call that?
Sort of, the earlier adopters of that.
I think, there's loads of
17 year olds doing that now,
but I think back then,
when I think of me and
my group of friends, all we knew was,
drink your protein shake, go to the gym.
Do you know what I mean?
But, I think because you had
got into Zyzz and Greg Plitt,
and all these guys super
early, you'd had that like,
3DMJ American influence on
your sort of training regimes.
- Yeah, it was, it was Zyzz
in Australia, Greg Plitt,
Scott Herman, Scooby,
all those sort of guys.
Yeah, I think, you're right.
Maybe it was weird, but I
remember, for me, it was,
it was genuinely a case
of World of Warcraft
or fitness videos.
Learning how to, you know,
do a proper bench press
or a squat, or a whatever it was.
So, yeah, that was an interesting time.
But, I think because
all of my mates did it.
And I'm talking like, there
was a group of at least
10 to 15 of us that would
literally have like,
arms Friday, chest Monday.
I think, maybe for me
it did just felt like
a completely normal thing.
- So you go, you go to
BodyPower, that's like, the mecca
of everything you care about at that time.
- Yeah, and what you gotta
remember is, I think,
when you look at the industry now, and
things like stringer
vests, and a lot of the
things lifters wear nowadays,
is so readily available.
They weren't as readily
available back then.
And I think, let alone in Birmingham,
or in the UK in particular,
so the first time I ever
saw a stringer vest that
wasn't in a black and white
picture on Arnold Schwarzenegger,
or one of the big lifters,
was at BodyPower.
And I remember walking around
and sort of picking one up,
and I think I think it was a MPC stringer,
or a golds gym stringer,
or something like that, at the time.
And just seeing that, in
real life, was nuts, and
don't get me wrong, we tried it on, and
it just completely,
and utterly drowned us.
It was like, way too big,
but having that American,
at the time, influence, rock
up in Birmingham for a week,
and it was crazy.
- So you were going then, as
just a visitor, walking around,
doing the whole, get some free
supplements, get a stringer,
all that jazz.
- Yeah, yeah.
- What was the point where you went,
I wanna do something here?
So, hang on, so (stutters),
I just sort of thought of
another question for myself there.
Did you have Gymshark at this point?
- No, no, so at the time, so
I vividly remember having to,
and I was so miffed at
the time, having to leave
all my mates at BodyPower
early, 'cause I had to go and
do my shift at Pizza Hut.
- And you delivering pizza, right?
- Yeah, so at the time,
there was no Gymshark.
It was just school in the day
and Pizza Hut in the evening.
Usually, like, five til 10.
Obviously, BodyPower was a day thing.
So, I was literally
there as a fan and like,
genuinely just obsessed with
the whole fitness industry.
- So Gymshark starts, start
a job shipping supplements,
I'm guessing this is in
between BodyPower events.
- Yeah, so it was BodyPower
that wanted me to be,
us as a group to be involved
with fitness, right, so,
when it that way at that
point, found out about Shopify,
made this website and the
website, because it was a case of,
it wasn't, there wasn't
like a pull in terms of any
specific direction.
It was just, almost like
the image in my head was
involvement in the fitness
industry, and however that looks.
Obviously, got the website up and
just drop shipped supplements.
So, filled up the website with
all, with all the supplements
I could possibly find.
They would be shipped from another vendor.
Someone would order it and
it would, obviously, ship
via the vendor, through
Gymshark we make a small margin.
I remember, it took, it
must've took about two months
to get the first sale.
The first sale was for something called,
USN Hyperbolic Mass, which is
like a South African brand.
It was like a weight gainer.
And it was 50 quid, and I
think we made two pounds profit
on that, and just having
that transaction, and albeit,
it was nothing, right,
two quid at the time.
Having that transaction go
through, was like, such an
amazing feeling, and it was like
nothing I'd ever experienced before.
- Harley from (mumbles)
talks about that a lot,
right at the moment.
- [Ben] The first sale.
- That first sale, and he
says like, I can't remember,
there's a super impressive
metric which he gave about
how many Shopify vendors or,
you know, new entrepreneurs,
get that feeling per
day, thanks to Shopify,
that first sale.
It's really cool.
So it's cool that you
remember that so much.
