Escape Fitness Celebrates 20 Years – 1998 – 2018
Posted: August 23, 2018 in Suppliers
Escape Fitness
CINCINNATI, OH – This year officially marks several monumental milestones for global functional fitness equipment manufacturer Escape Fitness, including its 20-year anniversary, global Master Trainer Program, growing international talent base and Escape Your Limits podcast.
From humble beginnings 20 years ago, with just a few family members working part-time from a spare bedroom with no contacts, no brand, no experience and no money, Escape has grown into a multi-million dollar international force with over 120 employees working with the biggest fitness and hospitality brands in more than 80 countries.
Known for its products, gym design, programming and now education and training, Escape credits the success of its first 20 years to a huge amount of consistently applied passion. And it’s this passion, permeating throughout its business today, that continues to drive Escape forward.
Selling its very first product (dumbbells) in 1998 and officially incorporating in 2001, by 2002, the nascent company had already landed its first major international customer, Reebok. By 2003, it was supplying over 70 percent of the free-weights sold in the UK and by the mid 2000s, had opened both its Poland and Germany subsidiaries. In 2012, Escape began manufacturing its popular Octagon range of frames, and then in 2014, opened a second headquarters in the US. In 2014, the company created its working gym/demo test lab in the UK – now called Escape Your Limits. And, this year marks the launch of the unique Escape Your Limits podcast, which includes hyper-focused industry know-how around how to be more successful from its most inspirational and proven club owners and leaders.
Today, Escape offers more than 200 products – that are in more than 1,000 gyms across the globe – in the Functional, Athletic, Strength, Octagon, Studio, Boxing and Flexibility categories, holding 27 product trademarks. In addition, it recently launched a programming suite, which includes MOVE IT, HIIT THE DECK and BATTLE FIT. And, just this year, given its explosive growth, Escape added talented key discipline area leaders to its US sales team, marketing team and education and training team.
“Our business has grown organically and with that growth has come change and a lot of learning. As we celebrate the successes that got us to this point and look to the future, we will hold on to the passion and personal relationships that have helped to grow the business, while creating new systems and processes required of those organizations that operate at the next level,” said Matthew Januszek, co-founder, Escape Fitness. “We have a strong team of experts across all disciplines and the next 20 years looks to be even brighter.”
