If it seems like Gymshark materialised in your Instagram feed out of nowhere, that's because it kind of did. The brand was founded in 2012 by an English app developer and fitness fanatic named Ben Francis , who was 19 years old at the time, and his friends. Francis had a sewing machine and screen printer in his garage, and would custom-make workouts clothes himself. He and his friends wanted workout tanks that were longer, stretchier, more fitted than what was available, he explained in a YouTube vlog detailing the company history. "It was more a case of 'I really want to wear this,' so I made it," he told the BBC