But the, so, so it was
BodyPower that made you wanna
get involved in the fitness industry.
So you've done that, the
drop shipping thing, and
then, when was the first point
that you went to BodyPower
having the Gymshark website
live, selling stuff?
- So, first BodyPower I
think was a visitor, and
I think, I think it was the
second BodyPower that I ever
went to, at this point,
Gymshark was live, right,
so at this point we were
drop shipping supplements.
We weren't making a whole lot of revenue.
We had a Facebook page, it
wasn't really a fat lot.
And I remember being
at the show, and again,
it was just more of a
gut instinct, sort of,
just a feeling of, we
have to be here next year.
So, at the show, we was
wandering around, and I remember
thinking just, we have to be here.
So I went up to the place
where you book stands.
They had like a, sort
of, little booth by the,
sort of, entrance slash
exit, and at the time,
it was a guy called Ollie
Upton that I spoke to, and
I didn't know who he was at the time.
You know, he's still a mate to this day.
And he, he basically owns
the, co-owns the show.
And I just said to him,
like, can we have a stand?
Like, whatever stand we can get.
Whatever the cheapest stand is.
- And you must've looked like
some little ragamuffin kid,
at this point, to Ollie.
- Oh yeah, scruffy, local
lad, holes in our shoes,
sort of thing, just literally,
full track suit, whatever.
And just said, whatever
the cheapest stand is.
I think, the cheapest
stand at the time was about
three grand, through
building up Gymshark and
personal savings, and all that,
we'd literally been able to
save 3,000 pounds, which was--
- [Noel] So that was everything you had.
- Everything we had.
Literally everything.
And I remember saying to him,
all right, we'll do this,
'cause I knew that we had
12 months to pay for because
we it was obviously at
the show the year before.
And just said, right,
that's it, we'll do it.
Sign up for it, there and then.
And at the time we signed
up for the smallest stand.
Now in the next 12 months,
we absolutely grafted.
At this point, bought the
screen printer, bought the
sewing machine, and handmade
the clothes for the following
12 months, and at that
point, because it we were
hand making the clothes, the margin was so
much better right.
And we were literally, it
was literally a case of,
what do we wanna wear?
What do we enjoy?
What do we like?
And let's just make it, so
it was all around hoodies,
stringers, obviously, 'cause
they just weren't available
at the time.
More fitted t-shirts, there
was some shorts, called
like, the Luxe shorts, that sort of stuff.
And we just spent 12 months
just hand making product,
which was nuts.
I remember, actually,
on the shorts, which was
really, really lucky actually,
there was, the shorts
were actually purchased
abroad, purchased in Pakistan.
And there was a guy called
Tamvere, who I got friendly with,
I speak to him quite a lot.
And I just said to him, like,
you know, we've got these
shorts, we can't afford
to pay you for the shorts,
but can you sort of do me
a favor and ship us a load,
because that would really
helps us, sort of, build
up revenue, so that we can
pay for the, pay for the
floor space at the expo
the following year.
And he did us the favor, to
be fair, he sent me the shorts
completely free--
- What a guy.
- [Ben] Which, I just
didn't think would happen.
So that was a huge, again, going back to--
- Big shout out to Tamvere.
- And going back to the
stars aligning, right,
if all these things didn't
happen, if all these, sort of,
pieces didn't fall into
place, then we wouldn't
where we are today, I don't think.
So yeah, sent them over, we
sold them, and to be fair,
we made the revenue back on
the shorts, for the cost of
what it cost us within a week or so,
so I sent him the money,
he was obviously happy,
at that point.
And then with that money, we
could then pay for the stand,
and I remember actually calling
the guys at BodyPower, and
saying, you know, we're doing
quite well at the moment,
can we upgrade the size of the stand?
So we managed to do that,
and, yeah that year was,
that year was, it was
incredibly, incredibly tough.
I was, I was at University at the time.
So I'd do University in the
day, I'd do Pizza Hut between
five PM, until, I think,
the shift closed at 10,
but usually you end up
staying a little bit
after just to clean up.
And then sort of do
Gymshark in the evening,
but that was a tough year
but it certainly didn't feel
like it at the time, 'cause it was sort
of a passion project.
It sounds worse than it was.
