Outdoor Voices is in the middle of a firestorm after former employees have revealed the troubled activewear company is headed towards bankruptcy, following reports that the brand is closing all stores and transitioning to an online-only retail model.

The brand has seemingly removed all of its 15 brick-and-mortar retail locations nationwide from its website. 

The news of the potential insolvency was first reported by Sourcing Journal, which cited former Outdoor Voices employees with close knowledge of the matter. The activewear brand has also missed rent and vendor payments in recent months, according to the publication, and gave pink slips to most of its corporate employees.

According to another report, from Puck News, Outdoor Voices has already closed all of its retail locations and intends to focus solely on its e-commerce business.

Rise & Fall

Like Lululemon, Outdoor Voices has developed a cult-like following as devotees of the brand have embraced its merchandise as much as its #doingthings lifestyle ethos. Founded in 2013 by Tyler Haney, the brand moved from its New York City roots to Austin, Texas, as it grew. 

By early 2020, right before activewear and athleisure began to see a pandemic-related boom, Haney stepped down as CEO during restructuring efforts. Internal strife had been brewing and an anonymous letter had been sent to the Outdoor Voices’ board and executives that targeted Haney for her management style.

Financial troubles were also percolating, with the company’s valuation down to $40 million in 2020, a steep decline from its 2018 valuation of $110 million. By 2021, the brand had named Gabrielle Conforti, former Urban Outfitters president, as its CEO. 

The activewear company had begun shopping for a buyer in 2022, according to Business of Fashion. 

Haney may have been out of the picture, focusing on Joggy, a cannabis supplement brand, but she appeared to find time to keep a watchful eye on the brand she founded — even leaving comments last year on Outdoor Voices’ social media posts that indicated she had felt the brand had lost its way. 

Now, with news swirling of a potential Outdoor Voices bankruptcy, the active Reddit community on r/OutdoorVoices has been posting images of closed stores, many with notes in the windows that have the Venmo handles of former employees. One photo from a shop in Minneapolis reads, “Our (chairwoman) Ashley Merrill refuses to pay anyone severance. We appreciate anything that you can give. All funds will go directly to this staff. Thank you!” 

Activewear Brands Struggle Post-Pandemic 

It’s been a trying time for some in the activewear game, with leggings giant Lululemon even admitting that it will remain cautious in 2024 in the face of market uncertainty.

Gap’s activewear arm, Athleta, reported an 18% net sales drop in its third quarter of fiscal 2023 compared to the prior year, noting in its earnings release that sales continued to be a challenge. Athleta has said it would work on re-engaging its core customers.

Activewear brand Bandier had also been looking for a buyer to mitigate supply chain challenges before getting acquired along with Carbon38 by BC Brands in January. 

More traditional sportswear giants have also seen some headwinds. Under Armour also reported slowing sales, and Nike cut its annual revenue forecast, announcing a $2 billion cost-savings plan that included restructuring.

One outlier is Gymshark, which recently reported a rather uncommon push-and-pull situation, having experienced slumping profits in 2023 (reporting $16.5 million, down from $35.3 million) but a 15% revenue increase. The brand, founded and led by U.K.’s youngest billionaire, Ben Francis, is going full-steam ahead. 

Outdoor Voices didn’t immediately respond to Athletech News’ request for comment

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Gymshark may have experienced slumping profits in 2023 but is focusing on its increased sales, as the popular U.K.-based activewear brand has made big plans to expand its presence through retail and debut a new premium line. 

The activewear brand reported revenue was up 15% to £556.2 ($709 million), according to a recent filing reviewing the fiscal year ending July 31, 2023. However, it reported profit before tax was £13.1 million ($16.5 million), down from £27.8 million ($35.3 million) in the previous year.

Despite facing the pains of rising raw material, labor costs and cost of living increases affecting consumer spending, Gymshark maintains that it has continued to grow. In contrast, activewear giants such as Athleta and Under Armour have reported dwindling sales.

“I thought I’d jump on here and give you the numbers myself, but also take the opportunity to tell you about some of the moments that are going to make 2024 Gymshark’s BIGGEST. YEAR.EVER.,” posted Gymshark CEO and founder Ben Francis on LinkedIn. He included a video where he outlined key performance details from Gymshark’s 2023 financial results, reflected on the brand’s biggest Black Friday and single-day sales that the brand has seen and shared what’s in store for 2024.

Gymshark’s flagship store on London’s Regent Street experienced sales ahead of expectations, according to the filing. More than just merchandise, the experiential location offers special events, community gatherings and workout spaces. The concept has been such a hit that Gymshark has announced a second retail location in London’s Westfield Stratford City, which boasts over 44 million visitors annually. 

Gymshark Goes High-End, Eyes NYC

As for its product offerings, 2024 will see Gymshark launching its “highest quality athleisure range yet,” according to Francis, adding that the new high-end line, ‘Everywear,’ is born from repeated requests from the Gymshark community for an even more premium product. 

