Name: Gymshark：他在20多歲時就建立了一個價值10億美元的健身服品牌 | CNBC Make It (Gymshark: He built a billion dollar fitnesswear brand in his 20s | CNBC Make It)
Uploaded: 2021-08-23T17:40:58.000Z
Duration: 9 min 52 s

Gymshark has come a long way since its founder Ben Francis

自創始人本-弗朗西斯以來，Gymshark已經走過了很長一段路。

程度副詞

started making pieces of fitnesswear in his parents' garage nearly a decade ago.

近十年前，他開始在父母的車庫裡製作健身服。

But by 2020, the fast-growing fitnesswear brand

但到2020年，這個快速增長的健身服裝品牌

was valued at more than £1 billion and had been sported by a number of Hollywood stars.

價值超過10億英鎊，許多好萊塢明星都有過這樣的經歷。

After spending six years gaining experience in several senior roles in the company,

在花了六年時間在公司的幾個高級職位上積累經驗後。

Francis returned to the CEO role in 2021, with ambitious plans for expansion.

弗朗西斯在2021年回到首席執行官的位置上，制定了雄心勃勃的擴張計劃。

In Canada you've got Lulu, and in the States you've got great brands

在加拿大，你有Lulu，在美國，你有偉大的品牌。

like Nike and Under Armour, and in Germany you've Adidas and Puma.

像耐克和Under Armour，而在德國你有阿迪達斯和彪馬。

I really think Gymshark can be the U.K.'s answer to those brands.

我真的認為Gymshark可以成為英國對這些品牌的迴應。

The Gymshark website was created in 2011 by a then-19-year-old Francis,

Gymshark網站是由當時19歲的弗朗西斯於2011年創建的。

while he was a student here at Aston University in Birmingham, in the U.K.

當他在英國伯明翰的阿斯頓大學做學生時。

I was really lucky actually. So when I was a young kid,

其實我真的很幸運。所以當我還是一個年輕的孩子時。

I did work experience with my grandad and my grandad ran his own business

我和我的祖父一起做工作經驗，我的祖父經營著他自己的生意。

and that business was basically lining furnaces with either brick or ceramic fibre.

該業務基本上是用磚或陶瓷纖維來襯托爐子。

Now, albeit that is a million miles away from websites,

現在，儘管這與網站相差十萬八千里。

it basically made me really inspired and made me think

它基本上讓我得到了真正的啟發，讓我思考

'oh, do you know you know what, I want to do my own thing,

'哦，你知道嗎你知道嗎，我想做我自己的事情。

I want to be in a business that I would like to run myself, if possible.'

如果可能的話，我想做一個我自己願意經營的生意'。

And when I went to school I had a IT class

當我去學校時，我有一個信息技術課

and this IT class completely changed my life, I just absolutely fell in love with IT

而這門IT課程完全改變了我的生活，我完全愛上了IT。

and tech and websites and apps and everything around like that.

和技術、網站和應用程序以及周圍的一切都像這樣。

And I was also in love with sort of the gym and fitness.

而且我也愛上了健身房和健身。

So then those two things just sort of came together

是以，這兩件事就這樣結合起來了。

and I started making a load of fitness websites, more for fun than anything.

我開始製作大量的健身網站，更多的是為了好玩。

In 2012, he incorporated Gymshark with his school friend Lewis Morgan.

2012年，他與他的同學劉易斯-摩根一起成立了Gymshark公司。

At first, they used the Gymshark website to drop ship fitness supplements,

起初，他們利用Gymshark網站空投健身保健品。

effectively acting as a middleman to market and sell the products,

有效地充當中間人，推銷和銷售產品。

without having to take on the additional cost and risk of buying stock themselves.

而不必自己承擔購買股票的額外費用和風險。

They used all the money from this venture, as well as what Francis earned working at a Pizza Hut,

他們使用了這次創業的所有資金，以及弗朗西斯在必勝客工作所賺的錢。

to buy a sewing machine and screen printer to make the first pieces of Gymshark fitnesswear.

購買一臺縫紉機和絲網印刷機，製作第一批Gymshark健身服。

What inspired you to go from drop shipping to making clothes?