It was, I wouldn't have
had it any other way.
- Yeah.
So, we're fastforwarding then
up to, you're making clothes
now, a year's past, you're actually gonna
be exhibiting at BodyPower.
Now, the reason I think this
topic is such a great one,
and this story's so good, is
because what I think kind of
happened here is, these days,
you, me, bunch of other people
we get invited to these events,
and we get asked to talk about how our
pioneering retail strategy, right.
Or pioneering influence
on marketing strategy,
and the say that we were the
earliest brands ever to use an
influencer marketing strategy,
and all that other stuff.
But the reason this seems,
to me, like this little adhoc
thing, which you and your
bunch of friends did together,
just, you know, as like a passion project.
Which sort of birthed our now,
notorious retail strategy,
and influencer marketing,
sort of as a whole.
Do you know what I mean?
- [Ben] Yeah.
- Because this was the first
time you'd ever even spoken
or met any of the
Gymshark athletes, right?
- Yeah, so it was at this
point, so going back to
what I said earlier, we had,
like, our heroes were on
YouTube, right, our heroes
weren't anywhere else, and
growing up it was all
around, sort of, football,
being a Villa fan from around here,
those were our heroes.
But as we got into sort of
teenage years, those heroes
shifted onto YouTube, and
it's now, looking back,
I feel like, maybe that
wasn't the norm, everywhere.
But with us it certainly
was, so heroes Matt Ogus,
Chris Lovado, Jeff Seid,
Alon Gabbay, Lex Griffin in
Manchester.
Those were the people that
we were watching on YouTube,
and following on Facebook at the time.
So, it was literally a
case of, we're super proud
of this product that we're
making, and we think it's great.
So we thought, let's get
in touch with them and
see if they'd like it,
and got in touch with Lex.
He was only in Manchester so
sent some stuff up to him and
he started giving feedback.
We were doing Skype calls with
Matt and Chris really regularly,
and just chatting to them,
and just sort of, I guess we
just sort of became friends,
via the internet.
And they were feeding back the product,
they were loving it, there
were things they didn't like,
and--
- And at this point, I don't
want to interupt but there's
zero commercial-ness going on, right.
This is literally just some
guys on YouTube who are
teaching people how to
train, and then some kids in
England are making some
stringers and stuff,
and you're just talking
to them about the product.
You're not paying them, there's no typical
influencer stuff going on yet.
- This goes back to what I
said before, it's a case of,
we just wanted to involved
and to be able to speak
to our heroes, get
feedback to our heroes and
have our heroes wearing the
product, was like, for me,
that was like, that was the
aim, right, that felt amazing.
So it was during this period we
sort of built the relationship with them.
And to be fair, it wasn't
until, I reckon, a few weeks
before, at most, a month or
two before the BodyPower,
that we got in touch and,
we said, obviously, Lex was
easy 'cause it was a short
drive down from Manchester,
but all the other guys,
you know, we had the money to fly them in.
So it was like, do you wanna fly in?
We'll cover all the costs obviously.
Do you wanna come to BodyPower in the UK?
And I don't think any of them
had been to the UK before,
so for them it was a huge adventure.
- [Noel] Free trip to England.
- So, yeah, they all
flew in, went down and
picked them up in the car.
They were sort of rammed into the back of
my car at the time.
Drove them up to the event.
We stayed in, like, a budget hotel in
Birmingham at the time.
And, yeah, we did the event
and, and like you said,
there was no plan.
I wish I could say it was some
sort of genius move, right,
where we'd sort of worked out
what this business plan is.
It was nothing like that.
It was literally a case of
following our gut instinct,
and what we thought was
cool and right at the time.
- So like, when you say, there's a point
I wanna stress there, like
when anybody who've watched
our athletes, who's watched
our athletes vlogs before,
will see them flying to our
events in, you know, a nice
airplane, staying in
really nice hotels, and
everything's very well planned
out and structured, and
they've got athlete managers
and all that kind of stuff.
But at this point, this is
properly scrappy, right?
- [Ben] Oh yeah.
- Crap flights, stuffed in
the back of mum and dad's car
to get them up, budget hotel,
all that kind of stuff.