“So we listened,” Francis said, “And I personally have been really involved in the development of this range, and I cannot wait for you to touch and feel this product.”

The new line will launch exclusively in the U.K.’s upscale department store, Selfridges.

“We had to launch it somewhere iconic,” Francis said of the famed retailer, adding that the move also marks Gymshark’s first foray into wholesale. 

Gymshark will also open a pop-up store in New York with a 12-month run, which Francis teased will be in the heart of Manhattan. As for its e-commerce division, the brand plans to become available in the Dubai region this spring and the wider Middle Eastern area. 

Lifting Roots

The activewear brand also plans to continue leaning into in-person experiences, heading to Miami for a huge upcoming event, #LiftMiami, on February 24 and 25.

As the U.K.’s youngest billionaire, Francis has made a fortune with Gymshark, harnessing the power of Instagram, TikTok and fitness influencers who would sport Gymshark apparel in exchange for a small payment. In a garage-to-riches story that landed Gymshark the coveted unicorn status in 2020, the entrepreneur has dodged IPO talk, telling Retail Gazette in 2022 that the brand had plenty on its plate and that it was looking to “smash the U.S. market.” 

At the start of last year, the activewear brand laid off 65 stateside employees in Colorado in an attempt to centralize locations and safeguard the future of its business. By fall, Gymshark tapped Google Cloud and generative AI to power its next growth phase, contextualizing transactional data from purchases versus activities from its fitness training app to provide product suggestions to customers.

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Athleta has dropped a new activewear collection with advanced, no-slip fabric technology made for the most intense, high-impact workouts. 

It’s a crowded space, the activewear game — especially as brands and retailers clamor for the spending power of women, who account for nearly 60% of activewear sales. In recent weeks, fitness pioneer Tracy Anderson and Calia, a women’s performance wear brand sold exclusively at Dick’s Sporting Goods, have debuted women-focused activewear that places fabric functionality at its core.  

Athleta’s new Train Collection is not only innovative, it brings to life the brand’s mission to empower women through movement, said Casey Schumacher, senior director of design.

“With this launch, Athleta continues its commitment of creating products for real women with our obsessive attention to every detail,” she said.

The Gap-owned brand says it conducted third-party lab testing to perfect the eight-piece activewear collection, $69 – $135, to achieve the ideal fit, design and functionality for active women.

“We wanted to ensure we created a product she could jump, lift, sweat and move in without distraction,” Schumacher explained.

Athleta’s new collection relies on the magic of its PowerMove fabric, crafted partly from post-consumer plastic bottles (yet comfortable) while offering active-friendly coverage and stretch.

The brand says its Train Collection is “anchored” by  Interval Tight, which includes two lengths of high-performance leggings, capris, shorts with stay-put bonded waistbands and a fitted jacket with a removable hood.

For pre and post-workout style or layering purposes, Athleta has also included an Unstoppable Fleece assortment with ‘Flex Fleece,’ a new fabric made with spandex and recycled polyester fiber. A zip-up, lightweight jacket, vest and joggers are available, all quick-drying for the comforts of outdoor training.

Athleta also took care to include pockets in the pieces of the Train Collection for streamlined storage needs.

Sportswear Slump

Activewear and athleisure may have boomed during the pandemic, but brands are facing a more challenging environment at the moment.

Gap reported Athleta’s net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 were $279 million, down 18% compared to the prior year. The apparel company noted in its earnings release that Athleta’s sales in the quarter “continued to be challenged” and indicated that the brand would work to “reengage its core customer through better product and brand right marketing.”

Athleta isn’t alone — Under Armour is also facing a sportswear slump after reporting slowing sales. Last month, Nike cut its annual revenue forecast and announced a $2 billion cost-savings plan involving layoffs at the sportswear giant.

Lululemon, a leader in the active and athleisure space that joined the S&P 500 last year, also remains cautious in the face of market uncertainty as it enters the men’s footwear space. Although Lululemon’s men’s line saw a 15% growth in 2023’s third quarter, brand awareness has remained low in the U.S. and even more so outside of North America. 

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Bill McMenamy isn’t exactly a stranger to the fitness industry, having served a brief stint as CEO of US Fitness Holdings LLC, but his background is mostly as an executive with top retail brands including Gap, Five Below and Adidas.

In February 2022, McMenamy took over as CEO of New York Sports Club, tasked with breathing new life into the 50-year-old brand which is loved among New Yorkers but also operates a network of over 50 clubs across six states and two countries (U.S. and Switzerland).

In an effort to capitalize on its strong ties to NYC, earlier this year, NYSC rebranded nearly all of its clubs, including its gyms in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Boston, under the “New York Sports Club” name. That meant jettisoning monikers like “Boston Sports Club,” which had been used at regional facilities. 

Aside from the rebrand, under McMenamy’s watch, NYSC has also struck partnerships with Garmin and Under Armour, and acquired Fhitting Room, an NYC-based boutique fitness concept, which has been added into NYSC’s Upper East Side location and will be rolled out in other facilities.

