SWISS GYM WEAR · SINCE 2013
GYM GENERATION
A Swiss brand, founded in 2013. Built without investors, launched from a small studio in the canton of Zurich – over 60,000 customers worldwide today. This is our story.
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2013
Founded
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60'000+
Customers worldwide
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4.7 / 5
1,000+ reviews
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180'000+
Products sold
CHAPTER 01
IT ALL STARTED WITH A TANK TOP.
In 2013, a wave swept through the internet: the Golden Era was back. Stringer tank tops like the ones from the legendary US gyms, worn by a generation of young athletes who trained online before that was a business model. There was just nowhere to buy them – not in Switzerland, not in Europe. Shady websites, insane prices, weeks of waiting.
CHAPTER 02
ONE ROOM, THREE JOBS.
We sold out of a small room in the canton of Zurich – furnished ourselves, half warehouse, half studio.
In the evenings after work, new designs took shape here; on weekends, the same room became a store: customers at the door, some driving in from across Switzerland. No marketing in the world can buy that.
A year in came the first warehouse in Germany, together with a partner – and that's where we ship Germany and the rest of Europe from to this day.
CHAPTER 03
THE YEARS BEFORE THE WORD "INFLUENCER".
Our athlete team grew through the early days of Instagram — more than ten athletes between Berlin, Cologne, Paris, Lake Constance and Zurich. Apparel for shoots, training together, real give-and-take. Some of them are on TV today.
Three years in a row, we ran our own booth at FIBO in Cologne, the world's largest fitness trade show – full athlete team, TV cameras included. Plus the World Fitness Day in Frankfurt.
And one day, Powerfood came knocking – Switzerland's biggest fitness store. That first conversation turned into more than eleven years of partnership, and the way into the Galaxus range.
γυμνάσιον
"The idea is 2,500 years old. We just make the clothes to go with it."
The word gym comes from the ancient Greek gymnasion – a place of training and a school of thought in one. Bodies were forged here, and philosophy was taught next door: whoever went wanted to grow on every level. That's exactly what Gym Generation stands for. Training isn't mindlessly pushing weight – it's nutrition, recovery, understanding your own body, staying the course when nobody's watching.
CHAPTER 04
THE HELMET: FROM MUSEUM GLASS TO ITS OWN LINE.
The brand’s mark was born where nobody would expect it: in a museum. A Spartan helmet, redrawn in Photoshop. Basic Photoshop skills, no agency. Two Gs found their place in the shape, plus the cross: Gym Generation. It just had style.
In 2014, the helmet earned its own line: Gym Warriors. Sparta, Alexander the Great, Valhalla – the old warrior cultures, not as a barbarian cliché, but for what they stood for: discipline, pride, staying true to your own path. And what started as a makeshift logo became the mark that sits on every piece today.
CHAPTER 05
13 YEARS, THE SAME MANUFACTURER.
The workshop that made our first stringers in 2013 still makes them today. Behind the production are families we know personally – we've been there ourselves, we develop new fabrics and samples together, and the cuts are our own.
As the range grew, so did the network: today, more than ten specialized workshops produce for Gym Generation – from stringers to lifting belts, every product has its specialist. Chosen by the same principle as in 2013: no anonymous orders from ever-changing factories, but relationships that outlast most brands.
CHAPTER 06
GYM GENERATION TODAY.
In 2021, we moved into a bigger warehouse with a showroom – and anyone who wants to stop by still can, by appointment, just like in the early days. Over 60,000 customers worldwide wear the helmet: the heart in Switzerland and Europe, fans as far as Australia, Canada and the US.
All of it was built without investors and without outside capital — but not alone. Founder Melvin Kern was 18, fresh out of his apprenticeship, with years of side jobs along the way; from day one, the brand was also carried by family and our long-time business partner in Germany. Pictured: Melvin, center, with the athlete team of the era and business partner at FIBO in Cologne. Many brands from those days are gone. Not us.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN.
The stringers from 2013 are still in the range – because you don't forget where you came from. To everyone who's worn the helmet since 2013: this story is yours too.