Freetrain extends its fashion range
A business founded by two young footballers is expanding into a new range of apparel.
Freetrain was started by James Wren and Jack Dyer in 2019 to produce training vests for players which incorporate a central pocket for a mobile phone.
The former Premier League youth players have now generated £8.65 million in revenue in the two years since quitting their jobs.
Last year Freetrain had revenue of £4.55 million.
To generate kickstart funding, they applied successfully for a £1,500 grant from the PFA, which they used to purchase coaching equipment and went round schools for six months teaching youngsters to play football – saving up just enough funds to purchase their first 500 vests.
After they sold these, alongside working 9 to 5 sales jobs, they pitched to an investor for £5,000 to scale up their manufacturing. Two-and-a-half years later and with no further outside investment, they have sold nearly 300,000 vests generating more than £8.65m in revenue.
The pair, who met at Burton Albion launched into the apparel market on May 11, releasing windbreakers, leggings, shorts, gilets and hoodies.
Birmingham-born James, now 28, played at Man United with Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Sam Johnstone at the age of 16, and later played for Walsall, Stafford Rangers, Hednesford Town and Stourbridge, while Sutton Coldfield-born Jack, 30, was at Aston Villa until he was 18.
They always knew they wanted to work together and spotted a gap in the market and created the perfect fix for it. When out running they were getting sick of either carrying their phone, or having it bounce on their arm so they created the Freetrain V1 Vest, modelled on the activity monitors they wore as pro footballers.
