Hyrox. Luxury found a finish line.
1.3 million people will sweat through a Hyrox this year, and luxury money is circling a billion euro deal. Luxury has finally found something you can earn.
THE GIST ON HYROX: "Luxury Found a Finish Line"
What is Hyrox?
Hyrox is the fitness race taking over gyms worldwide. 1.3 million people will sweat through one this year. This month, a deal worth nearly a billion euros is set to put it in the hands of the Louis Vuitton crowd. Because luxury has finally found something you can earn.
How does a race work?
It was founded in Germany ten years ago, and the format is identical every time: eight 1km runs with eight workout stations between them. Sled pushes, rowing, wall balls and burpees, and probably some mild flogging at some point too.
650 people attended the first race in 2018. Now it's millions. The same race, the same sweat, the same savagery every time.
How does it grow without marketing?
Hyrox barely spends a penny on marketing. The gyms and the zealots do it for them. Every gym that signs up trains its members for the race. They enter and brandish the name at any social occasion, which gets other people to sign up.
16,000 gyms worldwide, growing at 5% a month. Revenue went from 40 million to 200 million in two years, at a 20% margin. It's a medieval torture routine that prints money.
Who is buying it?
The private equity firm L Catterton went into exclusive talks this month to buy Hyrox for nearly a billion euros. Huw's line: the man who owns the Louis Vuitton is secretly buying every way you can punish yourself in Lycra.
Luxury used to be the things you couldn't afford. Now wealth is so concentrated that the rich barely need selling to. The growth market is the stretched aspirational middle: people who will never own a Birkin, but will spend 150 quid on a race, 200 quid on a gym membership and 180 quid on the Lycra to feel elite. The finish line is a new status symbol, and LVMH just bought it.
Would you enter a Hyrox?
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Quick answers
What is the Hyrox format?
Eight 1km runs with eight workout stations between them, including sled pushes, rowing, wall balls and burpees.
How fast is Hyrox growing?
16,000 gyms worldwide, growing at 5% a month, with revenue up from 40 million to 200 million in two years.
Why does luxury want Hyrox?
The rich barely need selling to, so growth is in the stretched aspirational middle, who will pay for a status symbol they earn.
See you on the next one.
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