SWEATY BETTY LAUNCHES NEW RANGE FOR TENNIS

ITS printed leggings have long been a favourite with middleclass gym bunnies, but now Sweaty Betty is appealing to tennis fans who are limbering up for Wimbledon.

The upmarket fitness brand has launched a collection of tennisinspired womenswear ( pictured) in time for the Grand Slam tournament, which starts on July 3.

Prices range from £55 for a tennis skirt to £125 for a championship dress.

It comes as Sweaty Betty is expanding into the US with ambitious plans to open 50 shops on the East and West coasts over the next five years.

The firm has come a long way from its first Notting Hill shop, which was opened in 1998 by fitness fanatic Tamara Hill-Norton using a redundancy payoff. The then 26-year-old said that she tired of the bland, unisex sportswear available and, spotting a gap in the market, designed a range of bold, printed leggings and tops aimed at women who live an active lifestyle.

Today Hill-Norton, 46, a mother of three, and her husband Simon have built Sweaty Betty into a sportswear empire which has cashed in on the growing trend for wearing fitness clothes outside the gym.

Its latest available results showed sales rose to £36.9m in the year to December 2015, up from £31.4m a year earlier.