The Rise of Tala & Shreddy, and their Strategies for Success

Grace Beverley began her career as a fitness influencer - but not of the typical variety. Her succeeding is largely owing to her personality, dedication to her causes and of course, a mega-dose of hard work.

Grace is now CEO-Founder of 3 businesses; Tala, an ethical sportswear and workout wear outlet, Shreddy, a fitness app and B_ND, a gym equipment shop (now part of Shreddy).

She has received widespread media attention and publicity, hailed by Forbes as one of lockdown’s biggest success stories, but what are Grace’s strategies for success, and how can you go about replicating them?

Carving a New Space is an Established Niche

The fitness industry has always been a profitable one, but lockdown ushered a shift to the fitness landscape and shrewd individuals like Grace Beverley were able to carve a new space in this long-established niche.

You may have also heard of Gymshark, another key business that capitalised on shifting trends in the health and fitness industry.

But what is it about Tala and Shreddy that differentiates them from competitors?

Ethos and Ethics

First and foremost, the ethos of Grace’s YouTube channel and subsequent businesses is exceptionally transparent. Grace is forthright in her ethics and views, particularly on the tricky subject of body positivity in the health and fitness industry.

“We want to be so carefree about it,” Grace told the NewStatesman, where she also discussed how she is disdainful of the way the fitness industry has invaded the ‘body positivity’ movement.

Her honest and sincere approach is enough to remove her from the faceless corporations that market products for social movements without substantiating their claims.

Contrastingly, by putting her personality on the line 24/7, Grace has built unparalleled rapport with her customers and followers.

This puts a much-needed human touch to her ethical stance, helping her business thrive with an audience to whom this means so much.

Sustainability and Environmentalism

One of Tala’s USPs aside from its immense focus on inclusivity is its focus on sustainability.

The premise is simple. Grace wanted to offer sustainably manufactured fitness products to the market at competitive prices. Many of Tala’s products are made from recycled plastic bottles, for example.

So long as prices remain competitive, why would people choose to buy from non-eco-first competitors?

This is where innovation and business strategy comes into play, as well as gold-standard accounting. Tala and Shreddy evolved via the reinvestment of profits and Grace’s own capital, no outside funding.

This is an excellent example of how you capitalise on fresh demand (for sustainable products) in a stale niche (fitness wear).

This draws parallels with NOLO - no and low alcohol drinks. Despite the demand for fresh NOLO drinks growing, supply was lagging behind. The industry was just waiting for someone to come in and stir things up.

Offer something better for the same price and the customers will come - simple but powerful business logic.

What You Can Do

Tala and Shreddy are superb examples of carving a new space in a long-established profitable niche.

What’s more, is that Tala and Shreddy weren’t funded by external sources - this is grassroots business at its best. Securing the bottom line with bulletproof accounting solutions is the first-port-of-call for channelling revenue to where it’s needed most.

Tala and Shreddy are evidence that you don’t need to walk to the ends of the earth searching for an original idea, so long as you can bring originality to an existing idea.

Pick a box and try to think outside of it. For Grace, a strong social media following combined with a fresh take on a stale industry. Her innovative approach to recycled and sustainable fitness wear was the spark needed to convert herself from influencer to CEO.

Think about how you can modernise your niche and bring it in line with modern trends.

Forward-thinking entrepreneurs are shaking things up and proving that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to bring fresh success to a long-established industry.