We see it everywhere. On the street when leaving work, on Saturdays while shopping on the subway when getting off the train, at McDonald’s at all hours, on vacation in countries without Basic Fit, behind the backs of men in suits, behind the backs of lurking tourists …On Instagram, the accounts are dedicated to him and on X he is the subject of recurring ridicule.
In just two years, the backpack from the Basic Fit gym chain has become a small fashion phenomenon. So much so that it is usually sold out on the group’s website (sold for 45 euros) or even in the rooms where it is offered to new customers. However, it is not difficult to find one among the hundreds of sales ads on Vinted or Leboncoin.
A fashion that may surprise you because of how banal the bag is. Not particularly attractive with its gray dress highlighted with orange lines in the brand’s colors, it is lined with large pockets that users find quite practical.
So the bag is just a convenience? Some clients doubt this and attribute intentions to those who wear the gym’s colors.
“I show it to others”
And by the way, I participate in the promotion of the brand. For Basic Fit, which had not anticipated fashion at all, it is the bread and butter.
“The bag appeared in 2018, but, specifically, we offered it for the opening of a room,” explains Fabien Rouget, development manager at Basic Fit in France. But, given the success, the management decided in July 2021 to offer it. “For each new membership a year. It’s changed color since then, but it’s still very identifiable.”
The brand estimates that there are at least 1.5 million bags in circulation in France, which corresponds to the number of members in the country.
This is also where the channel is most successful in Europe. Basic Fit, which arrived in France in 2014, inaugurated its 800th club in Paris a few weeks ago, on the Champs-Élysées. An exasperating pace of seven theatrical releases a month on average for 10 years. French members alone represent 40% of the group’s clients.
Along with Action, Rituals, and Zeeman, Basic Fit is one of the four Dutch trade mercenaries who conquered France. Simple concepts, discounted prices and good marketing easily assimilated by customers.
“Basic Fit, it’s the factory”
For Basic Fit, it is the affordable gym accessible everywhere. A kind of Netflix of fitness that offers several options: from 19.99 euros per month to access a single club to 29.99 euros to access all the Basic Fit in Europe. This latest premium offer even lets you go exercise with a non-member friend.
A simple idea on paper but more difficult to implement. First we need a reduced payroll to lower subscription prices. Forget personal trainers when you go to Basic Fit, some rooms are staffed by two or even one person.
But above all, Basic Fit is a financial powerhouse that competitors cannot compete with. The group opened 135 gyms in 2023 alone and is solely responsible for the 10% growth in the entire gym sector estimated by the Union Sport et Cycle (USC). In just a few years, the Dutch have gained speed and have fallen far behind the large chains such as Keepcool, Fitness Park and L’Orange Bleue, which shared the French market.
Hundreds of millions of euros invested
To achieve this, the two founders, René Moos and Éric Wilborts, former Dutch professional tennis players, quickly understood that they would need significant resources.
His group, then called HealthCity, was only running 11 sports halls in the Netherlands when, in 2005, a private equity fund Waterland changed its size. Millions of euros are being injected to open new rooms. But HealthCity offers high-end rooms with sauna and hammam for 60 euros per month.
When the founders discovered a small brand of about thirty low-cost clubs that survived. Its name: Basic Setting.
Which at first doesn’t work at all. Customers do not understand why some HealthCity rooms cost 60 euros and others 15 euros. Moos then adopted the original name Basic Fit for its budget rooms. Success is finally there. In three years, around 170 Basic Fit rooms have been launched in the Netherlands, Belgium and a few in Spain.
Less sporty French
In 2013, a new boost with the arrival of the British fund 3i, which injected 110 million euros. Enough to finance the rapid development in France that began a few months later.
But it was the IPO in 2016 that marked the real turning point. During its IPO, the group raised hundreds of millions of euros for a valuation of one billion euros (Basic Fit is valued today at 1.8 billion). A very Anglo-Saxon development in a world with very little capital.
“This is directly related to our economic model. If you want to do sports with us, you can do it for 15.99 euros per month, it is very little,” explains René Moos. This is the evolution of the markets: the intermediate segment disappears. [Basic Fit] There is a gym with a sauna, pool and always clean towels. “A lot of times people just want to exercise and get away for a while.”
Simple, effective and economical, this is what attracted the French, who until then were not the biggest fans of the gym.
You’ll have to get used to seeing gray and orange backpacks everywhere.
Source: BFM TV