- Yeah, and even then, right,
like you say, like now,
it's great because
Athletes get managed and
so on it was literally a case
of, you know, we'll see you at
the event because, what
you gotta remember is,
so at the time, my brother
and my dad helped out.
So they stayed back at
the, what was at the time,
we had like an old unit in
Droitwich, and they stayed back
there, and they sort of looked after an
orders that was going out.
And just made sure
everything was good there.
So we literally had to do everything,
so I borrowed my granddad's van and
loaded that up with all the
stock, taking it to the event.
Anyone who's ever been to
the NEC and tried to work out
how that place works,
that's like labyrinth.
It's like a, it's an
absolute nightmare and
one minute you're allowed
in there, then you're not.
And I remember sort of just
driving through the entryway,
and sort of landing it by their
loading bays, opening up the
van, piling out the
boxes, and then rushing
them in to the stand.
Yeah, it was proper, proper scrappy.
And it was really hard work.
We, we had to almost
look after the guys and
obviously, they were our heroes
so we wanted to spend time
with them, and get to know them.
But then we had to sort
of help with the stand.
We didn't actually physically
build the stand that was out
sourced but getting things
like, we'd forgotten to even get
hangers, like we hadn't thought of it.
(Noel laughing)
Because it was just nothing that we'd
ever approached before.
That, on top of that,
just going back as well,
it was that initial event
that, essentially, moved me
into my decision of, the week
before I both left University
and I left Pizza Hut as a job.
So that was my, I'm all
in now sort of thing,
so I was literally dedicating every
single second I had to, to Gymshark.
- [Noel] And you still forgot the hangers.
- [Ben] I know.
(Noel laughing)
- Yeah, it was absolutely
nuts, so we had to
bring it all together.
And to be fair, we, on
the actually opening day,
which was Friday.
Friday's a trade day.
Anyone who's been to an
event will know the first day
is a trade day, but it never really is.
And then Saturday, Sunday you
have the main sort of guests.
So we were told Friday is a trade day.
And I think it opened at nine.
I think it was nine or 10.
So we thought we had a bit of time.
We probably had about
half an hour to an hour
more work to do.
Obviously all the athletes
were down there and
it was just, you know,
there was a couple of us.
I think, Dan and Craig came
down and helped as well.
So I think there was four of us in total.
And we were still sort of
finishing off the stand.
I was carrying a box over
and they sort of announced
that the show was opening,
which to us wasn't a big deal,
'cause we didn't really think
that many people would--
- Know who you are, come to the stand.
- [Ben] You know, we
were just, we had a small
Facebook page, Instagram
wasn't a thing at the time.
You know, I think, pretty
sure Matt Ogus, at the time,
was the biggest athlete and
he would've been in around
20,000 YouTube subs, which by
today's standards is obviously
not a lot, but at the time,
he was, and I think he still
is, the boy of particularly
natural bodybuilding.
The door was opened and
I was carrying the box,
obviously towards the stand
and then the entry was
behind our stand.
And what I can only describe
as a flood of people,
like literally, it was
like a flood of people just
piled onto the GymShark stand.
And I'm sort of carrying
boxes, there was literally
hundreds of people
surrounding the stand, and
I'm having to sort of
say, excuse me, to try and
get them out of the way, to
get the stock to the stand.
- [Noel] And this is on the
trade day, not the main day.
- [Ben] This is on the trade day.
I have never known anything like it.
And to be fair, it was super
cool, because a lot of the
people, you know, a lot of
the people were there because
we launched the Luxe
tracksuit for at this event.
So I think that a lot of
people wanted to see that.
A lot of people just wanted
to come and have a chat,
which was super cool, and I
remember just speaking to people
and we, you know, they were
saying, where you lifting,
we went down Ironworks after.
So it was a super cool
experience, but it was, it was at,
it was in that, an albeit at
the time, you have very little
time to think, because it is
just, I can't describe how
manic it was, it was just
10 hours of constant,
just, work, making sure
everyone's okay, restocking
the shelves, going back to,
we sort of had stocking boxes,
round the back.
It was just completely
and utterly non-stop, and
I think, looking back, I'd
say that was one of the most
incredible and pivotal
times in Gymshark history.
And to be honest, it was
one of the most surprising,
because you just do not
expect anything like,
at the time, we were getting
a handful of sales a day
on the website, like I said a few
thousand followers on Facebook.
