Inclusion is a word on everyone’s lips in recent years. However there is no exact definition of inclusivity as it has been used a lot quite recently, but the general meaning is: An inclusive group or organization tries to include many different types of people and treat them all fairly and equally (Dictionary, 2020).
Nowadays businesses must use diversity and inclusivity as their values. In 2019, the company « Insights » published the article « A Movement, Not a Trend: The Power of Inclusive Marketing”, which stated that “70 percent of Millennials are more likely to choose one brand over another if that brand demonstrates inclusion and diversity in terms of its promotions and offers” (Shirt, 2020).
« it is important to bring together strong women, celebrate their accomplishments, and support their ongoing success and mentorship of others. » -
Virginie Aubert, VP of Marketing at Mercedes-Benz Canada
Gymshark includes diversity and inclusion. They decided to change their brand image to inclusivity quite recently, and their followers and consumers are loving the shift. For example, Gymshark creates a huge buzz around a post on their Instagram account with the model Nelly London, with this quote below it: “Because we are all both soft whilst also being incredibly strong. One side is not weaker, less valid or less worthy. Both exist together perfectly”. Gymshark went on to state “Beautiful words, beautiful body, beautiful soul”.
This kind of post has divided opinion, and for people who strongly disagree with the new image taken by Gymshark, it creates a bad buzz.
On one side people who find the goal of Gymshark great about creating an inclusive and body-positive culture in the fitness industry and support that a person’s aesthetic appearance does not reflect their performance in the sense of physical fitness. And on the other side people shame Gymshark for promoting a body that is them overweight and has unhealthy habits, they also strongly disagree with the new direction that the brand is taking by commenting that they are not going to buy anything from them again.
This impact of this post was impressive, the social media went crazy, the post itself attracted nearly 900,000 likes and nearly 26,000 comments.
Statistics show that in general, 70% of brands ignore women above size Large. In this niche market and always keeping in mind that inclusivity is the future, Gymshark is one of the few brands that is doing the eXtra Large measurements for women's clothing (Gavoyannis, 2020).
To conclude Gymshark is one more time a visionary brand. Why? Because they know exactly what to do, when, and where precisely to have more visibility possible, doing all that by following the current trend and responding perfectly to what people are asking.
Body-positivity, diversity, and inclusion are important key-points to consumers and therefore should matter to all businesses, especially to clothing-related businesses. Indeed, evidence suggests that brands that don't recognize those points are likely to fail in the future.
INCLUSIVE: Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/inclusive)
Shirt, D. (2020, September 22). Consumer purchasing trends and the importance of inclusivity in your brand (via Passle). Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://imbusiness.passle.net/post/102gfcv/consumer-purchasing-trends-and-the-importance-of-inclusivity-in-your-brand
Gavoyannis, O. (2020, November 16). Inside the social media strategy at Gymshark, the sportswear brand that piggybacked influencers to become a $1.3 billion behemoth. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/gymshark-influencers-social-media-strategy-value-worth-2020-10?IR=T
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