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- Everlast — the company best known for its sport fighting apparel and equipment like boxing gloves and heavy bags — is launching an at-home fitness service in February 2021.
- While in its nascent stages, the company said its part of a “big push internally to develop more at home fitness and instructional content” and will be available on desktop, mobile, and smart TVs.
- The service comes on the heels of the launch of Apple Fitness Plus, the tech giant’s forthcoming exercise platform, as companies rush to keep up with Peloton and capitalize on the at-home fitness boom.
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Everlast wants to become synonymous not only with professional fighters duking it out in the ring, but also with bringing streaming fitness programs into American living rooms.
The 110-year old company — best known for its sport fighting apparel and equipment like boxing gloves and heavy bags — is launching a streaming fitness program in February 2021, according to Chris Zoller, Everlast’s vice president of marketing and product development. While still in its early stages, Zoller said the subscription-based membership program is expected to be available on desktop, mobile, and smart TVs at launch.
Zoller wasn’t able to provide many details on the types of classes the service will feature or the cost to consumers, though he did tell Business Insider the program is part of a “big push internally to develop more at-home fitness and instructional content.”
“Consumers will be able to subscribe and take part in a virtual community that is built on our history, our brand, and celebrating the athletes and the people involved in it while trying to develop useful content that people at home could use and find value out of,” Zoller said.
The effort comes as demand for at-home fitness tools and programs continues to explode during the pandemic, driving an uptick in stationary bike and membership purchases from fitness giants like Peloton and prompting the recent announcement of Apple’s new Fitness Plus program as companies rush to capitalize on the boom.
According to Zoller, in recent years Everlast has prioritized expanding beyond the sport fighting category and into other forms of equipment and apparel in an effort to widen its customer base. Today, the company caters to everyone from professional mixed martial arts athletes to beginning kick boxers in 60 countries.
"We have this history of having this tough exterior, given our fight sports background, but we really try to develop products that can make a meaningful impact on people's lives overall, whether it be equipment or apparel," Zoller said. "It's important for us to really speak to the consumer in a language that they understand, and drive quality equipment and quality apparel that people can feel good about wearing and using."
Everlast's desire to reach new demographics ultimately served as a catalyst for its forthcoming fitness service. Though Everlast has occasionally created short fitness videos for its social media accounts in the past, Zoller said the venture will be the first of this scale for the company.
"One thing that we have been really focused on and trying to push as an internal message — at least in respect to our marketing and product development teams — is that not all product is physical and not all product is something that you could touch and feel," he said. "It's virtual as well."