Beauty & Wellness Briefing: Inside the burgeoning world of luxury fitness equipment 

The luxury fitness equipment market is growing thanks to buzzy, limited-edition products and partnerships

Despite inflation, ongoing economic uncertainty and a dramatic dip in consumer sentiment this month, the high-end fitness equipment market shows no signs of slowing. 

Forma Pilates, the invite-only boutique studio concept launched in Los Angeles in 2020, has become a hub for driving this growth. “What I’ve learned is that if [the luxury consumer] feels value in [the product], and the products and branding are consistent and strong, then she’s not price sensitive,” Kirtie Wright, Forma’s director of business and operations, told Glossy. 

Forma’s first studio gained popularity with celebs like Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner, and the company has since expanded to Phoenix, Austin, Dallas, New York and Miami. 

When fashion brand Celine set out to launch its inaugural fitness collection in April, it tapped the studio and its founder, Liana Levi, for an aspirational event in L.A.. This included a 25-person mat pilates class that blended Celine’s customer base with Forma’s, plus digital deliverables for Forma and Levi’s combined 283,000 Instagram followers. 

Wright told Glossy that Forma’s customers have converted for the fashion house, with clients responding to the offering for its value as both high-quality workout gear and de facto home decor. Celine’s collection is available online and includes dumbbells for $2,700, a jump rope for $1,100, a kettle bell for $3,250 and a water bottle for $540. It also offers sports bras for $590, shorts for $790 and leggings for $990. 

Forma has previously hosted invite-only, co-branded classes for Chanel and partnered with Sporty & Rich on merch. 

The global sports equipment market size was valued at $220 billion in 2022 and could reach $337 billion by 2030, thanks to a compound annual growth rate of 5.47%, according to Zion Market Research. But unlike the past decades, these sales are diversifying away from traditional sporting goods retailers, which only represented $65 billion from U.S. stores last year, according to Mintel market research company. 

Whereas Celine pricing is out of reach for most consumers, a wave of less expensive, yet still aspirational, offerings has also recently dropped. Earlier this year, fitness equipment brand Bala released a collaboration with Italian fashion house Emilio Pucci. The line quickly sold out. It included the company’s signature Bala Bangles ankle weights, exercise bands and a jump rope done in bright pink and yellow Pucci branding. They retailed for $129, $149 and $99, respectivly, a significant price leap from the brand’s regular $55 bangles, $35 bands and $55 jump rope. Despite the increase in the company’s usual pricing, it was the brand’s most reshared and popular collaboration to date, Bala founder Natalie Holloway told Glossy. 

“Pricing was a thoughtful process,” Holloway said. “We wanted to honor the luxury heritage of Pucci while staying true to Bala’s accessible-luxury ethos.” 

To justify the increase, the team kept the items limited edition and added custom detailing. “The response was overwhelmingly positive; customers told us they wore the bangles beyond workouts, styled with everyday outfits or as conversation starters during travel,” Holloway said. “It was a moment where the intersection of fashion and fitness felt effortless, and our community really embraced [it].” 

But perhaps the newest offering on the market is from Hercule Studio, a French fitness equipment company founded in 2022 and launched stateside earlier this year. It sells $215 designer yoga mats and accessories. 

The company’s distribution is an even split between DTC; retailers like Goop, Moda Operandi and Ssense; and sales to luxury hotels for customer use, founder Joy Lucas told Glossy. Its top markets include France, the U.K., Japan, South Korea and China. 

The company manufactures its yoga mats in France, a key differentiator for discerning consumers, Lucas told Glossy. 

“[For our customer] it’s about craftsmanship, durability, quality and branding,” Lucas said. “When you talk about sports and yoga [goods of the past], it was super cliché with everything based around performance, but now it’s more about trying to share a global lifestyle.” 

Exclusivity, however, is the band’s largest growth driver, Lucas told Glossy, with 350% sales growth between 2023 and 2024, according to the company. She told Glossy that price is not a barrier for her consumer. Still, she has heard from many customers that they plan for these big-ticket purchases for birthday or holiday gifts. 

According to Mintel market research company, 73% of U.S.-based adults exercise at least weekly. Within this, 22% have purchased fitness equipment in the past year, and 24% have used a personal “smart exercise machine,” like a $1,500 Peloton or $5,000 Tonal machine, in the past year. 

However, the above hardly represents the average shopper. “Fitness equipment shoppers are extremely price-sensitive,” Diana Smith, retail and e-commerce director at Mintel market research company, told Glossy. 