McMenamy spoke with Athletech News about the rebranding effort, his strategy to make NYSC more appealing to modern fitness consumers and what’s in store for the future. 

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length 

Athletech News: Your background is mostly as an executive with top retail companies. What is it about New York Sports Club that convinced you to get back into the fitness industry?

Bill McMenamy: Health and wellness is a passion. When the New Sports Club opportunity came my way, I was incredibly curious. The New York Sports Club brand has been an iconic wordmark in the fitness industry for 50 years, and like many brands, there have been ups and downs. However, as I started discussing the brand and this opportunity with others, it was clear that although there were challenges, most people wanted this brand to win.

The most important factors that stood out to me were the team and the clubs. We have an amazing team, with many team members having been with us for 20-plus years. When I initially accepted this challenge, I spent most of my time in clubs listening and learning. Our team is incredible, and they deserve to see this brand be successful again.

ATN: What have your early priorities been as CEO of NYSC?

BM: Almost nothing had changed in New York Sports Clubs in decades, so we began by changing the way we do business, and in a short amount of time we took an aggressive approach to reimagine this iconic brand. We invested in our physical spaces, refreshing and renovating clubs to include new equipment and enhanced experiences, such as recovery lounges, expanded functional training and barbell areas, and dedicated performance labs for personal training sessions. To date, we have improved almost half of our clubs. We upgraded our member management system, introduced a member-facing mobile app and are launching a new website next month. In addition to implementing member-friendly month-to-month membership options, we also placed a large focus on community building and member engagement. Our “MY Sports Club” campaign, for example, highlights at least one member or team member in our monthly member newsletter, on our social feed and in our clubs. 

In an effort to accelerate the brand turnaround, we also acquired leading NYC-based boutique fitness brand Fhitting Room. We wanted to bring a new NYSC concept to our members, one that centers around high performance and social fitness, and we saw Fhitting Room as a key component as they offer one of the best boutique concepts with a talented team that is unmatched in the boutique fitness industry.

ATN: Why did NYSC decide to rebrand most of its clubs around the country under the “New York Sports Club” name?

BM: The New York Sports Club brand is iconic, regardless of where we travel. Everyone knows NYSC either through having a membership or knowing someone who was a member, so the wordmark is strong in the fitness industry. At one point we were managing six different brands with different operating models, and in a world of digital marketing and economies of scale, it became very challenging to manage. It really didn’t make much sense to not leverage our size and scale and bring all of our brands under the New York Sports Club banner. 

In addition, the pandemic gave rise to a generation of digital nomads in the workplace, and consistency across markets offers a big opportunity to serve members across geographic boundaries. There was also a notion that we are stronger together coming out of the pandemic and it felt like an ideal time to bring all brands together under the one name.

ATN: There’s a lot of competition in the gym and health club space, especially in the Northeast. What separates NYSC from its competitors?

BM: Our goal is to provide the most value to our members. We offer everything members need and nothing that they don’t. We try to tailor the club experience to the communities we serve to truly be your neighborhood gym. As we reimagined the brand, we have created differentiated spaces within our four walls to allow the members to explore their fitness journey on their terms.

For example, post-pandemic, strength training has surged in popularity. Strength training with free weights was the number two trend (behind wearable technology) in the annual ACSM Health & Fitness Journal survey for 2023, yet many health clubs do not provide weights over 50 pounds. At NYSC, we do provide weights over 50 pounds and have invested in a section of our clubs we call the Barbell Club as well as our Functional Training space. We understand that weightlifting is an important feature to our members, and want to continue to cater to our members’ needs.

ATN: NYSC has done some notable deals under your watch, including acquiring Fhitting Room and partnering with Garmin and Under Armour. What’s the strategy behind those moves?

BM: At the end of the day, this is a relationship-driven business and for us, it’s about culture and fit. We want to partner with other like-minded brands that share our mission, which is to “Improve Lives Through Fitness.”

Fhitting Room provided us an opportunity to partner with industry-best talent, filling voids and gaps we had, and, of course, obtaining the best boutique fitness experience in the market today. Combining the strength of our brands by leveraging our real estate portfolio and Fhitting Room’s expertise in brand building, programming, community and trainer development has allowed us to deliver a compelling offer and stand out in the fitness marketplace.

Partnerships are important to us because they are driven by the goal of community and member engagement. Our partnership with Garmin, for example, was a “Summer in the Gym + Win” Challenge that got members involved in a fun fitness challenge with amazing Garmin prizes. Additionally, partnerships have helped bring us into retail. We partnered with Under Armour for our “Fit On The Garden” free outdoor workout series in Boston, which was promoted inside their store for very prominent co-branding.

ATN: What’s the biggest challenge facing large gyms and clubs today, and how can you overcome it?

