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Adanola's founder gave up the CEO seat. Revenue grew 48%. In 2015, Hyrum Cook turned a gap in the leggings market into a Manchester activewear label. Nine years later, mid hyper-growth, he did something few founders choose voluntarily: he hired someone else to run the company he built. - By Remarkable Magazine · SEPTEMBER 05, 2026 - Hyrum Cook - Adanola Most founders who build a company to eight figures in revenue want to run it. Hyrum Cook spent nine years doing exactly that at Adanola, the Manchester activewear label he started in 2015 - and then, in the middle of the fastest growth the company had ever seen, he gave the job to someone else. A gap in the leggings market. Adanola launched in 2015, reportedly co-founded by Cook and his brother Josh, selling leggings into a market Cook saw as split between purely technical gym wear and everyday fashion, with little in between. The brand's Ultimate Leggings became its signature product, with more than a million pairs sold, and its customer base grew alongside a run of celebrity wearers - Kendall Jenner, Kaia Gerber, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Veneda Carter among them. By the year to March 2024, Adanola's Companies House accounts showed revenue had more than doubled to £57.1 million, up from £27.9 million the year before, with pre-tax profit of £18.9 million. Cook had been CEO the entire time. Hiring the person who scaled his rival. In April 2024, Adanola announced that Niran Chana would take over as chief executive, effective June 20, 2024. Chana's résumé was specific and pointed: as chief commercial officer at Gymshark - Adanola's most obvious UK rival in the activewear category - he had helped grow that company's revenue from roughly £5 million to £500 million, and had been involved in the 2020 deal in which General Atlantic bought a stake in Gymshark at a valuation above £1 billion. Cook's own explanation of the hire was blunt about why he wanted exactly that experience: "Niran's been there, done that, bought the T-shirt." He was equally direct about what he was keeping for himself. "Stepping into a founder role, I will work very closely with Niran and the wider team and focus on the things that enabled me to found Adanola in the first place, including brand, product, culture, and community," Cook said of the move. He did not frame it as retirement or an exit - Adanola's own trade-press coverage of the appointment described it as a handover of operational control, not of ownership or involvement. It is a specific kind of decision: a founder, still growing fast and still in his thirties, concluding that the skill set that built the company was not the skill set needed to scale it past nine figures - and choosing to bring in someone whose only credential was having done that exact job at a direct competitor. What happened after he let go. The year after Chana took over, to March 2025, Adanola's revenue grew 48% to £84.5 million. Gross profit rose 42% to £57.6 million, even as the gross margin slipped to 68.1% from 71.1% - the kind of trade-off that shows up when a company is spending harder to fund growth. Net profit rose to £16.58 million, up from £14.2 million the year before. Adanola brought in PwC in February 2025 to find outside investors, and in August 2025 the Los Angeles-based private equity firm STORY3 Capital Partners took what the companies called a "significant minority investment," reportedly valuing Adanola at approximately $530 million (around £400 million). The deal closed days before those FY25 numbers were filed with Companies House. Vogue Business, covering the leadership change the year before, had already put the underlying question to readers directly: why would a fast-growing, founder-run brand's own founder choose to hand over the wheel? The accounts suggest an answer that has less to do with sentiment than with capacity. Nine years in, Cook was still the person best placed to shape what Adanola was - the product, the brand, the culture he'd built it around. He was not, by his own account, the person best placed to run the operational machine at £84 million and rising. Deciding those are two different jobs, and that the second one might be better done by someone else, is the part of this story that is actually a decision rather than a resume line. Related founders. * Ben Francis Sold 21% of Gymshark. Now He Wants It Back. - the rival brand Niran Chana left, and the founder who stepped out of the CEO seat once himself before returning to it. * How Dagne Dover's Founders Chose Patient Capital Over VC - a different DTC brand that made the opposite call on outside capital from day one. * Founder Burnout: What the Research Actually Shows - what the data says about the cost of staying in the top job past the point it still fits. Adanola's 2015 founding by Hyrum Cook, reportedly with his brother Josh, and its Ultimate Leggings and celebrity-wearer details are per Adanola's and STORY3 Capital Partners' own August 2025 investment announcement, syndicated via PR Newswire and covered by trade outlets including FashionUnited and SGB Media. The FY2024 revenue (£57.1 million, more than doubling from £27.9 million) and pre-tax profit (£18.9 million) figures are from Adanola's Companies House filing, as reported by BusinessCloud and FashionNetwork. Niran Chana's April 2024 appointment as CEO effective June 20, 2024, his Gymshark background scaling revenue from roughly £5 million to £500 million and his role in Gymshark's 2020 General Atlantic deal, and Cook's "been there, done that, bought the T-shirt" and "stepping into a founder role" quotes, are per trade-press coverage of the announcement, including Drapers and Retail Week. Vogue Business covered the same handover under the headline "Adanola has a new CEO. Why is its star founder handing over?" The FY2025 revenue (£84.5 million, up 48%), gross profit (£57.6 million, margin down to 68.1% from 71.1%) and net profit (£16.58 million, up from £14.2 million) are from Adanola's Companies House filing of September 23, 2025, as reported by FashionNetwork. The February 2025 PwC mandate and the August 2025 STORY3 Capital Partners minority investment at an approximate $530 million valuation are per Adanola's own announcement and coverage by TheIndustry.fashion, Retail Bulletin and FinSMEs. No figure in this piece is drawn from an unattributed estimate. Remarkable Magazine. Remarkable Magazine is an independent magazine featuring remarkable entrepreneurs - interviews, features, and the stories behind the people building what comes next. One remarkable story, one lesson worth stealing, and the moves smart builders made this week. Free. No spam, ever.

