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IRVINE, Calif. (October 31, 2019) – Club Pilates, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing boutique Pilates franchise continues to “strengthen its core” in international markets with a recently signed Master Franchise Agreement in South Korea. The massive development, which will bring 100 Club Pilates studios to the country over the next five years, marks another major milestone for the brand in Asia following its agreement in March to open 165 studios in Japan. Club Pilates was also part of a multi-brand agreement signed in June to bring boutique fitness offerings to Saudi Arabia.
Backed by Xponential Fitness – a curator of leading boutique fitness brands across every vertical including Pilates, barre, indoor cycling, rowing, dance, stretching, yoga and running – Club Pilates first made its international debut in Canada in August 2018. Since then, boutique fitness has rapidly gained popularity across the globe, and Club Pilates is seizing the opportunity to introduce its low-impact, niche fitness concept centered on a mind-body connection to populations beyond North America.
The South Korean agreement is with Steven Lee, the former CEO of Pizza Hut Korea, and his company XFactor Fitness Limited, which is based in Seoul. XFactor will open a pilot studio of Club Pilates in Seoul by January 2020 and will launch franchising efforts shortly thereafter. After the Club Pilates debut, XFactor is slated to bring other Xponential Fitness brands to the country beginning in late 2020.
“South Koreans are early adopters of global fitness trends,” said John Kersh, Chief International Development Officer for Xponential Fitness. “We believe Club Pilates and other Xponential Fitness brands will quickly become market leaders as Korean consumers experience our wide variety of classes, welcome environment and outstanding instructors.”
Club Pilates recently surpassed 550 studios open in the U.S. and will continue its aggressive growth trajectory through 2020. There are more than 200 studios projected to open between now and the end of 2020 – further solidifying its spot as the largest and fastest growing Pilates concept worldwide. With its impressive domestic and international growth, Club Pilates has been ranked as the Fastest Growing Fitness Franchise on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 and 500 for two years running and on Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2019 Franchise 500 for three years in a row.
“This marks another huge step forward for Club Pilates,” said company President Shaun Grove. “We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Steven and the XFactor team to further grow our lifestyle brand and workout in the Asia Pacific region.”
Since acquiring the brand in 2015, Xponential Fitness CEO Anthony Geisler has helped Club Pilates carve a niche in the crowded boutique fitness industry by providing consumers a tailored, high-end workout at an affordable cost. Strategic development is a key element to expanding the brand’s modernized and premium group and private practice, state-of-the-art equipment including reformers and empowering atmosphere at an affordable price.
ABOUT CLUB PILATES:
Founded in 2007, Club Pilates is the largest network of Reformer-based boutique Pilates studios worldwide, specializing in strength-training classes for anyone, at any age or fitness level. Based in Irvine, CA, the company is experiencing rapid growth and expects to have 600 locations open by the end of the year. With more than 2,300 instructors teaching over seven million workouts each year, Club Pilates is the first studio to create a 500-hour Teacher Training Program designed to thoroughly and safely teach group Pilates apparatus classes along with TRX, TriggerPoint, and Barre. Club Pilates has been ranked The Fastest Growing Fitness Franchise by Inc. Magazine's Inc. 5000 and Inc. 500 two years running, as well as being listed in Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 ranking three years running. To learn more about the Pilates franchise opportunity, visit https://www.clubpilatesfranchise.com.
ABOUT XPONENTIAL FITNESS:
Founded in 2017 by Anthony Geisler, Xponential Fitness is the curator of the best brands across every vertical in the boutique fitness space – including Pilates, indoor cycling, stretch, rowing, dance and yoga. Currently, Xponential Fitness’ portfolio of brands includes Club Pilates, the nation’s largest and fastest growing Pilates franchise; CycleBar, the first and only premium indoor cycling franchise; StretchLab, a concept offering one-on-one assisted stretching services and group stretch services; Row House, a high-energy, low-impact indoor rowing workout; AKT, a dance-based cardio workout combining toning, interval & circuit training; YogaSix, a modern boutique yoga brand; Pure Barre, a total body workout that uses the ballet barre to perform small, isometric movements; and most recently, STRIDE, an treadmill-based cardio and strength workout. Visit www.xponential.com to learn more.