BM: For many years it was enough to have lots of cardio, selectorized equipment and a group exercise offer. Members today are well-versed in fitness and invested in their overall health and well-being, and we need to meet members where they are. This requires us to evolve, anticipate trends, and understand not only where the member is today, but what they will expect from us tomorrow. Through a diverse product offer and a clear and concise member journey, we have been able to meet our members’ needs. That said, we continue to challenge the status quo and push ourselves outside of our comfort zone to ensure we are meeting members’ expectations.

ATN: What are your most important long-term goals for NYSC over the next few years, and could expansion be on the horizon?

BM: First and foremost, we need to earn the right to service our members and communities. If we do that well, there are a number of interesting markets that we believe the New York Sports Club brand would thrive in.

Our goal is to deliver value to our members, giving them everything they need to achieve their fitness goals and nothing they don’t so we can continue to be the most accessible full-service offering in the markets we serve. We want to play an active role in helping our members and the communities we serve “Improve Their Lives Through Fitness.” If we are successful at this simplified task, we believe there is incredible opportunity for New York Sports Club.  

The post CEO Corner: Bill McMenamy on Rebuilding New York Sports Club appeared first on Athletech News.

Legends, an apparel brand that was born out of the courts of the Mamba Foundation, has evolved from a mere sportswear brand into a lifestyle brand. The company was founded by Scott Hochstadt, who has successfully established Legends as a company that blurs the lines between sports, culture, fitness and fashion.

Celebrities like Quavo from Migos, inspirational pro-wrestler superstar Zion Clark, former NBA players Matt Barnes and Steve Nash, Dodgers pitcher Noah Syndergaard, LA Rams QB Baker Mayfield and Barstool celebrity Big Cat have all aligned themselves with the Legends brand.

Athletech News spoke with Hochstadt about his background, his goals for Legends and the future of the activewear space. 

Athletech News: Tell us about your background and how it inspired Legends.

Scott Hochstadt: Growing up, I watched my father work in sales for Champion. I was able to follow him on business trips and hang out in NBA locker rooms and visit some of the grittiest sportswear shops in the country. I then went off to prep school to focus on lacrosse and was recruited to play at the University of Maryland. I was inspired by my peers’ style and the top trends of that time and also got insight from fellow Maryland athletes who built Under Armour. My father was unfortunately laid off from Champion, and as a student-athlete in the art department, that forced me to pay for college by designing and selling T-shirts which ultimately fueled my desire to build a business that was my own.

I also built the biggest brand in lacrosse and brought the sport to the western United States before starting Legends. As an athlete myself, I wanted a sportswear brand that other athletes could believe in and actually want to wear because I know what it feels like to train in uncomfortable and basic shorts or shirts. But, it’s more than just the practicality and the look of the clothes. I wanted to build a brand that was a team and centered around making better communities around us.

ATN: What makes Legends unique? 

SH: Legends is more than just good-looking clothes that are comfortable and functional. It’s about building community through grassroots efforts and shifting culture through different drops and collaborations. Our approach at Legends means merging different worlds to build a better one. We are fully backed by some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment and use our platform to support and promote various community efforts that are spearheaded through our investors that include Quavo, Baker Mayfield, Matt Barnes, Steve Nash, Marcus and Markieff Morris and many others.

There’s an attitude to the brand, the product, the cuts and the way it’s marketed. In order to grow, you have to let some guardrails down to open up new markets. The Legends crew consists of public figures focused on the work, both professional and philanthropic — that often goes unseen. Our guys have a mindset to outwork everybody. 

ATN: How do Legends’ partnerships with athletes and entertainers shape the brand and its evolution?

SH: By partnering with athletes and entertainers that have similar values, we’ve created a brand that has disrupted the traditional performance apparel space by using our passions and real-life experiences to create clothes that people actually want to wear. We’ve done collections with various NFL and NBA teams as well as culture drops with Quavo. We hosted a Super Bowl Party and VIP Lounge at X Phoenix where guests enjoyed IV and Recovery Stations, a G1 Gaming Lounge and a performance by Meek Mill. Most recently, we supported Quavo’s 5th Annual Huncho Day where we raised $2 million for the Rocket Foundation. Brand success ultimately stems from the ability to connect celebrity to community and performance to philanthropy.

ATN: What are your favorite Legends products?

SH: I’m really hyped about our new Saylor Swim Trunks as we’re going into summer. We also just came out with a new Aviation Tee with a scoop hemline. Our customers were asking for an elevated lifestyle tee, so I’m happy to give them something they want. This shirt is a go-to for me because I can wear it for any activity and it has buttery comfort. We’re having trouble keeping up with the demand for these and have more shipments coming in weekly. 

ATN: What’s the next big trend in activewear?

SH: I think the future of activewear is being able to listen to your consumer and reach them where they are by activating locally in different areas and bringing new products to life inspired by their needs. I also believe that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the partnership space. Our latest Drops, like our Rocket Fairfax Hoodie, which was a recent collaboration with Quavo for Huncho Day, allow our investors to create clothes that reflect their personality and fundraise for organizations near to their hearts.

