Milton Keynes

Passionate about Sport and Fitness.

Sweatshop was founded in 1971 by Chris Brasher, Olympic gold medalist and co-creator of the London Marathon. Not originally selected for the Olympics and in the words of the BBC commentary team, 'looking rather heavy', Chris Brasher was far from being favourite to take the 3000m steeplechase title in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.

But take he did, setting a new personal best and Olympic record of 8.41 in the process. That day he was wearing his 'J. T. Law' hand made spikes, with ultra light shaved leather and titanium spikes pillaged from the engine of a Rolls Royce. Two years prior to this in 1954 he paced Sir Roger Bannister to the first ever sub 4 minute mile.

His passion and enthusiasm for running and the outdoors spilled over into the business arena and in 1971 (just before Nike was born) he founded 'Chris Brasher's Sporting Emporium' which soon became Sweatshop.Chris Brasher believed that to be your best you had to wear the best equipment available. It was with this philosophy in mind that Sweatshop was created, to provide a unique environment for people passionate about their sport and fitness.