Titin Tech is a compression and weight garment used in sports and was founded by Patrick Whaley in Atlanta, launched in 2010. Patrick Whaley, the founder and CEO of Titin Tech, developed the idea of the product when he was a freshman in college at Georgia Tech in 2005. In 2014, Whaley appeared on the sixth season of “Shark Tank,” and received an offer from Daymond John, founder and CEO of FUBU; however, Whaley received some harsh feedback from the other sharks saying that they saw his company as a scam. However, after much controversy, Titin Tech has shown that it is worth investing in long term.

The Product

The actual product that Whaley produced is an exercise shirt that weighs 8 or 20 pounds and shorts that weigh 5 pounds each; the shirts and shorts are made with pockets so that the users can insert removable gel weights, which can be heated or cooled. “Titin’s products essentially blend the concepts of traditional exercise weights with the newer compression garments such as those made by Under Armour and Nike” (Fisher).

The purpose of this product is to enhance athletic performance. The result of using Titin Tech products is increased speed, endurance and explosion. Whaley says, “Everything is designed around the movement of the human body. A lot of traditional weight garment systems don’t move with the body, and you end up doing damage or creating bad habits. What we have developed is a more efficient way to train without damaging form.”

Progression

After being on Shark Tank, Patrick Whaley and Titin Tech have proved to be a legitimate company. Clients include professional and collegiate athletes, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports, and Amazon.com. The key clients in this lineup include: the Pittsburgh Steelers, Utah Jazz, and the All Blacks Rugby team in New Zealand. Daymond John has also helped bring the major electronic company, Samsung, in as a strategic partner.

As Titin Tech’s growth continues and they have proved that the company is legitimate, the company has a projected value of $15 million in revenue for the fiscal 2015, which is about a fifty percent increase from the previous year. To further the company, Whaley wants to focus more clearly on designing a product specifically for women, and further, Whaley is seeking out opportunities where he can gain better ground in the physical therapy market.

Daymond John also has a distinct vision for this product. John believes that it is great that many sports teams are behind this product, but he also sees great potential for the everyday consumer of Titin Tech gear. John explains, “I’ve always been a consumer goods person, and in that space, the real market is the everyday person. Teams validating your product is great, and that’s where you’re going to get a lot of initial proof of concept. But you make your money from the everyday consumer.”

Advantages/Disadvantages

I believe that this is a great product and could really help athletes or those recovering from injury in significant ways. Some of the neat advantages of this product, in my opinion, are that they have big sports teams, across all sports, which are using the product and in turn promoting their product.

Some disadvantages with the product are that it may be difficult for the everyday consumer to obtain, solely because of the price (and the user won’t know if it works for them before they try it, so they run that risk). Another disadvantage of this product is that they are in the running with major sports apparel brands such as Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas. Overall, I think the product will have great success, but I think that the company needs to do a better job of promoting the product and getting their name out to people everywhere.

Patrick Whaley has proven Titin Tech as a legitimate company in that the product does yield results for athletic performance enhancement and recovery processes. With the projected revenue for 2015 and the future plans to start in the women and physical therapy markets, Titin Tech is on its way to being one of the top improved performance apparel providers. Patrick Whaley explains at the end of the article, “It’s really not just a product for me. What we’re selling is really a mission, a lifestyle, a passion around wellness and fitness. That’s an entirely different contemplation.”

Reference

Fisher, E. (2015). No ‘B.S. meter’ here. Weighty approach to garments paying off. Sports Business Journal, 18(25).

This blog post was written by Samford University student Makenzie Pendergrass.