Is Gymshark Fast Fashion? An Expert Breakdown!
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If you are a lover of working out in proper gym clothing and owning the relevant accessories and equipment, then there is no way that you would not have heard of Gymshark. This brand is the go-to store for gym lovers and can be considered a pioneer of high-quality and affordable gym wear. However, the question that remains circling through our heads is whether it is fast fashion or not.
Created at a time when gym clothing consisted of either loose-fitting tees and shirts or expensive exclusive workout gear, Ben Francis teamed up with his friend, Lewis Morgan in 2012 to start their brand of gym gear accessible for all. Working as a Pizza Hut delivery man at the age of 19, Francis joined a gym class where he began feeling that people needed appropriate apparel for activities that did not put a dent in their wallets.
Francis asked his grandmother how to sew clothes and started selling gym wear for men out of his parents’ garage. He aimed to make clothes that not only provided comfort and flexibility but also looked fashionable. His items began to sell quickly and soon, the duo found themselves earning $500 per day. However, this was still not their big breakthrough. That came 10 months later when they joined a bodybuilding expo and gym lovers fell absolutely in love with the items and clothing.
In addition, they also made use of social media to their advantage. Workout and healthcare influencers were rising day by day back in those days and people were interested in following gym routines and health tips as guided by their favorite YouTubers or Instagram influencers. They made use of this rising awareness and sent influencers Gymshark gear and accessories so they could advertise it to their followers. This helped boost the brand on social media and reach a wide audience which helped the brand reach a global status.
The brand introduces itself in the following lines,
“We're Gymshark. We exist to unite the conditioning* community… We create the tools that help everyone become their personal best: the clothing you'll sweat in, the content you'll find inspiration in, and the community you'll become your best in.”
Sustainability Rating: 4/10
Category: Clothing, Accessories
For: Women, Men
Products: Joggers, Leggings, Headwear, Bottles
Style: Casual, Cool
Quality: Low, Medium
Prices: -
Size: XS-3XL (Men Size), 2XS – 2XL (Women Size)
Fabrics: Cotton, Nylon, Polyester, Elastane,
100% Organic: No
100% Vegan: Yes
Ethical and Fair: No
Recycling: No
Manufacturing Countries: China, Bangladesh, Turkey, United Kingdom, Italy, Macau, USA, Taiwan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Republic of Korea, Mauritius, Thailand, Ireland, Mexico, Jordan
Certifications: Not Transparent Enough
Today, Gymshark is one of the fastest-growing global fitness brands in the world. It has built a fortune of up to 1.2 billion dollars according to Forbes’ rich list. The owner, Ben Francis, even made it into the Forbes 2018 list of 30 under 30, establishing himself as a major force to be dealt with. Even though Gymshark’s sales are still way behind those of Nike and Lululemon, at the rate it is growing each year and how fast Francis was pushed into the billionaire status, it is only a matter of time before Gymshark surpasses the biggest brands in terms of sales.
They may be behind in sales but on social media, hardly anyone can beat the presence of Gymshark. With influencers like Melissa Alcantara, the personal trainer of the Kardashians, it became an example of how to wield social media as a weapon and grow on it.
All of this sounds great for a brand that was only launched 10 years ago, but the big questions remain. Is Gymshark fast fashion? Is Gymshark sustainable? In this day and age, who is not aware of fast fashion? Fast fashion refers to the unethical sourcing of non-biodegradable and toxic fabrics and materials that are low-priced to produce low-quality clothing and accessories that only serve as a trend and ultimately end up in landfills. Fast fashion is not meant to last long or care about workers’ rights. As indicated by its name, it is meant to pass by quickly. But the environmental and ethical effects it leaves behind are quite devastating.
Gymshark cannot be categorized as fast fashion because it does not care about trends. It makes clothing that defines the brand for what it is and sticks to it. Gymshark’s team is not interested in expanding the business to include casualwear or outerwear made cheaply to attract more customers. It is a brand solely made for gym lovers and it has stayed that way since its inception. This way the brand can focus solely on the few products it produces and work on making them even better. It has a rating of 3.9 on Trustpilot but most of the complaints are related to the delivery process or the wrong item being shipped instead of any critique on the item itself. Customers sound quite satisfied with the quality and materials of the items.
As we mentioned above, Gymshark is not fast fashion but sadly, it is not sustainable either. On the support page of its website, it claims to take sustainability as a duty, not just a trend. It expresses the commitment to be better and play a role in keeping the planet safe and it promises to do all this through actions, not empty words.
“For Gymshark, it (sustainability) means 3 things;
Our Planet, Our People, Wear More, Waste Less.”
To join the forces of combating global warming, it joined WRAPS’s Textiles 2030 Initiative and set a science-based Target for future goals. BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) gave it a rating of “Very Good” based on how sustainable the Gymshark team is in their main office building in the UK. According to BREEAM, it follows proper recycling procedures, sources local ingredients in the canteen, and controls water wastage.
However, this rating is only for one office building. There is hardly any information about audits or assessments of its factories, the treatment of workers in those factories, or the materials being used there. It has released a list of its factories and the ratio of male to female workers is not that large but the supervisors are still predominantly male. This lack of transparency has earned it a rating of “Not Good Enough” by the GoodOnYou directory. While it uses recycled packaging and does not use hazardous chemicals, most of its materials are not eco-friendly.
It has a Code of Conduct and Modern Slavery Statement on its website but it stopped releasing a Transparency Statement which outlines how far it has come in terms of sustainability. Moreover, the 2021 report seemed to be a direct copy of the 2019 one with no major growth of any sustainable initiatives. We can still appreciate that Gymshark joined the Fair Labor Association in 2019 and has many goals of using 100% recycled polyester and other similar ones to reach by 2030.
We can confidently declare Gymshark is well on its way towards sustainability seeing that its efforts have grown in 2023 and it seems to be showing the commitment to become better in this regard. However, for the time being, Gymshark still has a long way to go on the path of sustainability.
Sources:
Gymshark Review: Affordable Gym Gear for Everyday Wear (insider.com)
Gymshark - Sustainability Rating - Good On You
Gymshark - What is Gymshark's commitment to sustainability?
our environment (gymshark.com)
Gymshark Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of gymshark.com (trustpilot.com)