We Phoned The Head Of 247 For A Chinwag
For an upcoming drop of fittest.media editorial, we called the man evolving Represent 247 for our On The Blower franchise. Here's a preview.
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, 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 my way into 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 in a funny, funny period of time. Trump came in 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, and 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 and 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 sort of solid foundation of figuring out how product can play a massive part in the performance world and to connect and be authentic with the messaging and 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, you know, we have a founder who lives and breathes 247. George manifests this very driven, 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.