GRCA Commerce Quarterly Spring 2020 - 24

Feature

Flipping for
Elite Sportswear uses
sewing skills to create
cloth-based masks
By Leah Fassnacht, Director of
Communications & Marketing

A

pivot turn is one of the most basic gymnastics skills. Pivoting
an entire business in the middle of a world pandemic is the
equivalent of performing a Biles II, a double back flip with
three twists, named Simone Biles. But that's exactly what Elite
Sportswear did.
"The last month we've had to pivot, we've had to pivot really aggressively," said Girisha Chandraraj, CEO of the Reading-based business.
While this change of direction
involved some unfortunate layoffs and
furloughs for the company, it also resulted in some unexpected innovation for
the makers of the famous GK leotards.

PPE
"I think we suspected that there was something that was going to
happen with the Olympics. It was sort of a growing concern for us.
I wouldn't say it was a big shock. It was a disappointment for sure,"
Chandraraj said.
According to Erica Schnebel, Elite Sportswear's Senior Marketing
Manager, in 2021 the company will be outfitting both the Men's and
Women's Olympic teams. Additionally, several sponsored athletes,
including Biles, Laurie Hernandez,
Sam Mikulak and Yul Moldauer, will
wear GK apparel for every competition leading up to those Olympics.

The Tipping Point
The Olympics
With the 2020 Tokyo Summer
Olympics being postponed until 2021,
the sales bump for businesses like Elite
Sportswear will have to wait.
"The Olympic year is a big deal for
us. Our business definitely benefits
from an Olympic cycle. We are also
in an era where we have arguably the
greatest gymnast ever in Simone Biles," Chandraraj said.
Little girls all over the world see Biles in a sparkling GK leotard,
and they want one just like it. Gyms see a noticeable uptick in
participation, and Elite Sportswear reaps the benefits.
Chandraraj was quick to point out that it's not just the Olympics
that help drive revenue for the company. There are multiple qualifying and supporting events leading up to the Games such as the
U.S. Gymnastics Championships and the Olympic Trials. Now, all
are postponed.
24  COMMERCE QUARTERLY SPRING 2020

Chandraraj admitted that although
there is no playbook for this unprecedented time, he did point to one thing
at the beginning of the pandemic
that began causing the company real
concern.
"The tipping point was really once
we saw major sporting events starting
to get canceled that was really sort of
the catalyst to everyone really pulling
back on activities, pulling back on events," he said.
Once Gov. Wolf shut down all non-life-sustaining businesses, the
company was unable to ship or manufacture. He added that the
company went from a really good run-rate business to zero revenue
overnight.
"There's no model, no financial model you build to plan to go to
zero revenue in two days," he said.



GRCA Commerce Quarterly Spring 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRCA Commerce Quarterly Spring 2020

GRCA Commerce Quarterly Spring 2020 - 1
GRCA Commerce Quarterly Spring 2020 - 2
GRCA Commerce Quarterly Spring 2020 - 3
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GRCA Commerce Quarterly Spring 2020 - 36
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly_Fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly_Summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/hoffmann/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly/GreaterReadingChamber_CommerceQuarterly_Spring2017
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