是什麼啟發你從代購到製作衣服？

There was no like strategic thing, it wasn't really like a well thought out decision,

沒有像戰略性的東西，這並不像一個深思熟慮的決定。

if I'm completely honest. It was literally a case of

如果我完全誠實的話。這簡直是一個案例

'no one makes the gymwear that we want to wear, like let's try and do it ourselves.'

'沒有人制造我們想穿的健身服，就像讓我們試著自己做。

I remember ordering what they call a stringer vest from the States,

我記得我從美國訂購了他們所謂的絞肉機背心。

and it came and it just completely like drowned me.

它來了，它就像完全淹沒了我。

Like I looked like I was wearing my dad's sort of tops sort of thing.

就像我看起來像穿著我爸爸的那種上衣的那種東西。

And it made me realise very quickly that body building clothes then were absolutely massive.

這讓我很快意識到，那時的健美服絕對是巨大的。

And we loved the style but they wouldn't really fit,

我們喜歡這種風格，但它們並不適合。

so we literally just wanted to make it ourselves and so we did.

所以我們實際上只是想自己做，所以我們就做了。

So my nan and my mum both knew how to sew, so I would be at university in the day

所以我的祖母和我的母親都知道如何縫紉，所以我白天會在大學裡。

and in the gap between uni and Pizza Hut, is I would, my mum would video herself sewing

在大學和必勝客之間的空隙，是我，我媽媽會把自己縫製的東西拍下來。

and give me like a tutorial: “Right you do this here, this here, this here.

並給我一個教程。"對，你在這裡做這個，在這裡做這個，在這裡做這個。

If this happens, this is what you do.” Then I would sort of get home at 11 o'clock,

如果發生這種情況，你就這麼做。"然後我就會在11點多鐘的時候回家。

put it in front of me and I would basically learn from the videos that she took how to sew.

把它放在我面前，我基本上會從她拍攝的視頻中學習如何縫紉。

There was local lad that did a lot of screen printing,

有一個當地的小夥子，做了很多絲網印刷。

so he taught us how to screen print, and just sort of experimented.

所以他教我們如何進行絲網印刷，並只是進行一些實驗。

In 2014, the business really started to take off after Francis and Morgan

2014年，在弗朗西斯和摩根之後，業務真正開始起飛。

brought Gymshark to the Bodypower Expo, a two-day fitness event in Birmingham.

他把Gymshark帶到了伯明翰的Bodypower Expo，這是一個為期兩天的健身活動。

They launched Gymshark's Luxe  fitted tracksuit at the event 

他們在活動中推出了Gymshark的Luxe fit運動服。

and brought along well-known fitness YouTubers.

並帶來了知名的健身優酷網友。

What made you kind of realise that bringing along fitness YouTube stars

是什麼讓你意識到把健身的YouTube明星帶在身邊？

We realised that about 10 minutes into the event to be honest.

說實話，我們在活動開始10分鐘後就意識到了這一點。

I had no idea running up to it, because my heroes were on YouTube

我完全不知道該怎麼做，因為我的英雄們都在YouTube上。

so it was just a case of 'oh it would be so cool if our heroes

是以，這只是一個 "哦，如果我們的英雄們能做到這一點，那就太酷了 "的案例。

would come to the UK and be with Gymshark at this event.'

會來英國並與Gymshark一起參加這個活動。

I didn't really think that much into it if I was honest.

如果說實話，我並沒有想那麼多。

Soon after Francis dropped out of college to focus on growing the business.

不久之後，弗朗西斯從大學輟學，專注於發展業務。

That was a massive decision for me because I was the first person in my family

這對我來說是一個巨大的決定，因為我是家裡的第一個人。

to have gotten into university, which was massive.

以獲得進入大學的機會，這很重要。

And then as we got into the second year, Gymshark was roughly, it had been live

然後當我們進入第二年時，Gymshark大致上是，它一直是活的。

for about a year at that point, and we did actually have consistent revenue,

在這一點上，我們有大約一年的時間，而且我們確實有穩定的收入。

it wasn't massive revenue, but it was consistent.

它不是大量的收入，但它是穩定的。

And I'll never forget actually calling up my mum and dad,

我永遠不會忘記真正打電話給我的媽媽和爸爸。

because again they were so proud of me and so proud of the fact that I'd literally grafted

因為他們再次為我感到驕傲，為我真正地嫁接了這個事實感到驕傲。

so hard to get into uni and I said “Listen I'm going to quit uni.”