I think we will also see a lot more authenticity in the activewear space. We are fortunate to have great partners that help us scale out these organic and creative initiatives. We don’t plan on slowing down on our collabs and “Culture Drops.”

The post CEO Corner: How Legends Founder Scott Hochstadt Turned an Apparel Brand Into a Lifestyle appeared first on Athletech News.

The digital experience is everything in 2023. For fitness brands, having an app that’s well-conceived, intuitive and engaging can make the difference between a successful business and one that flops. 

Mutual Mobile, an innovation consultancy that helps companies design, build and manage digital products, has worked with some of the leading brands in fitness, health and wellness, including Under Armour and Nike.

Among its successes, the Austin, Texas,-based firm helped Under Armour create Record, an app the sportswear company launched to drive sales for its HealthBox, a connected fitness product designed to track sleep, fitness activity and nutrition via a heart rate monitor, wristband and scale.

The Record app, introduced in 2016, was used by 1.94 million users and saw over 2.6 billion workouts and activities logged. Under Armour won eight awards at CES 2016, including the Wearable Best in Show, for its Record and HealthBox products.

Mutual Mobile worked closely with Under Armour on virtually every aspect of Record from start to finish, including the app’s name itself, noted David Garlinski, Mutual Mobile’s Senior Director of Strategic Accounts.

“It was a real collaborative effort,” Garlinski said, adding that Mutual Mobile has done other projects for Under Armour since then, including helping to overhaul the company’s online shopping app, UA Shop. 

“They still come back to us periodically,” he says.

Mutual Mobile has also designed apps for a social fitness company that encourages people to be active through team movement challenges and a sports tech company that makes a calf compression sleeve that tracks users’ metabolic activity and lactate threshold.

Garlinski and Prasanna Tolasati, Mutual Mobile’s Lead Project Manager for fitness tech, spoke with Athletech News about how fitness brands can build apps that attract users and ultimately drive sales.

Understand your users and what they want

Fitness brands, like many companies, often underestimate the vast amount of market research that’s needed in order to build a great app, according to Tolasati. 

“It’s something we’ve had to assist almost every client with,” he says. “You need to do that research to understand the problem you’re trying to solve and who you’re trying to solve it for, because fitness has its own answers for different types of people.”

Market research needs to be deep enough to glean meaningful insights into an app’s users and potential users.

“I’ve seen quite a few instances with fitness influencers who have blue checkmarks on Instagram and Twitter, and they’re basically just putting out an open question on their stories asking, ‘What features would you like to see?’” Tolasati says. “That’s too vague to understand what users actually want.”

Instead, brands should take the time to carefully consider the demographics of the user base they’re targeting with a particular product, including age, socioeconomic status and geographic region. Something as fundamental as the optimal subscription price for an app or service can vary significantly depending on those factors. 

Talking to industry experts can be a useful way for fitness brands to get data that will ultimately improve their apps. 

For brands that intend to offer tracking services, “asking a coach or a personal trainer how they like to track their clients’ workouts or how their clients want their workouts tracked is important,” noted Tolasati, who is an ACE-certified personal trainer himself. 

True to its mission of providing clients with an end-to-end solution for apps and other digital products, Mutual Mobile can help fitness brands perform market research.

“We have product owners and product managers who know what queries you need to run, what surveys you need to conduct, the type of frameworks that you have to implement to get that information and translate it into building a minimum viable product,” Tolasati explains.

Apps should be engaging, but they need to work

Functionality is key; the fun stuff can – and should – be added later. 

When Mutual Mobile was working with a U.K.-based social fitness app, the first thing the firm did was make sure the app worked the way it was supposed to for users every time they turned it on. Mutual Mobile also planned for the app’s future growth. 

“When they came to us, they were experiencing major issues; it was crashes or specific bugs, and notifications that weren’t firing properly,” Garlinski said of the social fitness company’s initial app.

Mutual Mobile ironed those issues out first and then went to work on building out new features and enhancing aesthetics. For every app, there needs to be a solid foundation to build upon.

The U.K.-based company had a great app with a rough back-end, the foundation, noted Garlinski. But the work Mutual Mobile proposed to their executive team set them right and established a way forward to building past their MVP (Minimum Viable Product). 

The social fitness app is designed around team movement challenges where people can join together with friends, family and colleagues to set goals for physical activity and healthy habits, all with the objective of reaching the top of a mountain for a specific challenge. An example would be a group of friends setting a team goal of burning 10,000 calories in seven days.

To drive engagement and make users want to open the app on their phones every day, Mutual Mobile built an array of features that added “little pieces of delight” throughout the app, Garlinski said. 

“Each time you worked out, you got a notification about the summary of your workout, and it gave you some delight with confetti falling on the screen, and the guy had his arm raised because he was excited,” he noted. “Once you got to the top of the mountain, you got to plant your flag.”