It was nothing huge but it
was at that moment, we went,
I sort of, genuinely felt like
we were at the happy center
of the fitness industry, and
to feel like that in your
sort of, home town is absolutely crazy.
- [Noel] So I know why
I think that happened.
But I'm interested to hear,
why you think that happened?
And I wanna sort of, I wanna
also spell out to those
who don't know the fitness
industry, that at this point,
nobody else has done the
influencer thing at an event,
out there really yet.
You had a load of sort of--
- [Ben] Definitely not in fitness.
- Yeah, you got the IFPB dudes
or the competition winners,
who had won some great, you
know, accolades on stage
for their physique and stuff,
but they weren't really
on YouTube or Facebook
or whatever else, right.
So, you're taking a room full
of sort of, what would we
call it, sort of, traditional
achievers in that world.
You're sticking some Youtubers
in there, who were competing
on some, like, they
wouldn't mind me saying,
lower level shows, right,
yet there's a stampede past
all those guys to get to your guys, right.
- Well, to be fair, there was
this weird thing at the time,
you were either a competing
bodybuilder or you were, like,
a social media sort of person.
And to be fair, like, the
initial group that came over,
Alon, Jeff, Matt, Chris,
and Lex, they were like,
massive, massive pioneers
in what they did.
They were the first people
that sort of, really did that
whole fitness-social media thing.
This thing, right now, is so big, right.
I think like even from
a, now, from where I sit,
I look at YouTube and online and you see,
I see three really distinct
communities, right.
So you see like makeup and
beauty, gaming, and fitness.
When I look online those
communities are, you know,
the most, sort of,
powerful communities, and
that's why you see people
really sort of come together.
These individuals certainly
started that, and I felt like
we, we just sort of happened
to be there for that.
- [Noel] To harness that.
- That was, that was super cool.
- [Noel] So, in your
opinion then, were all
those people rushing
in to get to Gymshark,
or were they rushing in to get to the,
Matt Ogus and the Jeff Seid, and whatever?
- I'd say mainly those guys
but I do think it was a bit of
both, because what we offered
was, like a central place
where like-minded people
could come together, albeit,
it was by no means planned,
and it was by no means
a conscious effort.
I think that's what happened.
I think, our constant drive,
and I think it's to this day,
right, which is to create the things,
whether it's a product or
an event, create the things
that we would want to wear, do, or go to.
And I think we inadvertently did that, and
by doing that, I think
like-minded people similar to
ourselves all, sort of, resonate with that
and came together.
And that was cool, and
I think, like I said,
the fact that people came
to the stand, you know,
they bought stuff, they
spent time with the athletes,
and the fact that it was a
massive group of us that went
to Ironworks after was cool.
- [Noel] And for me that's
a wicked parallel, although
because although people
would never normally make
this comparison.
I've heard so many founders
of sort of skateboard brands
have said the same thing
as street wear brands,
like where they were part of
this sort of rebel underground
community, where skateboarding
in its early days
were seen as, like, crazy
kids being pests and
whatever else on the street,
and they went out and started,
you know, Nike and the sports
brands didn't really know
what they were about,
so they went away using
screen printers, started
their own sort of street wear
things on Gildan tees, or whatever else,
and that's them becoming--
- Kind of a parallel journey, right.
- [Noel] 100 percent, but
people would never normally
make the comparison I think
between fitness and Gymshark,
and what they've done,
but it's all, just to me,
sub-communities that weren't
represented by any brands,
and then a brand came along
that was the first person
to stand up and go, "I
represent what you stand for."
You know what I'm saying?
Which is what you guys did,
which is what, I think,
the skateboard brands
did, which is really cool.
But, I know, obviously on
your channels there's loads of
sort of would-be entrepreneurs,
or even successful
entrepreneurs already in
their own right, who are
starting something new, or whatever.
So I wanna give some, I wanna
give some frame of reference
financially, at this point,
so you've dropped three grand
on the stand, then you
upgraded it and that cost you?
- [Ben] Probably, an
extra two so like five.
- Five grand total.
And then your stock,
which we'll keep that as
kind of separate, and then
the getting the athletes over
and the hotels and stuff, total cost?
