Gymshark founder Ben Francis takes the reins as global sales soar

Francis has taken over as chief executive of the brand he founded in 2012 from Steve Hewitt, who will become the brand’s executive president with a greater focus on scaling the business commercially.

Hewitt, who joined the brand in 2015 and stepped into the CEO role in 2017, has been crucial in growing the business, with Gymshark achieving £1bn valuation last year following the sale of a 21% stake to US fund manager General Atlantic for £200m.

Sales of the brand rose by more than 50% in the past year as revenues increased to £400m, according to the Financial Times. 

Francis announced the changes to Gymshark’s management team in a video on his YouTube channel, and said he felt better equipped now to take on the chief executive role.

Speaking in the video, Francis said: “A couple of years ago when we were on a trip in Hong Kong, me and Steve had a long conversation about the future of the business, where we wanted to go and ultimately the right type of leader to take it to that place.

“I’m not going to lie, I was fairly surprised at the time because Steve said that he genuinely didn’t think that he was the right person to take Gymshark to the next level. The thing that really surprised me is that he said that he thought that I was the right person to take it to the next level.”

Francis remains the majority shareholder in the business with 70% stake, and Hewitt said the change in management heralded a “new era of brand and organisation”. 

Gymshark, which frequently works with influencers, has a strong social media standing, with over 5 million followers on Instagram and a further 3 million on TikTok.

To that end, Francis said he wanted to make Gymshark the UK equivalent to global sportswear giants such as Nike in the US and Adidas in Germany. 

“In the US, they have their own large fitness and sports brands. In Canada, they do. In Germany the same. And I think Gymshark can be the UK’s answer to all of those brands.”

Francis steps into the top job at a time where the brand is expanding in the US, with its first American distribution centre due to open in California this month.

The company is planning to open a further two distribution centres in the US before the end of the year and already sells to more than 150 countries.