我說："聽著，我要退出大學。"我很難進入大學。

And to be fair to them, they sort of said

為了對他們公平起見，他們有點說

“Listen, are you 100% sure that this is what you want to do?”

"聽著，你100%確定這是你想做的事嗎？"

And I'm not sure if they 100% agreed, but I said “Yep, this is the decision I'm going to make.”

我不確定他們是否100%同意，但我說 "是的，這是我要做的決定"。

And then as soon as I made the decision they were 100% supportive

然後我一做出決定，他們就100%支持我。

and completely backed me  and that was, if I'm honest, 

並完全支持我，如果我說實話，那是。

對我來說是一個相當改變生活的時刻。

From then on, Gymshark saw rapid growth, taking on more staff and launching its women's activewear range.

從那時起，Gymshark看到了快速增長，吸納了更多員工，並推出了女性運動服系列。

In 2016, Morgan stepped back  from working in the business 

2016年，摩根從企業的工作中退了出來

but remained a shareholder  for the next four years.

但在接下來的四年裡仍然是股東。

Fast forward to 2020 and Gymshark had gone from operating out of a garage,

快進到2020年，Gymshark已經從一個車庫裡營運起來了。

to this campus in Solihull, just outside of Birmingham,

到位於伯明翰外的索裡赫爾的這個校園。

complete with its own lifting club and gym. And while many clothing retailers

它有自己的起重俱樂部和健身房。雖然許多服裝零售商

suffered during the coronavirus pandemic, Gymshark actually saw a jump in sales.

在冠狀病毒大流行期間，Gymshark的銷售額實際上出現了跳躍。

Gymshark is an exclusively online business and only sells its products through its own website.

Gymshark是一個完全在線的企業，只通過自己的網站銷售產品。

That worked to its advantage as many brick-and-mortar shops were forced

這對其有利，因為許多實體店都被迫

to close during the height of lockdown. The business also benefitted from people

以在封鎖的高峰期關閉。該企業也受益於人們

using exercise to stay occupied while being asked to stay at home.

在被要求呆在家裡的時候，利用運動來保持忙碌。

More people are running, cycling and lifting than ever,

比以往任何時候都有更多人在跑步、騎自行車和舉重。

they were doing home workouts, there was so much going on.

他們正在做家庭鍛鍊，有這麼多事情要做。

All of a sudden they had this extra bit of time.

突然間，他們有了這一點額外的時間。

There was a spike in terms of activity, albeit no one was in the gym.

儘管健身房裡沒有人，但活動卻出現了高峰。

I think it helps that we're online. I think a lot of e-commerce brands did incredibly well.

我認為這有助於我們在網上的發展。我認為很多電子商務品牌做得非常好。

We trialled a store in Covent Garden which unfortunately had to be closed about two weeks early,

我們在考文特花園試用了一家商店，不幸的是，這家商店不得不提前兩週關閉。

I would love to finish that trial. We'll definitely be doing more tests in the future

我很想完成這項試驗。我們將來肯定會做更多的試驗

when it comes offline and retail, I think there's a great opportunity there.

當涉及到線下和零售時，我認為那裡有一個巨大的機會。

Gymshark's sales soared by 58% in 2020 compared to the previous year, with revenues topping  half a billion dollars.

2020年，Gymshark的銷售額比前一年飆升了58%，收入突破5億美元。

In August 2020,  U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic announced it had taken a 21% stake in Gymshark.

2020年8月，美國私募股權公司General Atlantic宣佈它已獲得Gymshark 21%的股份。

At the time, it valued Gymshark at more than £1 billion,

當時，它對Gymshark的估值超過了10億英鎊。

seeing the brand become one of just two dozen British unicorns.

看到該品牌成為僅有的二十幾家英國獨角獸之一。

Gymshark was only the second  British company to have reached 

Gymshark是第二家達到了以下標準的英國公司

the milestone without previous  backing from external investors.

在沒有外部投資者支持的情況下取得了這一里程碑式的進展。

The General Atlantic deal also saw Francis increase his stake in Gymshark

在General Atlantic的交易中，弗朗西斯還增加了他在Gymshark的股份。