2XU attempts to expand in the U.S.

A little slice of down under could be making its way into the athletic section of your closet pretty soon. Australian based activerwear brand 2XU who specializes in compression style athletic gear is launching its first global marketing campaign, with one of the mains focuses of the campaign being the expansion of their U.S. presence. The campaign centers around a short film titled “Heart not Hype” that tells the story of athletes training in 2XU apparel.

While the brand is a household name in Australia, they are hoping to rise to the ranks of someone the likes of Under Armour in terms of name recognition. While the sportswear market is pretty competitive in America with brands like Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas already having such a strong hold on it for an athletic wear brand to try and find its space in America isn’t exactly simple.

2XU is not just some mom and pop label with a dream, however. The brand has a very strong international presence, and even a fairly quiet presence here in America already. Currently in America the brand is carried at Dick’s Sporting Goods, REI, and Paragon. Internationally they can be found in 4200 stores, certainly not a number to scoff at.

2XU attempts to expand their American footprint

If there is one way to catapult yourself to retail stardom in America it’s to have all the right people behind you. Women’s Wear Daily has reported that L Capital Asia, the private equity arm of fashion super power LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton bought a 40 percent stake in the brand at the end of 2013. With compression apparel being proven to improve blood circulation and be good for the heart more and more athletes and people looking to get into fitness As Clarke discussed in Women’s Wear Daily, he wants the campaign “To champion the heart. We want to migrate the message from physiology to emotion.”

The 5 minute film certainly does pull on the heartstrings. It features multiple types of athlete and fitness personnel from tennis players, to ballerinas, and triathletes dressed in 2XU with the sound of a beating heart continuously playing in the background. A voice over says: “I don’t want to be famous for my face, I want to be famous for my heart.” If that isn’t enough to get shoppers in stores buying 2XU they also have another aspect to their campaign up their sleeve.

On Tuesday, they launched a site that is airing the short film and running a contest for people to share their stories about putting their heart into the performance. What better way to get athletic people to buy something than to reel them with their favorite thing: competition. The winners of the contest will have the luxury of being flown to a high performance training camp later this year.

With more research showing the benefits of compression gear causing more athletes and people trying to get into fitness to go out and buy it 2XU could not have selected a more perfect time to try and grow their American footprint. With sales of sports apparel constantly looking up with projected growth of 179 billion dollars by 2019 2XU certainly isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s a great era for athletic gear, and a new era for 2XU as it attempts to conquer the American market.

photo:cliffroesports.com