Our
Story

puretec-timeline-intro

1946 - 1950

The history of Puretec Ltd starts back in 1946 when weightlifter and fitness pioneer Walter Marcyan opened the Marcy retail store in America. The success of his store meant that by 1947 he could open the first House of Health gym in LA to encourage people to go out and get fit. He claimed that “The primary goal of our physical education and athletic programmes should be that everybody should be stronger and healthier and that they should have attained the knowledge to maintain these blessings through later life.”

1950 - 1960

By the 1950s, Marcyan realised that going to the gym wasn’t always easy or convenient, so he began designing gym equipment that could be used in the home. This led to the foundation of the Marcy Gymnasium Equipment Company, and by 1959 he had created the first-ever all-in-one multigym for the home.

marcy-timeline
timeline-5
timeline-6

1961 - 1975

Marcyan’s work took off, and by 1961, his home gym equipment had become very popular. It was then that he decided to start publishing an educational magazine called “Physical Power”. It was designed to educate coaches, athletes, and students so that they could make the most out of their weight training. Then, in 1971, Marcyan was introduced to martial artist icon Bruce Lee who specifically asked for a gym to be shipped to Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was with this equipment that Lee built his iconic physique for the film Enter The Dragon.

ronaldreagan

1976 - 1990

Over the next 20 years, Marcyan’s work continued to progress to new heights so that by 1981, Marcyan had become so well known that he was personally chosen to rehabilitate President Ronald Reagan after a failed assassination attempt.
The following year, in 1982, an American family-owned fitness manufacturer called Impex was launched in the US. After making a deal with the Marcy Gymnasium Equipment Company, they made a deal with Escalade to produce multigyms, Smith machines and weight benches on a larger scale bearing the Marcy name and distributing them throughout the US.

1991 - 2002

In 1992, Impex acquired the full rights to the Marcy brand for distribution in the US. Over the pond, in the UK, a small home fitness business called Puretec Limited was being founded, which went on to become the exclusive UK distributor of Total Trainer Home Gym Equipment in 1998. Though relatively unknown, the turn of the century saw Puretec Ltd moving into larger premises and starting to sell home fitness equipment through eBay.

timeline-4
timeline-2

2003 - 2005

The success that Puretec Ltd saw from this meant that in 2003 they had reached the top 3 seller ranking and Powerseller status on eBay and even landed themselves an invitation to the Premium Seller Awards in London. In addition, the success from eBay allowed them to launch their own website purefitnessandsports.co.uk. In 2005, Puretec Ltd caught the eye of Impex, and so began their relationship as they acquired the rights to Marcy, making them the UK’s only distributor of the brand. At the same time, they also gained themselves the rights to Everlast, becoming a major Everlast seller.

timeline-1

2006 - 2018

Over the next 11 years, Puretec Ltd partnered with Amazon UK before launching the PureFitness and Sports collection in 2012. The result of this meant that they went on to become major suppliers to big-name retailers Littlewoods, Very, QVC, Argos and Costco UK.
Finally, in 2016, after years of sharing the Marcy brand, Puretec Ltd became an official member of the Impex Inc group and gained the rights to supply home fitness brands Steelbody and Bionic Body
within the UK.

marcy-multi
tile_davina-mccall
warehouse

2019 - 2020

By 2019, Puretec Ltd was one of the UK’s foremost suppliers and retailers of home gym equipment with a wide range of brands, giving customers plenty to choose from. The result of 73 years of hard work meant that the same year saw the Davina McCall fitness collection launch and a move to a new 60,000 sqft office and warehouse space in Yorkshire. Exercise.co.uk was also launched, a new website designed to provide customers with high-quality, affordable equipment, along with a way to educate and guide
customers through their fitness journey.

Watch The Video

Today

2021 sees the fitness industry returning from the Covid-19 pandemic bigger and stronger than ever. After 75 years, Puretec Ltd remains true to Walter Marcyan’s fundamental beliefs of empowering and educating people to stay fit and healthy and to #findyourfeelgood. Puretec Ltd continues to provide 5-Star service and affordable, reliable products to customers throughout the UK, as well as reaching a milestone of over 500 articles in our Learn section on Exercise.co.uk. 2021 also sees the promise of new things to come, with the arrival of the Inspire collection and a new partnership with retailer JD Williams and many more new and exciting things on the way.

Rotate your device to landscape

Rotate your device to landscape