A Scots postman is punching above his weight after starting up his own designer sportswear business in his bedroom - and now his creations are being worn by the world’s champion boxers.
Robbie Campbell , 23, who was born in Alexandria but now lives in Edinburgh began his own sports company ActiveLine wear in late 2022.
The year before he’d started reselling Nike and UnderArmour sportswear online and felt there was a gap in the market for a more affordable designer sports and outerwear brand.
Robbie, who is himself a keen footballer, explained: “I didn’t agree with the pricing of some of the items I was selling like jackets that cost £120 and felt that I could sell my own quality brand for less.
“I got a logo made and went for a brand and then I began looking for manufacturers. I work with a designer so we are always coming up with new ideas and everything we do is reflective so they are visible if you are running in the dark.”
He added: “I was selling a lot of items through Instagram but learned how to do a website myself and how to make the most of social media.”
I’ve now seen it grow from something small to getting more traction and I’ve been approached by online retailers who now want to stock my clothing. I’m also supplying to a shop in Glasgow’s Re-Up clothing in the St Enoch Centre.
Robbie’s new collection will mean he has more than thirty items on his website and he’s also going to be offering women’s summer collections.
At the moment his shorts and T-shirts are his biggest seller alongside his jackets.
He said: “We’ve got bright colours and a mint range just now that everyone seems to be loving as well as black and grey that anyone can wear. We try and get the balance between bright colours and neutral colours so it will appeal to different people and I do think the price point is a major selling point. Nike and UnderArmour are selling windbreaker jackets for three or four times the price and it’s too much for a lot of young people.”
Robbie was keen his brand would be taken seriously by sportspeople so reached out to some boxers to see if they’d be interested in being ambassadors for his clothing.
His designs are now proving to be a knockout with two of them fighting on the biggest stage of them all in coming weeks.
Robbie said: “I chanced my luck and it paid off. We've now got Raymond Ford who is based in New Jersey and is going for the WBA featherweight world title shot on March 2 in New York. If he wins he will be the world title holder for the featherweight championship
He seems to love the clothes and posts him wearing them all the time.”
EBU Champion Gavin Gwynne who will defend his lightweight title against Mark Chamberlain in March 8 in Saudi as the undercard of Anthony Joshua's fight with Francis Ngannou is also regularly seen in Robbie’s brand.
Middleweight Liam Williams also wears ActiveLine and Welterweight champ Chris Kongo is also an ambassador.
The brand has gained traction and Robbie is selling across the Uk and Republic of Ireland with other customers in Australia, Amsterdam, Netherlands and beyond.
He said: “More retailers are approaching us daily and we have doubled our order numbers every month.”
Robbie would love to target footballers and other sports people but acknowledges it might be harder to muscle in on that market.
He added: “We are focusing on real sportspeople and my hope is that I will soon be able to concentrate on this full time.”
As he prepares to jet out to the States and Saudi Arabia next month, Robbie said “It’s very early days yet but I’m very excited. If I could attain a fraction of the success of Sir Tom Hunter as a Scot in the sportswear market I’d be over the moon.”