- [Ben] Probably, a few grand.
I'd say, to be honest, looking
back, all in, somewhere in
10 to 15 grand, I would say.
Which, by the way, was
like by a clear mile,
the most we'd ever had, right,
so Pizza Hut at the time was
paying, it was like,
4.99, five quid an hour.
So, that sort of money was
just crazy right, it was--
- [Noel] That was everything you had.
- Yeah, completely, went all in.
And, but like, like I said,
I don't want to come across,
there was never this moment
of, we're going all in,
it was a case of, this feels
right, this is what wanna do,
this is what we're passionate
about, so let's, you know,
let's go for it.
- [Noel] Yeah, yeah, it was like a
sure in your stomach feeling.
You didn't sit there thinking,
I wanna invent this thing
called influencer marketing,
or offline fitness events,
or whatever else, it was just what you
guys thought was cool almost.
- And I think, and I
still think that we do
this to this day, right.
It's less about the risk
of what the particular
risk that we're taking, so
there's never a point when I
was thinking, "Oh, God, we
might loose 15 grand here."
It's a case of, 15 grand to
me was a chance to find out,
what if, you know what I mean?
Like, if this thing goes
well, if this is cool, if this
is an experience of our
lifetime and then it flops and
never happens again, to me
it was worth every penny.
And we were fortunate enough
for it to go incredibly well.
- That's cool.
So, Friday's trade day.
What was it like Saturday?
'Cause if that was the
proper day when it opened,
exact same thing again?
- Yeah, so Saturday was just as busy,
if not slightly more busy, but
it felt much more difficult.
And the reason was, obviously
Friday night, jump back
in the van, go back to the
warehouse, my dad and brother
helped us out in terms of
getting more stock in and
taking that van back to the
NEC and loading the stock up,
and so basically had no sleep.
So Saturday, it was just go
again, albeit, I think we
were slightly more mentally
prepared for what was to come.
It was just, honestly, it
was rammed and at this point,
we just couldn't deal with
the amount people that were
coming to the stand.
So, to be fair, called up my mates,
Ash Grant, Dan Blackwell,
who were from Coventry,
who we historically
went to the event with.
Called them up, obviously
they knew the event.
I think, to be fair, they might have
been coming anyway, but
they came and helped us out.
So dropped everything
they were doing that day,
and helped us out, so thank God they
came and did that, as well.
So, between Dan and Craig,
skipping their exams,
Blackwell and Ash Grant
helping us out as well, and
my dad and brother in the warehouse.
Everyone really, really
helped us and if it wasn't for
those people helping us,
we would've really, really
struggled so, yeah.
- [Noel] And, as well,
there's two things there.
There's the people, the
other brands that are at the
expo and I'm really excited to hear what
they thought of that.
Then the other thing is, you
only started coming out on
YouTube making yourself
sort of known as who you are
at Gymshark after like,
four years, maybe five years
at Gymshark, right?
A couple of years back?
And so I think, sort of the
world has only known you,
as like successful entrepreneur
Ben Francis, right?
But, again, I think it's
really important to stress that
point, that 19 yr old kid,
whatever you were, is that right?
19 at that point?
19 year old kid, in the
van, quick rush back,
I'll carry the stock in, all that stuff.
You have properly
string-of-your-pants rushing around,
like, to all intents and
purposes, like parents or
girlfriends or whatnot
might think you were,
I don't know that sort of
typical, "What's he doing?
Go and get a real job", kind of thing.
Do you know what I mean?
Which is so funny when
you think about that now.
Because like I said, the rest
of the world, would know you
as a successful entrepreneur.
- It was, like I said, it
was incredibly tough but
it was what I love doing, right.
It was, like again, for
me to drive a van was
really, really cool.
(Noel laughing)
Like when I was a kid, like
working with my granddad,
he would let me drive
the van occasionally and
I loved driving it, so the
fact that I got to drive it
into the NEC was just sick and,
do you know what I mean,
everything's like an
adventure at that point.
Everything's like a first,
so that's super cool.
- [Noel] This feels like a
lesson and you know, people
say, sounds like a cliche,
just doing what you love.
Everything you've said
to so far, as we've been
recording this, is just like, I'm doing it
because I loved it,
speaking to the athletes
'cause I loved them.
