Being involved in sport in one way or another has been a constant for me since I can remember. The older I get now I value its importance even more. Don't worry, what follows isn't me giving out high protein recipes or preaching about the gym. 

In 2024, I did a few competitions with a friend and got swept up in the excitement which extended to trawling online for some new kit. 

The first competition was shortly after the London Marathon which offered one stat in particular that blew my mind. I can't remember the exact source but a stat was shared to show that Represent was the 'most-worn' brand by those taking part. That is massive in a world where Adidas and Nike have generations of customers. 

The gym has never been more glamorised than it is today. What you wear and how you wear it seems just as important as doing the work and that work isn't validated unless it's shared across social media. 

Having found nothing I really liked, I decided to design a couple of vests taking inspiration from the old GB Olympics kit. We wore them for the comp and they stood out like the proverbial sore thumb amongst the sea of black '247' emblazoned masses. 

This isn't a slight on Represent I must add. They and other brands like Pure Sport have captured the market well. 

Most of the comp was spent fielding the question of 'where is that vest from?' which in short led to me adding a hoodie, a sweatshirt and tee to create a small capsule collection. It sold really well. Probably our best selling range ever. Like all collections, it ran its course and I moved on to the next. 

In January, I released the Mallin & Son Sports Club capsule to simply create myself a hoodie for another competition. The sales continued to flow but I only ran it for 4 weeks until I felt out with it.  

I can't pinpoint who it was exactly but I simply found a moment to lift my head and see that everyone from the gym to the local sandwich shop were creating a 'club' of some kind. And I'd also fallen into that trap or current of the river led by the likes of Represent. 

I'm not really here to make another version of something else nor am I here to step on the toes of others in a very crowded market. So I pulled it. 

I get emails weekly or people asking me in my gym (many bought the range) when it's coming back. In a much shorter and more nuanced way, I tell them what you've just read. 

Nuance is a word I'll lean on heavily for this next part. 

I've personally stepped away from competing but still train hard to keep in shape mentally and physically. And most of all, I really enjoy it. But no one rightly cares about that. It's a massive part of my life though. 

Ever the awkward outsider, these days you will find me in the gym wearing an old, vintage band t-shirt or holey All Saints tee from 15 years ago. So holey that I really need to throw them out. 

Which brings me full circle. 

I've created new capsule collection of classic pieces to be worn in the gym with a pretty simple spec. A few years back I managed to get hold of some Navy surplus gym tees to which I attached our patch. The tees even had recruits names scrawled into the underside of the rear hem. They were really rudimentary pieces of kit that simply served a purpose. Utilitarian in the purest form.  

I took inspiration from them and wanted to offer the other side of the coin to the identikit garments you see in every gym, leaning heavily on a military 'PE' kit issue mood. The stuff people wear to be comfortable, colours that will age and fade perfectly the more they're worn. 

I also looked at the famous shots of Steve McQueen lifting weights in his grey joggers and imagined what he'd wear to go with that. Another inspiration was the kit seen on Daniel Craig in Skyfall. I really wanted to capture that essence. 

Everything I design offers a piece of me which I hope you get to see. I could just churn out the quick wins but that's not what I or this brand is about. Oversharing or not, I really hope this gives you an insight into the depth of thinking behind everything I do. 

Thanks as always.

Ryan