Still, a third of participants in a recent Mintel survey said they planned to spend more on this category in the future, which was more than double the percentage who planned to spend less on it, Smith told Glossy. 

However, Smith now views these 2024 findings through a new lens. “That was then, only a few short months ago, and this is now,” she said. Mintel also found that, due to inflation and tumbling consumer sentiment around tariffs, around 36% of consumers are cutting back on luxuries and non-essential products, Smith said. 

According to a study released last week by think tank Soon Future Studies and commissioned by pilates rental company Your Reformer, 60% of survey participants cited health and wellness as their primary goal for the next year, even over their financial goals. It’s part of a growing cohort of consumers who are reprioritizing their health after the 2020 Covid pandemic. Your Reformer is based in Australia and expanded into the U.S. last year. It offers at-home pilates reformer rentals for around $35 per week. 

“Exercise spending is heavily skewed toward more affluent demographics,” Mintel’s Smith told Glossy. “[This demographic is] providing some insulation for premium brands. … But ultimately, consumers are willing to invest in items that bring them joy, and wellness and self-care are increasingly important areas that yield various aspects of joy.”

Executive Moves:

• Francoise Lehmann, global brand president of L’Oréal-owned Lancôme, is stepping down after 12 years in the role and 25 with L’Oréal Group. Vania Lacascade, chief innovation officer, is set to replace her this summer.

News to know:

• Fresh off its investment in a clinically-tested reformulation, AG1 is entering the sleep category. Announced Friday, the brand plans to roll out AGZ, a powdered drink supplement meant to aid sleep thanks to magnesium, ashwagandha, l theanine and saffron. It will be available in different flavors including chocolate and chocolate mint. This is the brand’s second product offering in 15 years.
  
• In a sharp juxtaposition against off-price leader TJX, which announced a 3% sales jump and positive H2 2025 outlook in Wednesday’s earnings, Ross Dress For Less is feeling the pressure of President Trump’s tariffs. During the company’s earnings on Thursday, Ross CEO Jim Conroy withdrew the company’s annual forecast. “The volatility of trade policies and the corresponding impact on the economy, the consumer and our profitability is highly unpredictable,” he said in a statement. “During these uncertain times, we will focus on what we can control and manage the business conservatively.” Ross manufactures half of its goods in China, whereas TJX imports less than 10% from the country.
   
• The New York Times quietly rolled out a new, beauty-focused vertical within its Wirecutter media brand. According to a release from NYT, 70% of weekly Wirecutter readers are interested in learning more about new beauty and skin-care products and services, recommendations, brands, and trends.  The new beauty section features affiliate-powered product recommendations and reviews.
  
• L’Oréal Group has invested $13.8 million in Chinese biotech startup Veminsyn. It’s part of the firm’s growing focus on unique ingredient creation through biotechnology, with previous investments including the U.S.-based biotech firms Debut, which just unveiled a new vegan carmine pigment alternative, and Geno, which is focused on a palm oil alternative.
  
• Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer and employer, will slash 1,500 corporate jobs as part of a restructuring. According to the company, its goal is to trim expenses and speed up decision making during these challenging economic conditions. This comes on the heels of President Trump’s criticism of the company’s tariff-induced price increases.

Stat of the week:

According to a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers by consumer insights platform Zappi, 61% of consumers say they’d stop purchasing a cosmetic item if it were to increase 10% in price. This finding aligns with potential spending pullback in other categories, as well: The firm’s survey found that nearly half of consumers are cooking more at home and reducing takeout purchases, while around a quarter are reducing alcohol purchases to save money. 

In the headlines:

Mentions of tariffs are now popping up in product reviews. ‘Polish over potential’: How hiring for personality vs. skills is costing employers. Danone takes cues from pharma marketing as GLP-1 changes American appetites. Target outlines plan to recapture its ‘Tarzhay’ magic after dismal earnings, admits it has to change to return to growth. 

Listen in: 

Glossy welcomed Jacki Gemelos, a former WNBA player and coach turned sports agent, to the Glossy Beauty Podcast to discuss the beauty industry’s growing opportunity in WNBA partnerships. 

Need a Glossy recap? 

Off-price leader TJX sales grow 3%, embraces tariff benefits: ‘We’ll have plenty of merchandise’. The Juicy Tubes comeback: Inside Lancôme’s plan to own the lip gloss category. The ‘tomato girl’ trickle down: How tomato fragrances reached critical mass. FP Movement and Lacoste team up for a tenniscore summer. Brands share uncertainty and possible solutions at Glossy’s Tariffs Town Hall.