Do you know what I mean?
Like wearing the clothes
because I love the clothes
we're making, 'cause
I wanted to make them.
So although that's a bit of
cliche, I feel like you're
the kind of living example of
that will eventually work out.
Like if you just do what you
love, and you care about.
- 100 percent, 100 percent.
- [Noel] So then go back to
that first point, as well.
I'm guessing you've got USN there and
maybe Optimum Nutrition and
some of the really big brands
of the fitness industry,
who've dropped the best part of
a hundred grand on just
their stand, build and their
space, right, and then
you've got these, like,
four Brummie kids with a bit
of a poxie stand in the corner,
and all the crowds are
rushing over to you.
- Yeah, so the thing is
because so much was going on
during the weekend, we had
no idea what was going on
around us, so the fact that
we knew, we knew the event
right, 'cause we'd been
there prior, so we knew that
USN were the biggest and the best.
Like they just were, they owned that event
every single year.
They were there on the entry.
I think, you had like, Maxi
Muscle and stands like that.
Smart Shake was opposite us as well.
I think, ON and this sort
of Glanbia owned brands
were there as well.
So, we had no idea what
was going on, right, and
we genuinely, we just,
I think you just sort of
assume that everything
is the same, and you
assume that every stand is
as busy as what we were.
It wasn't until after the event,
and again, vividly remember
doors closed, everything
had gone and would just
lay on the floor in the stand.
I think it was someone from
ON that actually came over.
They were just saying, they
just said like, awesome
weekend, congrats,
like, how did you do it?
And were like, honestly--
- [Noel] Not even sure ourselves.
- Not a clue.
Not even a clue in terms
of how we did this thing.
But how we even sort of
survived it, physically,
in terms of getting all the
work done, so, yeah that,
again, it was just absolutely
nuts, and it was, it was
such a special thing to be a part of.
- [Noel] So there's another
little nugget in this story,
which I really like, which
will probably bring us
to the end, but Sunday you
finish, Monday go home sleep
recover, or whatever else,
and then something else
particularly special happened
Monday night, didn't it?
- Yeah, yeah, so at that point
we sort of broke down the
stand, finished Sunday, so
Sunday you get the breakdown,
Monday is obviously the first day after.
I think everyone sort of
started to head off home.
And then Monday night I was
just literally sat on my own,
in the living room, it was,
it must have been about
midnight, just watching telly or whatever.
And over the weekend, we'd
turned all the stock off,
because, again, everything
was sort of made to order
at the time, it was printed, it was sewed,
and so on, so it was a case of,
we don't want too many orders going out.
The looks track suit had
obviously been announced at the
event and sold at the event,
but that hadn't gone online.
We had a few left so I
put them on the website,
did a post on Facebook,
thought nothing of it, and
announced that the Luxe
tracksuit was live, and
so were stringer t-shirts,
hoodies and so on, were also put
on. And within that half an
hour, like, I think, because
this picture, I think because
this whole thing with the
Luxe tracksuit in particular,
and Gymshark had gone viral.
And this had gone viral
globally, by the way
and we had no idea that this would happen.
In the first 30 minutes
of turning the website on,
we did more sales, it was like then
the entire history of Gymshark.
Like from a financial perspective--
- [Noel] In 30 minutes.
- In the first half an
hour, so after half an hour
I had to turn the website
off because there was just,
there was just too many
sales going through,
like we completely sold out.
To put things into perspective,
prior to the event,
we were selling, I would
estimate between three and five
hundred pound revenue a
day, which was, you know,
that was great at the time.
After the event, within 30 minutes, we did
30,000 pound in sales, which was like--
- [Noel] That's insane.
- Again, mind-boggling,
and I remember sat there,
I was literally sat there in
the living room on my own,
that night, just turned
the website off, and it was
the combination of the
event, of going to the gym
with everyone of, almost
the reaction of the sales,
and the social media reaction
afterwards, and it was
that night that I remember
thinking I genuinely can see
that we're onto something
really special here.
And, yeah, that was,
again, just an incredibly
memorable point in my life.
- That feels like the perfect
place to end it, to be honest.
500 pounds, three to 500
pounds, a day in sales to
30 grand, you know you're
onto something then don't you.