Reduce friction to keep users around

You can build the best app in the world, but if users don’t stick around long enough to appreciate its features, that won’t matter. 

“Friction is a big deal,” Garlinski says. “A good portion of people fall off during the tutorials or the onboarding because it takes too much time.”

Mutual Mobile has worked with clients to shorten their apps’ onboarding duration, or even give users the option of skipping onboarding initially and coming back to it later instead.

“If you get to test drive a car, you should be able to test drive an app,” Garlinski says. 

And a 7-day free trial might not be long enough if an app is packed with features, especially those that may take longer than a week for users to fully appreciate. 

“A lot of apps don’t give you the opportunity to completely see what the app does before they make you buy,” Garlinski noted, adding that it’s important for brands to carefully balance monetizing an app with the need to build a solid user base.

Be realistic about budget

Like prospective homeowners, companies planning an app often fail to account for maintenance costs. 

“A lot of folks that come to us have the idea to design their Ferrari or their multimillion dollar home, and they have the funds to buy it, but they don’t have the funds to maintain it,” Garlinski says.

“Code isn’t perfect,” he notes. “You have to make sure that you have the right resources in place to handle bug fixes, handle the person who comes and says, ‘Why doesn’t your app do this?’”

In addition to bug fixes, Garlinski says companies should plan for software updates that Apple and Google roll out for the iOS and Android operating systems, new devices and updates to core software like Apple HealthKit and Google Fit, among other potential maintenance considerations. 

“It’s not a build once, deploy and forget process,” Garlinski says of a fitness brand’s mobile app. 

Less is more: focus on a few key features

Fitness brands looking to score high on user experience should resist the urge to cram a million and one features into an app, according to Tolasati. 

“Fewer features that are more valuable to users is definitely better than 150 features that most people hardly use,” Tolasati says.

He mentioned the Nike Training Club App as a good example of what most brands should be shooting for. The NTC App integrates data from fitness wearables like the Apple Watch, but doesn’t overwhelm users with an abundance of features, Tolasati noted. 

“It’s a very well-defined product,” he says. “It may not have as many functionalities as something like the Garmin App, but it doesn’t need to, because it’s not meant for sport-specific users.”

Going beyond apps: getting everything else right

While building best-in-class apps is Mutual Mobile’s bread and butter, the firm helps companies, including fitness brands, with all aspects of their digital ecosystem.

“Apps only work if back-end works,” Garlinski noted. “We’re not a one-stop shop for mobile apps, we do a lot more.”

Mutual Mobile can help fitness brands build admin portals, for example. The firm also provides strategic advice to companies on which third-party chat or notification providers they should work with if they want their apps to have those kinds of functionalities. 

“If your product is simply a POS system at the gym, we can help you build that out too, or integrate the POS into your custom app,” Garlinski adds. “White-label services are fine, but they’re not customizable. We’re custom, and we can help you build out custom (mobile) applications, desktop applications or anything like that.”

The post How To Build a Great Fitness App, With Mutual Mobile appeared first on Athletech News.

It looks as though more people are taking Nike’s famous motto, “Just Do It,” to heart… and their wallet when it comes to buying the brand’s apparel. According to study findings from financial technology corporation Rakuten, the sportswear company remains most popular among its peers in the United States. Using Google search numbers, Rakuten discovered the average monthly search for Nike polled in at 6,650,000. In addition, the corporation was found most favored in the state of Utah.  

Following Nike at the number two spot is athletic apparel retailer Lululemon, gaining 5,730,000 average monthly searches on Google, and Adidas at number three (2,550,000 average monthly Google searches). Minnesotans are big advocates of Lululemon, while New Yorkers can’t get enough of Adidas. 

The number four and number five rankings of Rakuten’s study go to New Balance (1,640,000 average monthly Google searches) and Under Armour (1,150,000 average monthly Google Searches), respectively. Interestingly enough, the state with a significant interest in both brands is Maryland.  

In a deeper look at Google trends from state-to-state, Rakuten noted the state with the most interest in sportswear overall is New York, followed by Mississippi and Kansas. The states with the “least interest” in sportswear are New Mexico, Montana, and Vermont.

Rakuten’s sportswear popularity study was conducted within the past 12 months. Widely known for providing cash-back services and coupons for members, Rakuten has many stores on its platform including Nike, Lululemon, Walmart, Target, and Ulta Beauty.  

Here is Rakuten’s complete list of the top ten most popular sportswear brands in USA, along with each one’s average monthly search Google numbers and most interested states: 

1. Nike (6,650,000; Utah)
2. Lululemon (5,730,000; Minnesota)
3. Adidas (2,550,000; New York)
4. New Balance (1,640,000; Maryland)
5. Under Armour (1,150,000; Maryland)
6. Athleta (1,050,000; Minnesota)
7. Converse (1,010,000; Wyoming)
8. Patagonia (937,000; Vermont)
9. Gymshark (902,000; North Dakota)
10. Fabletics (882,000; Utah)

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Volumental, a tech-based platform that promises perfect-fitting shoes, will soon release a self-service version of its foot scanners. The global rollout is planned for this year following beta testing with Under Armour.

