CNBC: 29岁的10亿美元运动品牌创始人：我们并不担心那些大品牌（双语）

The 29-year-old founder of a $1 billion fitness wear label: We don’t worry about larger brands

Vicky McKeever,CNBC, Published Mon, Sep 13 20211:25 AM EDTUpdated Mon, Sep 13 20215:50 AM EDT

Vicky McKeever，CNBC，发布日期：美国东部夏令时9月13日

A passerby wears Gymshark sportswear leggings, on July 09, 2020 in Paris, France. Edward Berthelot | Getty Images

图片：2020年7月9日，法国巴黎，一名路人穿着Gymshark运动紧身裤。

Gymshark founder Ben Francis says he doesn’t view big-name sportswear brands as a threat to his relatively young $1billion label.

Gymshark创始人本·弗朗西斯表示，他不认为大牌运动服装品牌会威胁到他这个相对年轻、价值10亿美元的品牌。

“So we don’t worry about larger brands,”Francis told CNBC in a recent video interview, arguing that many of those businesses were actually trying to pivot toward a business model similar to that of Gymshark.

“所以我们不担心那些大品牌，”弗朗西斯在最近的一次视频采访中告诉CNBC，他辩称这些大牌企业中有许多实际上都正在试图转向类似于Gymshark的商业模式。

Gymshark sells its fitness wear exclusively online and only through its own website.

Gymshark只通过自己的网站在网上独家销售健身服。

The brand was an early adopter of influencer marketing, partnering with well-known fitness YouTubers and building a community of its own ambassadors, known as “Gymshark athletes.”

该品牌是网红影响力营销的早期采用者，与知名的健身YouTube网红合作，并建立了自己的称为“Gymshark运动员”的形象大使社区。

And it’s because Francis has built this business with a younger, more agile and social media-savvy mindset that he’s less concerned by incumbent brands trying to do the same.

正是因为弗朗西斯以一种更年轻、更灵活、更精通社交媒体的精明心态建立了这项业务，他才不太担心那些正竭力做同样事情的现有大品牌。

“If I’m honest, I’m more worried about the 16-year-old person that was similar to what I was like in the bedroom, trying to build out that new brand,” Francis said.

“老实说，我更担心的是某个16岁、跟我在卧室里的样子很相似、正试图打造新品牌的小年轻，”弗朗西斯说。

Francis built the first version of the Gymshark website while he was a college student in 2011, having realized his passion for website and app development, as well as fitness at school. He then incorporated Gymshark with a schoolfriend, Lewis Morgan, in 2012.

2011年，弗朗西斯在大学期间创建了Gymshark网站的第一个版本，他彼时已意识到自己对网站和应用程序开发以及学校运动健身的热情。2012年，他与校友刘易斯·摩根组建了Gymshark公司。

The pair initially used the website to “drop ship” fitness supplements, which is when a business takes customer orders, but doesn’t actually buy the physical stock.

两人最初使用该网站“投递”健身补充剂，即企业接受客户订单，但实际上并不购买实物的库存。

So they effectively acted as middlemen to market and sell the products, without having to take on the additional cost and risk of buying stock themselves.

因此，他们有效地充当了市场营销和销售产品的中间人，而不必承担购买存货的额外成本和风险。

They used the money from this venture, as well as what Francis earned working part-time at Pizza Hut, to buy a sewing machine and screen printer to start making fitness wear.

他们用这笔投资所得以及弗朗西斯在必胜客兼职挣来的钱购买了一台缝纫机和屏幕打印机，开始制作健身服。

Gymshark has grown rapidly since those early days, becoming a billion-dollar company in 2020. Its turnover in the last four years alone has grown tenfold, jumping to £400 million ($552 million) this year, according to Gymshark’s latest full-year results in June.

Gymshark自早期建立以来就发展迅速，在2020年已成为一家价值10亿美元的公司。根据Gymshark在6月份发布的最新全年业绩，仅过去四年，其营业额就增长了十倍，今年跃升至4亿英镑（5.52亿美元）。

While Gymshark did not provide CNBC with its latest full-year profit figures, its results for the year to the end ofJuly 2020 showed profits had increased to £24.4 million, up from just under £15million in 2019.

虽然Gymshark没有向CNBC提供其最新的全年利润数据，但截至2020年7月底的年度业绩显示，利润已从2019年的略低于1500万英镑增至2440万英镑。

By comparison, U.S. sportswear brand Nike reported in June that its revenue had grown 19% to $44.5 billion, for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2021. It reported a net income of $5.7 billion for the year, more than double its profits for the previous 12 months.

相比之下，美国运动服装品牌耐克6月份报告称，截至2021年5月31日的财年，其收入增长了19%，达到445亿美元。该公司报告称，今年的净收入为57亿美元，是前12个月利润的两倍多。

Meanwhile, German fitness wear brand Adidas reported in March that its revenues had fallen 16% to just less than 20 billion euros ($23.7 billion)for the 2020 calendar year. Adidas said its sales were “significantly impacted”by the coronavirus pandemic. It recorded an operating profit, with tax and interest deducted, of 751 million euros in 2020, down from 2.7 billion euros in2019.

与此同时，德国健身服装品牌阿迪达斯在3月份报告称，其2020日历年的收入下降了16%，仅不到200亿欧元（237亿美元）。阿迪达斯表示，新冠病毒大流行“严重影响”了其销售。该公司2020年的营业利润（扣除税费和利息）为7.51亿欧元，低于2019年的27亿欧元。

'No one size fits all’

“没有什么一刀切的办法”

Francis returned to the role of chief executive in August, after six years spent gaining experience by rotating round different senior positions in the company, including chief technology officer, chief marketing officer and chief product officer.

弗朗西斯于8月重返首席执行官的职位，此前他在公司轮换了六年的不同高级职位，包括首席技术官、首席营销官和首席产品官，积累了丰富的一线经验。

Francis said he learned a number of lessons throughout the pandemic, such as the fact that “no one size fits all,”in terms of employees’ preferences for working.

弗朗西斯说，在新冠大流行期间，他学到了很多教训，例如，就员工的工作偏好而言，“没有一刀切”的事实。

“I think it certainly made me a lot more empathetic as a person and it made me realize that even with a global pandemic like this, it just hits every individual in a different way,” he said.

“我认为这确实让我作为一个人更加感同身受，也让我意识到，即使是像这样的全球性流行病，它也会以不同的方式袭击每一个人，”他说。

In terms of how Francis has stayed centered during the pandemic and amid his transition back into the role of CEO,he suggested he found it useful to stick to a routine of eating and waking up at the same time every day.

关于弗朗西斯在大流行期间以及在他重新担任首席执行官期间如何保持集中精神，他表示，他发现坚持每天坚持同一时间吃饭和起床的习惯很有用。

And despite Gymshark’s stratospheric growth, Francis said he has been kept grounded by family and friends. Francis’ brother Joe also works at Gymshark as customer support director.

弗朗西斯说，尽管Gymshark的发展势头平平，但他的家人和朋友们一直紧紧跟随在他身边。弗朗西斯的哥哥乔也在Gymshark担任客户支持总监。

“Listen, no matter how big or small Gymshark is they’re not going to treat me any differently and I think that’s super useful,” he said.

“听着，不管Gymshark做到多大或多小，他们都不会待我有什么不同的，我认为这真是极大的帮助，”他说。

Francis has also kept Gymshark close to his roots in the English West Midlands, with its headquarters located in Solihull, just outside of the U.K. city of Birmingham.

弗兰西斯还一直让Gymshark保持在英国中西部他的扎根处，其总部位于索利哈尔，就在英国的伯明翰外。