Styling platform Stitch Fix partners with Venus Williams to tackle gym anxiety

Stitch Fix has partnered with tennis champion Venus Williams on a campaign that hopes to inspire women to overcome their gym anxiety.

The ‘Goodbye Gymtimidation’ campaign has launched as a way to help women achieve their fitness goals through a number of exclusive activations available through the Stitch Fix platform.

Williams, who has expressed her own experience with ‘gymtimidation’, will be sharing personal tips on overcoming the feeling of gym anxiety, while the styling platform pushes its personalised shopping experience to aid customers in finding athleisure products fit for their own needs.

As part of the fitness-centred activation, Stitch Fix will also be spotlighting a curated selection of activewear brands under the campaign’s title. The move comes as new data gathered by the platform displayed a link between “confidence-boosting activewear” and the ability to stick to fitness goals.

According to Stitch Fix, around 89 percent of American women it surveyed admitted to skipping workouts because they didn’t have any workout clothes that made them feel confident. It additionally found that workout anxiety is especially high among millennial women, standing at 80 percent.

Speaking on the campaign in a news release, Williams said: “Playing tennis on a global stage doesn’t make me immune to anxieties. In fact, I’d say it’s just the opposite. I’ve experienced ‘gymtimidation’ in the past while working out and have developed my own set of techniques to keep it at bay throughout my career. That’s why I decided to join forces with Stitch Fix on this campaign - to create awareness of this issue and inspire women to stay confident in themselves throughout their wellness journey.”

Additionally, Stitch Fix has announced a further partnership with Happier, which will allow users to access the workout app’s personalised habit-tracking tools.