The AI-powered scanners will sweep consumers off their feet, and are designed for an in-store experience, says Volumental. While in-store, customers can easily obtain their foot measurements with a simple scan and receive customized footwear recommendations on their mobile devices.

“Our new self-service scanners will bring the same technology that specialty footwear retailers have enjoyed to many more retail segments,” said Alper Aydemir, CEO of Volumental. 

The company has already scanned 36 million feet and plans to launch its new service this year in select sporting goods stores, outlet malls, and brand warehouses.

“Having worked with footwear retailers across different store formats, service environments and staffing models, we realized the need for a self-service enabled shopping experience that is both innovative and easy to use for shoppers,” said Aydemir.

According to Volumental’s data, providing foot scanning services improves the customer experience and also benefits retailers. The Sweden-based company says the ability to ensure a perfect fit increases sales by 20% and reduces in-store returns by 25%.

“This solution takes the guesswork out of the whole fitting experience and helps shoppers make smarter and faster purchase decisions with better fit outcomes,” says Volumental’s CEO. “The personalized recommendations create a more engaging customer experience, allow retailers to manage inventory in a much smarter way, and help solve the huge returns issue facing the industry.”

The self–service foot scanners will be located in dedicated retail spaces with touch screens.

Volumental recently spent three days promoting its fit technology as an exhibitor at the National Retail Federation’s “Big Show” summit in New York. In addition to footwear, Volumental is also available for finding the perfect fit of ski boots and can be found at ski rental and retailer locations in over 20 countries.

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Under Armour is selling MyFitnessPal, a calorie-calculating app with 200 million users, for $345 million, five years after acquiring the app for $475 million. The Baltimore-based apparel company also announced it is phasing out Endomondo, another app used to track fitness progress by the end of 2020. It bought that app the same time as MyFitnessPal for $85 million.

Though it is keeping MapMyRun and MapMyRide, two apps that plan jogging and biking routines, respectively, the changes leaves Under Armour bereft of a central platform in the online marketplace.

Under Armour President and CEO Patrik Frisk said the sell-off and phase-out were moves to optimize and streamline the brand’s offerings, stating, “This announcement reduces the complexity of our consumer’s brand journey by empowering sharper alignment with our long-term digital strategy as we work towards a singular, cohesive UA ecosystem.”

However, the sale, to the investment firm Francisco Partners, will cost the company $130 million and the $85 million spent on Endomondo will apparently go up in smoke.

In February of 2015, Under Armour’s digital ambition seemed to be as grand as an emperor’s when it acquired both apps. “Under Armour Acquires Endomondo and MyFitnessPal to Establish the World’s Largest Digital Health and Fitness Community,” read a press release, which noted the two brands combined then had 100 million users. MyFitnessPal was established in 2005, practically the dawn of apps and Endomondo in 2007. Both had built up followings and name recognition, the Danish-born Endomondo had a particularly global following, making them ripe for acquisition.

Under Armour may sense a lack of value in apps that appeal to the casual exerciser/dieter and note that competition for that market is coming from several corners and from contenders as fierce as the Nike and Apple.

“Under Armour’s overall brand image is more associated with professional athletics, and with an enthusiast/semi-pro clientele (or those aspiring to that designation),” wrote Darrell Etherington of Tech Crunch. “What’s more likely going on here is that Under Armour sees diminishing value in this segment over the long term, and there are a number of possible reasons about why that might be. One is that Apple has been more aggressive about targeting entry-level fitness users, through both its expanded Apple Watch hardware and Apple Health software offerings, and through its forthcoming service, which launches later this year.”

Under Armour had a surprisingly strong third quarter, with revenue from footwear sales up 19 percent. Some analysts expected the brand to falter because it depended on sales from brick-and-mortar retail and commerce had moved increasingly online during the pandemic. The company is currently planning to channel less inventory to stores (less trafficked in the age of covid-19) and sell more online. 

Others opined that Under Armour, founded just 24 years ago, had missed out on the trend of more casual-looking athletic wear that blended into everyday apparel — its unmistakable logo still mostly adorned to tracksuits — jeopardizing its growth.

The sale of the two apps, long available in free, ad-supported versions, will free up some cash for Under Armour and allow it to remold its digital portfolio with a sleeker offering for intense fitness buffs or in some way that more caters to its niche.

The post Why Under Armour is Selling MyFitnessPal at a Loss after Buying it 5 years ago for $475 million appeared first on Athletech News.

Under Armour is looking to sell the app, which it bought in 2015 for around $475 million, according to The Information, which cited two people familiar with the matter. 

Founded in 2005, MyFitnessPal had 80 million users at the time it was purchased. The app uses gamification elements to motivate users, and in 2015 it introduced a premium subscription tier for its applications.

