On The Blower
head of represent 247 talks about the future of the brand
247 has been the gym kit to be seen in for years. But now its performance chops are being put on full display. We spoke to Matthew Shotton, Head of 247 at Represent, to find out why the next evolution of the brand starts with real stories.
Hi Matt, how are you?
I’m good, mate. Busy, but we always are.
You’ve not been at 247 long and you were at Nike for ages, right?
Yeah, I started up in Sunderland when the head office was there, doing couple of entry-level type roles in customer service. Then I worked in my way to sports marketing, by and large in football as the voice of the athlete for Nike, getting feedback on product and helping find solutions with our product creation team. Then in 2015, I think, I moved out to Portland and that’s when I stepped into true product creation. I think it’s stood me in very good stead for where I am now.
It sounds like a dream. Why did you leave?
We loved it out there honestly, mate. But we lived there in a funny, funny period of time. Trump came to power in 2016, so you know, the country went through that. We then had COVID and all that stuff and, honestly, just personally and professionally the culture had shifted a little bit. It reinforced how far away we were from family. We came home for Christmas and decided to get a little bit closer to home.
I jumped over to Adidas, who created a new strand and for a little while I was in Germany. Then fast-forward about 18 months and this opportunity came up at 247. It was too good to turn down.
What was it a Nike that you think really got you ready for this job?
I think what Nike were doing was creating fantastic looking products, but it didn't necessarily translate from a sketch to performance. So, there was something missing in between, where they really needed to understand the needs of the athlete.
I got a really good understanding of how to solve for performance challenges, understand technicalities of product and look at innovation. That gave me a really solid foundation of figuring out how product can play a massive part in the performance world, how to connect and be authentic with the narratives of the story in the product.
I do feel like there has been a new push towards performance in the 247 range recently. Was that you?
[laughs] Yeah, I have very much made this less cool!
I meant that it’s performance first that looks amazing, rather than the other way around…
If you look at the DNA of where 247 started, what it initially was founded upon was we have a founder who lives and breathes 247. George manifests high-performance, in business and fitness. He wanted something to wear that fit with his Represent aesthetic and that’s when 247 was born. From there it has evolved. We’re going to keep the classic 247 pieces and they’re not something we’re going to walk away from.
It's not all black on black on black anymore, either…
The black and white is still there. But we're bringing these seasonally relevant collections to life through the lens of performance. Colour is always going to be there to drive some energy as we move more into the performance side of things.
What we had initially, you might not run a marathon in but you might go work out in the gym. Now we talk to the training consumer, we talk to the running consumer, and we also have some more technical outerwear, too.
With your background in football players at Nike, was your roster of 247 athletes a deliberate thing, or a happy accident?
As I look at it now, very conscious and I think for George as well. Nike was about being storytellers through athletes first and foremost. They lost their way there for a while, but Elliot Hill is bringing that back and harnessing the power of sport again.
We have a similar mindset, but we come from a unique angle. We have athletes who are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Hercules, Will, Jake, Marc, Sandy - what we love about every single one of them is how relatable they are to our community. Marc was an electrician until quite recently and gave it up to focus in on HYROX. That story, that ability to be the normal guy and become a world champion is something we can connect with as ordinary guys. I think our community are really picking up on that. They're an extension of who we are. I think the values that they extol are absolutely who we are as a brand. A relentless push for greatness.
A lot of brands talk about ‘community’ as an industry buzzword. But yours is borderline obsessive, right?
I think you're right; it is a buzzword. But I don't think any brands can speak to it as authentically as we can. The first weekend I was in the business, we had a pop-up sample sale out of Glasgow. I thought it was a great opportunity for me to get up there and understand what the brands was about a little bit. On the Friday night, we did a run through the city centre. And then on Saturday, we did the sample sale.
And that was my first real exposure to it. I'd seen it on socials but it was unreal. We're founded upon the strength of our community, and those physical touch points we have with a them are the most special moments.
Now we’re starting to get this more global point of view, and that's when authentically connecting to a community becomes a little trickier.
Sure, in Manchester, we get several hundred people turning up at a store event because it's the brand hometown. But when you're leading a community in Australia or Cape Town or Dubai or LA - that's when we have to turn up and be super authentic in those moments, to those communities. That's the new challenge.
Are you still managing to get down downstairs into the gym at Represent HQ?
I really do my best to go regularly. But I’m also a father of two, so school runs are often a factor. Life happens, right? I love what we've built here. I love the fact we have a gym that everybody can use whenever they want to use it. I love that we have Jake who is crushing HYROX and running ridiculous marathons but still coaches a class for us every morning.
So, I'm not there as often as I probably should be. My wife calls me all or nothing. I'll have a period of time where I'll go all in and smash it every day. And then if I fall off the wagon, you know, get a shoulder niggle, or a cold, and it's weeks before I'm back in because I've had all sorts of excuses.
In that case, I’ll let you go and not be an excuse. Thanks for taking the time.
Of course, of course. Cheers. Take care mate. See you soon.
