Icon Health & Fitness
 | |
Formerly called | Weslo, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Private | |
| Founded | 1977 in Utah |
| Founder |
Scott Watterson Gary Stevenson |
| Headquarters | Logan, Utah, United States |
Area served | Global |
Key people |
Scott Watterson, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Fred Beck, Chief Financial Officer David Watterson, Chief Merchandising Officer |
| Products |
Treadmills Elliptical Trainers Stationary Bicycles Weight Machines and Benches Yoga and Pilates equipment |
| Brands | Altra Running, FreeMotion Fitness, Gold's Gym, HealthRider, iFit, Image, NordicTrack, ProForm, Weslo, and Weider. |
| Website |
www |
Icon Health & Fitness, Inc. (styled ICON Health & Fitness) is an exercise equipment manufacturer and marketer based in Logan, Utah, United States. The company hold more than 250 patents.[1]
Company overview
ICON Health and Fitness is the world’s largest manufacturer of exercise equipment.[2] The privately held company employs about 2500 people in 9 locations, including facilities in China, Europe, and North and South America. The company manufactures treadmills, elliptical trainers, stationary bicycles, weight machines and benches, and yoga and Pilates equipment. ICON is ISO 9000 certified, and holds about 200 patents.[3]
Brands
ICON Health & Fitness has a wide range of brands, products and technologies, including the brands NordicTrack, ProForm, Weider, Gold's Gym and FreeMotion Fitness.[3] Their fitness technology brand, including WiFi-enabled fitness equipment and fitness wearables, is iFit.[4] The company also has a running and trail shoe brand named Altra footwear.[5]
Under a license agreement with Gold's Gym, ICON Health & Fitness designs, manufactures, markets and sells a full line of fitness equipment under the Gold's Gym brand name.[6]
In 2016, Golf Digest named the Free Motion Fitness Dual Cable Cross as the best universal fitness equipment in their Editor's Choice award.[7]
History
1970s – 1980s
In 1977, Utah State University students Scott Watterson and Gary E. Stevenson founded Weslo, Inc.,[8] a company that imported Asian kitchen and tableware, along with marble products. In 1979, Weslo began selling wood-burning stoves under the Fire King brand. In the 1980s, they began manufacturing trampolines, and then, under the name ProForm Fitness Products, treadmills, exercise bikes, indoor rowers, and home gyms.[3]
In 1988, Weider Health and Fitness acquired Weslo and ProForm, and in 1990, moved them into the current 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) headquarters in Logan.[3]
1990s
In 1994, Weider sold ProForm and Weslo, along with Weider Care, to IHF Capital Inc,[9] a group led by Mitt Romney's Bain Capital, in a deal equaling US$450 million. The companies were renamed ICON Health and Fitness, Inc.[8]
ICON acquired HealthRider in 1996,[10] NordicTrack in 1999, and FreeMotion Fitness, Inc in 2001.[3]
2010s
In late October 2015, manufacturing activities at the Logan, Utah facility were moved offshore. This resulted in the laying off of more than four hundred workers.[11]
The former manufacturing space will now become a television studio to make advertisements, a showroom, and engineering and innovation offices. Some of the manufacturing jobs are now being replaced with industrial design, marketing, engineering and computer programming positions.[1]
External links
- Official web site
- iFit Fitness App
- NordicTrack Exercise Equipment and Home Fitness Equipment
- Icon Health & Fitness at the Open Directory Project
References
- 1 2 Opsahl, Kevin (2015-12-14). "ICON optimistic in wake of big layoff". The Herald Journal. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
- ↑ "Poll: Americans are spending less on exercise". MSNBC. NBCNews.com. 2009-10-19.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Icon corporate website
- ↑ Nelles, Barbara (October 2015). "Mattress news from Las Vegas Market". BedTimes Magazine. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
Icon’s patented iFit technology syncs wearable devices and home exercise equipment with a cloud-based app that allows users to track their progress.
- ↑ Frazier, Lance (2015-03-06). "In four short years, Icon's Altra shoes have carved out a significant niche". The Herald Journal. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
- ↑ "Gold's Gym Announces Strategic Alliance to Market Fitness Equipment with ICON Health & Fitness". 2001-07-25. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
- ↑ "Best Fitness Equipment For Golfers". Conte Nast. 2016-04-19. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
- 1 2 "Proform, Weslo Health-Equipment Firms Sign a Deal to Boost Their Financial Fitness," The Deseret News, November 15, 1994]
- ↑ "ICON says it’s scrapping stock offering," The Deseret News, September 27, 1996
- ↑ "ICON Health & Fitness to Acquire HealthRider," The Deseret News, July 9, 1996
- ↑ Opsahl, Kevin (2015-07-14). "ICON to eliminate 400 jobs at Logan plant". The Herald Journal. Retrieved 2015-10-27.