Phorest Summit 2027 confirms first speakers as event moves to Killarney. 2 September 2026 Phorest announces first speakers for January 2027 Summit in Kerry, with early bird pricing closing 30 September 2026. Phorest has named the first speakers for the Phorest Summit 2027, running at the Gleneagle Arena in Killarney, Ireland on Sunday 24th and Monday 25th January 2027. Formerly the Salon Owner's Summit, the new name of the event reflects reflect the hair, beauty and medi-aesthetic businesses it now serves. The 2027 Summit marks the first edition held outside Dublin, with Kerry's lakes and mountains providing space for genuine retreat and reflection rather than conference logistics. Beyond: What the Future Holds. The theme is Beyond: What the Future Holds in Its Industry. Sessions explore how salons, spas and clinics can respond to change as it happens, and put emerging technology, including AI, to work without compromising the human relationships their businesses are built upon. Owners spend two days removed from daily operations, gaining room to think strategically about the next three years rather than next week's rota. Confirmed speakers. The first wave of speakers includes: * Jon Petz - Hall of Fame keynote speaker and "Amazement Artist" covering performance, team presence and the small moments that determine whether clients remember their visit. * Stefanie Sword-Williams - Founder of F*ck Being Humble and TEDx speaker; Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree teaching teams how to articulate and substantiate their professional value. * Elfried Samba - Former Global Head of Social Content at Gymshark; founder of creative house Butterly 3ffect speaking on building brands without traditional media budgets. The experience. Owners leave with immediately actionable material as well as two evenings of music, food and entertainment delivered in genuine Irish style. Attendees join more than 750 owners, managers and industry professionals whilst accessing first hands-on engagement with new Phorest AI tools and product releases before general availability. Ronan Perceval, founder and CEO of Phorest, notes: "Owners spend the year solving problems for everyone else. Two days in Killarney gives them the room, and the people, to work on their own business." Further speakers will be announced over the coming months. Early bird pricing ends 30 September 2026; tickets for both days are available now at www.phorestsummit.com

Gymshark names new chief supply chain officer. Matt Rogers joined the fitness apparel brand in 2023 and previously held the role of global supply chain director. Published Aug. 5, 2026 Gymshark named Matt Rogers as its chief supply chain officer, effective Aug. 1, Rogers told Supply Chain Dive in an email. "Matt has consistently demonstrated the leadership, judgement and ambition needed to build a supply chain that's ready for the next chapter of Gymshark," Ben Francis said in a LinkedIn post last week. Rogers first joined Gymshark in 2023 as supply chain director, according to his LinkedIn profile. Per Francis' LinkedIn post, Rogers has been leading the function as interim general manager for sourcing and supply chain. With Rogers leading Gymshark's supply chain functions, the company has reduced its logistics and distribution costs by several millions per year, while making faster deliveries in the U.S. and the U.K, Rogers said. Prior to Gymshark, Rogers worked at Asos as group supply chain director, per his LinkedIn. He also has experience working for House of Fraser, DHL and NYK Logistics. Laurent Madelaine served as Gymshark's chief product and supply chain officer for nearly 4 years before recently announcing his departure in a LinkedIn post. Rogers' new role comes as Gymshark aims to build an omnichannel brand with physical locations across the globe, and has modified and scaled its operation to support such growth, Rogers said. Last year, the company opened its first brick-and-mortar store in the U.S. and also formed its first U.S. wholesale partnership with Dick's Sporting Goods. "It's no secret that our CEO Ben Francis' ambition for Gymshark is to make it a 100-year brand that outlives all of us. As we continue to grow, especially in the US, we need to ensure our supply chain grows with us and fulfils the needs of our amazing, but expectant community," Rogers said.