In March 2018, Under Armour disclosed a data breach of 150 million accounts at MyFitnessPal. The compromised data consisted of… READ MORE @ The Street

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Under Armour Engineers a First-of-its-Kind Performance Mask to Equip Athletes Returning to Training

For months now, millions of athletes worldwide have been wrestling with the challenges of working out under stay-at-home orders, and wondering whether they should wear a face mask if training in public or outside. Debates continue to swirl over how best to stay healthy outside of the home and when to train with a face mask.

Today, Under Armour has a solution.

Baltimore-based Team Thrill basketball teammates get an on-court training session

The UA SPORTSMASK is a reusable, water-resistant performance face mask designed for maximum breathability by Under Armour’s innovation team in record time. This first-of-its-kind mask functions to reduce the spread of respiratory droplets by the wearer. The top of the mask features a moldable nose-bridge to help secure it in place and mitigate airflow to the eyes, helping to prevent glasses from fogging. It can also be washed and dried, making it more eco-friendly than many single-use, disposable options. 

The UA SPORTSMASK features a unique, three-layer model engineered for athletes during performance:

• LAYER 1: SPACER FABRIC – It is light but has air pockets for structure, so it stays off the mouth and nose for better airflow.
• LAYER 2: OPEN-CELL FOAM – The breathable middle layer lets air through but makes it hard for moisture and sweat to pass.
• LAYER 3: UA ISO-CHILL – This fabric feels cool against the skin, stretches, and is treated with PROTX2, a non-metal anti-microbial technology which inhibits growth of bacteria on the mask.

PROTX2 has been shown in laboratory tests to destroy COVID-19, and is being reviewed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to confirm the efficacy of the substance as it is applied to the UA SPORTSMASK. Under Armour also has a patent pending on its design and construction of the mask.

Lacrosse midfielder Taylor Cummings trains outside on the turf in Baltimore 

I think of wearing masks as a team sport, because it requires the participation of each team member to be successful. When everybody wears masks together, it can be quite effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19, which could be especially important in close-contact environments like a gym or when training with a group. – Dr. Daniel Durand, Chief of Innovation at LifeBridge Health

The seeds for the UA SPORTSMASK were planted in mid-March, when Under Armour began manufacturing face masks designed by its innovation team and distributing millions of units of personal protective equipment (PPE) to health care and community organizations to help fight the spread of COVID-19. During this process, Under Armour founder Kevin Plank recognized a need for performance solutions that would support athletes navigating the pandemic climate. He called on the innovation team in Baltimore, equipped with their recent mask-making experience, to join him in finding a way forward, and fast.

“As soon as we finalized the design of our face mask for PPE, we dove straight into the innovation process of optimizing a mask for performance,” said Kyle Blakely, VP of Materials Innovation at Under Armour. “We knew our athletes would need us to come through quickly with a solve to aid their return to training, one that would put health and safety first and adhere to current CDC guidelines.”

Because of social distancing restrictions, the company went back to its roots during the mask construction phase. Plank’s design and Blakely’s materials were sent to Ella Mae Holmes, an Under Armour seamstress and the company’s third employee who helped develop the brand’s original compression shirt. Holmes got to work sewing mask prototypes out of her Baltimore home. With input and testing from teammates across product development, Under Armour found success in the 13th iteration of the mask.

“Experience told us that fabric and performance had to be our first focus, so we set out to find a fabric combination that created structure to ensure the mask would stand off the face and offer maximum breathability,” added Blakely. “We applied learnings in fit, feel, and ease and speed of manufacturing from the face mask we created for PPE purposes. Throughout it all, the speed of the design process and a meticulous eye to quality and details were paramount.”

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the UA SPORSTMASK and training footage

As part of the launch, Under Armour will be distributing the UA SPORTSMASK to student athletes in its hometown locations across the globe. This is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to protect the health and well-being of all athletes, who are diligently waiting and preparing for the full return of sports. At Under Armour, we always want to be part of the solution, especially during this extremely challenging time. We specifically designed this mask for athletes and for all of us who want to exercise and train while also keeping ourselves, and those around us, safe. – Patrik Frisk, CEO of Under Armour

Football wide receiver Deonte Harris runs through drills to get ready for the upcoming season

The UA SPORTSMASK is available for $30 USD at UA.com. Stretchy ear loops and side panels offer a more comfortable and custom-like fit across four size offerings: SM/MD, MD/LG, LG/XL, XL/XXL. Additional colors of the mask will release this summer and fall, alongside Under Armour retail releases in countries worldwide. As Under Armour receives customer feedback on the UA SPORTSMASK, it will be incorporated into future iterations of the mask.

The post Under Armour’s Sportsmask Sells Out in Less Than an Hour appeared first on Athletech News.

The athletic apparel company said it plans to cut about $325 million in operating costs in 2020 to help it weather the crisis, including by temporarily laying off some retail employees. 

During a conference call with analysts, it said it expects revenue could be down as much as 50% to 60% during… READ MORE @ CNBC

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