For many Gymshark fans, this wasn’t just another drop — it was the return of a legend.
The Onyx collection hadn’t been available in over five years. In that time, it went from limited-edition apparel to full-on fitness folklore — requested endlessly, speculated wildly, and teased like it was the second coming of creatine.
Leading up to launch day, Gymshark stoked the hype with influencer overload, cryptic teasers, and a superhero theme that practically screamed “this is gonna be huge.” Fans dissected every hint online. Some even cleared their schedules like it was a national holiday.
Related: Gymshark stumbles big time and customers are furious
And then? Nothing. The site face-planted within seconds. No pages loading. No products available. Just chaos and confusion as carts crashed harder than a failed deadlift.
What was supposed to be Gymshark’s biggest comeback turned into a full-blown digital wipeout.
Gymshark royally fails with Onyx product launch.
Image source: Glossy/Gymshark
Gymshark fans call for boycott after launch chaos
Reddit user u/KimKhnhTrn summed up the frustration bluntly: “Hard to believe a multi-million dollar brand like Gymshark would run a hyped collection drop this poorly.”
The subreddit lit up with rage. Loyal customers were left confused, shut out, and ready to vent.
The backlash intensified as more customers shared their experiences. The sentiment shifted from disappointment to calls for action.
A new thread by u/SleepNoSleep891 stated “We seriously need to boycott Gymshark.”
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Another user, u/skywalkermolly, didn’t mince words: “Hyped this s*** up for weeks just to completely fumble the drop. Site crashed, nothing worked, everything sold out instantly. I’m done. Never buying Gymshark again.”
Some blamed bots for clearing out the entire drop in seconds. Others just called it a mess. Whatever the cause, it felt like Gymshark wasn’t ready for game day.
The message was loud and sweaty: Gymshark fumbled hard, and its most loyal fans weren’t just mad — they were done playing spotter for a brand that couldn’t show up on launch day.
Can Gymshark recover after launch disaster?
This isn’t Gymshark’s first digital disaster. Back in 2016, the brand’s site crashed for eight hours during Black Friday, racking up $143,000 in lost sales. You’d think that kind of pain would leave a mark — and maybe a playbook. But here we are again.
Despite migrating to Shopify and promising better infrastructure, the Onyx launch proved that hype still outpaces execution. The site folded under pressure, again. Only this time, customers weren’t just inconvenienced — they were furious.
CEO Ben Francis took to X to calm the chaos, tweeting: “Onyx is for our real fans — not bots…Hang tight.”
Shortly after, the official Gymshark account posted a follow-up: “Due to insane demand, we’re pausing the Onyx drop and cancelling all bot orders. Onyx will return, we are rescheduling the drop.”
A nice sentiment — but for many fans, it felt like too little, too late. Especially after waiting five years just to get hit with a spinning load icon and a sold-out screen.
Now, as Gymshark gears up for its first U.S. flagship store in Manhattan, the stakes are higher than ever.
The question isn’t just whether Gymshark can clean up the bot mess and fix a website. It’s whether it can convince fans to keep showing up — digitally or in person — when the last drop left them feeling ghosted.
Loyalty isn’t earned through hype; it’s earned through execution. And this time, Gymshark didn’t just miss the lift. It dropped the bar on its own foot.
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