How does Oiselle and ElliptiGO stay in business???????

Oiselle has the best chance of lasting if they stick to what they are and continue to be perceived as as a high quality, high status brand. Model themselves along the lines of lululemon. I honestly think if their product started showing up too many places they'd lose their core customer.

Eliptigo has no shot. It's expensive, looks ridiculous, and appears to be going after the very very small niche of the injured athlete who doesn't want to ride an actual bike or use gym equipment.

You're assuming they make a profit. They probably do not at this point.

I would be willing to be Oiselle does. They are mostly a clothing company and they have serveral dozen dealers in their regional sales area. They have their own store even. The margins on clothing sales are pretty decent.

According to a Business Insider profile last year, Oiselle's current revenue reached 10 million a year in 2014, and they have plans to open stores in San Francisco, Chicago and New York over this year and next year.

Does ElliptiGo sponsor anyone besides Meb? A few grand a year and a free trainer to Meb to have him constantly use and endorse your product on his social media is certainly worth it, i would think.

I see people using Elipitgos on the bike trail near me from time to time. They must have bought them.

You guys just aren't around bougie women. I live in Seattle, Oiselle's HQ, and see women in Oiselle all the time. Their prices are comparable to Lululemon and may even be cheaper. I happened to get all my stuff from sales (Amazon will have random prices on different sizes) and from their own seasonal sample sales, and I'm not into all the birds and lightning bolts. But still, all my favorite go-tos are from them. Fall leggings, running vest, rain jacket. They use really nice fabric that feel lightweight but are cozy at the same time.

I like Oiselle, but only buy it when they have big sales because A) I'm poor and B) the quality IMO is not any better than some cheaper brands, especially the sports bras. What does set them apart from other brands I wear is the fit and the style. Believe it or not, there is an art to designing running shorts that fit well for women.

As for Elliptigo, I have no idea how they stay in business, but I like the idea if only I could afford one.

hand jive wrote:

I see people using Elipitgos on the bike trail near me from time to time. They must have bought them.

Bike shops get ElliptiGOs on loaner and rent them. This is why you see them on your local bike path. No way they are selling much at all. in those shops. They have a few very cool employees, but this won't help make a profit.

nikeman isn't rolling in Nike cash?

Elliptigo have sent one (plus probably lots of cash) to Haile's Yaya village in Sululta. I never saw anyone use it, even injured runners will rather run in pain, it just looks too ridiculous going around on it in a teeny town with one asphalt road!

I've also seen Dutch girl Susan kujiken promote it on social media.

Can't imagine that elliptigo makes any earnings but i wish them well, we need companies that try to cater to runners.

On a related note, how do roll recovery stay in business. It seems they've shipped free R8's to every pro runner in the US, who is then left to actually buy it? (To be fair I bought one!! But I don't know of anyone else:))

Regarding r8 - I work at a run specialty store in NJ. I balked at bringing them in because of the price, but we can't keep enough in stock. We sell 1-2 dozen per month, and demand is exceeding production so prices on Amazon (black market as there are UMAP in place) are ridiculously high. It's a great product and it sells.

It's the 21st century. You don't need storefronts.

Bionic Runner from Australia might be a better option than ElliptiGO.

In any case they both keep injured runners in the game. If I had the room and the $$$$ I'd have both.

StreetSmart-RnR wrote:

This is a real question.

Seems like ElliptiGO just sponsors athletes, but no one really wants to buy those overpriced bicycle/ellipticals. Even with a few people actually making the purchase, they can't be making $$$$.

Oiselle seems to be in no big box stores and very few run specialty stores. They can't stay in business from titlenine sales only.

What gives? How long will they last?

I think there is definitely a market for Oiselle, I live in a somewhat affluent area and the women love upscale niche brands, especially non runners. ElliptiGO shot themselves in the foot with their pricing and target marking. They went after a very small market, which has options for similar home products and it is about double what the regular joe would be willing to pay. Btw, I would like to see both products succeed.

Oiselle does have some solid products. They have some shorts with both a side and a back pocket - If I want to run 10-15mi, I'd rather have a pocket to toss my gel and key in vs some waist pouch, and as a die hard lace-lock (yeah, I use an off-brand, but the concet), I can't easily tie my key in my shoes. A useful pocket or two goes a long way in some shorts -especially when they are comfortable to run in and the elastic liner holds up well.

ElliptiGO has a much cheaper option now with their newer version the ARC:

http://www.elliptigo.com/arc-elliptical-bike/

I haven't tried it yet, but it has a shorter stride length. ElliptiGO is doing great. Last fall, I heard they have sold over 15,000 ElliptiGOs.

There is a lot of money to be made in women's sports apparel. Yoga pants are the new blue jeans. Yoga, pilates, barre, etc. are a rapidly growing segment of the fitness industry. And when you go to a class at a snazzy yago studio, it is a fashion show for the women. Oiselle is well placed in a rapidly growing market. They are probably too high end to see them go public and pop up in every mall across the US. But if you think that their sponsorship of a certain finger wagging US elite marathoner is a sign that the company is just a passing folly, you would be wrong.

If I was at the point of needing an ElliptiGo type device, I would rather use an elliptical inside or just ride a road bike. I don't see forking over the cash to

1) look ridiculous and get harassed 10x as much as when I'm running

2) use it once a year

My 2 cents