Activewear entrepreneur Aidan Clarke, the former co-founder of 2XU, has returned to the industry with his new venture SA1NT Layers
2XU co-founder Aidan Clarke conquered the sports compression wear market once before, but now he is back with a fresh offering and the goal to become the “new leader” again.
Activewear entrepreneur Aidan Clarke revolutionised the sports compression wear market once before, but he is back to become the “new leader” once again — seven years after he walked away from the industry.
After switching his focus to motorcycle and workwear, the 2XU co-founder has now returned to “what I know” with the launch of his new high-performance compression sportswear venture SA1NT Layers.
Clarke helped build 2XU into one of the most successful global names in sports compression wear, worn by some of the biggest sporting names and clubs around the world to help with recovery and muscle soreness, after starting the brand in 2005.
A 40 per cent stake in the activewear brand was sold to LVMH subsidiary L Capital Asia in 2013 in a deal that was reported to be worth about $75 million.
Clarke stayed involved in the company until 2018 when he sold his remaining stake.
The Melbourne-based businessman then founded motorcycle brand SA1NT and also branched out into workwear, before the seed was planted for a return to the compression business three years ago by some rugby contacts on the other side of the world.
“In 2018, when I finally stepped out of 2XU, I thought, ‘That’s it, I’m done. That’s that industry over’,” Clarke said.
“Things were going pretty well here at SA1NT, which at that time was a motorcycle brand.
“Then I was contacted in 2021 during Covid and we were locked down and surviving and doing what we could and some friends in high performance with the Welsh rugby team, who also crossover and dealt with the English rugby team, said ‘We’re actually struggling to buy some good compression, we are struggling to find brands with good stock and no one seems to have evolved. The product is the same as it was 10 years ago’.
“By this point, I am well and truly entrenched in our motorcycle apparel brands, we’ve grown into America and we have done some workwear as well. I was in a whole different game.
“So, I went back and looked and I thought, ‘No one has made it lighter or stronger or better’. I guess that just planted a seed.
“I made some for the English and Welsh rugby teams, literally made a custom run for them, started to place a little bit of compression around the place again and couldn’t believe how many high performance people came to me and said, ‘We really want it’.
“So I thought if you innovate, you could actually own this segment again and that was kind of the thought that got in my head.”
It didn’t take long for the seed to sprout with Clarke starting to design garments and make compression wear again in 2022 and SA1NT Layers was born.
Clarke traded with a small collection for two years and, in the past six months, has expanded to a “complete offering”, which was officially launched last month.
The brand is already building up a strong list of clients, including IPL team Rajasthan Royals, NBL team South East Melbourne Phoenix and Clarke said he was in talks with a “handful of marquee” AFL players he hopes to have signed up next year.
Hollywood star Hugh Jackman has also been snapped wearing the SA1NT Layers brand.
The mission with his new label was to produce the “lightest and most powerful” compression wear on the market and Clarke has worked with a professor in recovery in Brisbane to help develop the products.
“You stick to what you know and here I am 20 years later getting back to what I know,” Clarke said.
“What I’m hearing from everyone is no one has evolved the space, there is an opportunity to be the new leader.
“So we set about a new challenge. I’m lucky enough to have some of my staff who have followed me from my 2XU days and they are with me now and we actually did it, we made the lightest and the most powerful compression ever made.”
Clarke said wearing medical-grade compression had huge benefits – not just for athletes.
“Medical grade compression done well recovers people, recovers anyone,” Clarke said.
“It recovers an athlete that is striving to perform better, it recovers somebody that has lactic (acid) build-up.
“It’s fantastic for people who have poor circulation in terms of blood flow and swelling. “Anyone that gets on a plane and flies to LA or the UK that puts some compression socks on won’t have swollen feet.
“It’s such a powerful and passive tool, it’s such a wonderful form of protection. Anyone with a heartbeat can benefit from a medical-grade compression.”
Clarke believed there was still plenty of space for innovation in the sports compression industry, which he believes will become more targeted for specific sports.
“I believe over the next five to 10 years a lot more compression will be sports specific,” Clarke said.
“We’ve got runners in hot environments. Rugby players heading out into cold environments, we’ve got people that do impact sports, basketball players for instance, they go down a lot and want their elbows and knees covered.
“If I look at our to-do list in production, a lot of it is the sampling we are doing for individual sports.
“We can see a huge opportunity to evolve the space.”
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