British brand Zone3 has reported a strong start to the 2015 season, citing considerably higher sales than in previous years. Even though the season hasn’t got into full swing yet the company notes that demand for the Zone3 brand has been at record levels, ‘with more and more athletes looking to help improve their performance during both training and racing.’
Both wetsuit and tri clothing sales in the first few months of 2015 are up by 60% on 2014 and ‘a number of key selling accessories have been so popular that stock is already starting to run low.’
This has not been an overnight success for Zone3 though. The brand was first started in 2007 by Loughborough University graduate James Lock, with the first range launched in 2009 after significant amounts of R&D and product testing. It’s taken seven years to organically build the brand and, as the company points out, ‘luckily enough the product has been able to speak for itself during this time.’
A release from Zone3 adds that ‘More and more people around the world are starting to hear about Zone3 and nothing is better than a word of mouth recommendation from another impartial athlete.’
“Growth might have been quicker if we’d gone straight into big name sponsorship deals but as a young company we just didn’t have the time or money when we were in pursuit of trying to develop the perfect product,” said Zone3 Brand Manager, Bobby Buck.
“The product has always come first to us, closely followed by supporting our retailers and trying to give them the best customer service possible.”
As a 21 year old elite level triathlete and starting out with Zone3, James Lock found a number of the products on the market to be poor fitting and also very expensive. The original dream to make a fantastic fitting wetsuit whilst also at a compelling price point. This is something which continues within the DNA of the brand today.
According to the company, this can be quantified by the large number of Best Buy awards won over the years in the triathlon and swim media including the 91% review for the Aspire wetsuit in this month’s issue of 220 Triathlon magazine.
Lock believes that the large surge in growth is based on combination of these reasons rather than any particular new sales or marketing plans. “We hope that the foundations we set between 2007-2012 are starting to come to fruition,” Lock said.
He continued, “With an established customer base we can now start to build on this further through continued product development and exciting new marketing strategies.”
