In 2020, the sanitary crisis and the closure of gyms reshaped the sports industry. Home workout is now the new normal and new business models were created. For instance, health and fitness apps have been downloaded more than 2.5 billion times. Sport’s definition has evolved from being a casual activity to becoming a real lifestyle. In response to this trend, brands, retailers and fitness coaches are developing hybrid training models combining shopping and lifestyle with sport. These strategies are attractive and bring a playful and fun touch to exercise.
Here are our 4 favorite initiatives:
1. Galeries Lafayette Haussmann: opening of the "Wellness Gallerie"
Galeries Lafayette announced the inauguration of a unique wellness space in Europe, theWellness Galerie. The department store’s 3,000-square-meter basement was completely renovated into a living space offering a unique holistic approach to reconciling body and mind. The Wellness Galerie offers different well-being related experiences (infrared sauna, hammam), treatments (massage cabin) and sports (group and individual classes, gym). Galeries Lafayette aims to become a key wellness destination in order to respond to changing consumer habits with their search for experience and well-being.
2. Hermès : Hermès Fit and its opo-up gym
From December 1st to 5th, 2021, Hermès luxury house introduced its accessories collection through HermèsFit, a pop-up offering fun and unusual sports classes. Displayed as a temporary gym, the pop-up store took place at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The experience featured a variety of sports activities led by coaches in original formats: yoga with a silk scarf, boxing with bracelets or stretching with a belt. The touch of humor used by Hermès raised audience awareness about physical activity and highlighted the brand's products in an atypical context.
3. Printemps: opening of its new ‘Athleisure’ space
On September 8th, 2021, Printemps Haussmann inaugurated a new space dedicated toathleisure. Several activewear brands such as Circle Sportswear or Girlfriend Collective are available and the space features different types of sports such as yoga, Pilates or fitness. The exclusive selection of fashion, accessories and beauty brands is completed with sports-related experiences such as group classes and special events.
4. Experience yoga in a Parisian restaurant: Clotilde Chaumet x Daroco
Every Thursday in June 2022, Clotilde Chaumet and the Parisian Italian restaurant Daroco partnered to organize yoga classes and sound bath sessions in this unique restaurant, at the frontier between the urban jungle and Parisian elegance. Clotilde trained her TIHHY method, a creative universe mixing yoga, music, body and spiritual expression.