SWEAT AND TEARS FOR FITNESS DUO
IT started in a backyard in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs and rapidly became a global fitness sensation.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Sweat, which this week announced it had sold to US software giant iFIT in a deal worth around $400m.
The astonishing rise of the Adelaide born start-up is a tale of two entrepreneurs who had a vision to inspire women around the world to lead healthy lifestyles.
With Kayla Itsines as the face of the brand, and Tobi Pearce working behind the scenes, Sweat has been a perfect blend of ambition, passion and hard work.
Itsines often credits her upbringing in a tight-knit Greek-Australian family in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs for her success, while it’s a rags to riches story for Pearce.
Sweat started in 2012 when Pearce and Itsines met, unsurprisingly, at the gym.
Pearce was doing a double degree in Law and Commerce, studying to be a personal trainer, training clients and running a boot camp business, while Itsines was training women one-onone in the backyard of her family home.
In 2016, Time named Itsines as one of the 30 most influential people on the internet, and the pair became the youngest debutants on the BRW Young Rich list, when Itsines was just 25 and Pearce 24.
A messy defamation battle between the Sweat duo and fellow Adelaide online celebrities Durianrider (Harley Johnstone) and Freelee the Banana Girl (Leanne Ratcliffe) in 2015 presented a minor setback, but Sweat powered on, even when Itsines and Pearce split last year.