Key facts
- Gymshark applied in March 2026 to register Conditioning Club and The Conditioning Club as trademarks.
- Gymshark asked the UK Intellectual Property Office to invalidate John Watson's original trademark as descriptive.
- Watson's legal costs are climbing toward £30,000, and his CrowdJustice campaign had raised just over £5,000.
- Gymshark holds multiple trademark registrations for the similarly generic Lifting Club brand, the report said.
- Gymshark declined to comment on the trademark dispute.
Gymshark, the British sportswear firm founded by Ben Francis in 2012, is trying to add The Conditioning Club to its trademarks. The Conditioning Club is also the name of a gym and fitness business on an industrial estate in the Gloucestershire town of Fairford, founded by John Watson, who registered the name at the UK Intellectual Property Office for gym and fitness services five years before November 2026.
In March 2026 Gymshark applied to register Conditioning Club and The Conditioning Club for services in classes including clothing, retail and entertainment. Gymshark did not apply for a trademark covering fitness and training services, but one of its applications falls in the same class as Watson's registration, the report said, because he had been selling branded gear for several years.
Watson opposed Gymshark's application in the class he had registered and applied to extend his own trademark to classes Gymshark had sought, such as retail. Gymshark opposed that move and asked the UK Intellectual Property Office to invalidate his original trademark, arguing The Conditioning Club name is descriptive and not distinct enough to be registered. The report said Gymshark holds multiple registrations for the similarly generic Lifting Club brand. Watson is awaiting the office's decisions.
Watson said he had believed registering the name was enough to protect the business, which has nine staff and three self-employed personal trainers serving about 500 members. He said he had previously looked to Francis and Gymshark as an example of what a small UK fitness business can achieve. His legal costs are climbing toward £30,000, and a CrowdJustice campaign he launched had raised just over £5,000.
Gymshark was valued at £1.25 billion in 2020 when General Atlantic bought a 21% stake, the report said. Gymshark declined to comment on the trademark battle.