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Australian Activewear Brand Folds After Gym Shaming Video Backlash

An Australian activewear company permanently closed after its owner's wife mocked a gym patron on social media, triggering death threats and severe financial consequences.

Activewear brand closes following controversial gym shaming video controversy | Photo: SUAVE, owned by Connor Wright and his wife Chloe, began operations in Perth in 2023. TikTok/Suave

Eleni Papadaki-Van Der Merwe Staff Writer

AUGUST 15, 2026 AT 12:03 AM

SUAVE, a Perth-based online activewear brand founded by Connor Wright and his wife Chloe in 2023, announced its closure this week, three months after the controversy engulfed the business, according to News.com.au.

The saga began in May when Mrs. Wright posted a Snapchat video filmed through a gym window showing a man using a rowing machine. The clip, captioned “Turns out me and @emilyy have been doing the rower wrong all these years,” was widely condemned as body-shaming and inappropriate.

The backlash was swift and severe. Wright revealed on TikTok that the couple received death threats in the aftermath, with some individuals threatening to petrol bomb their home. The fallout extended beyond online harassment—Wright lost his position as a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) worker, compounding the financial blow to the household.

In a Wednesday night Instagram post, the company confirmed it would close later this year. Wright elaborated on TikTok, acknowledging his mishandling of the situation and admitting that a line was crossed.

“I handled that situation terribly. I reacted really, really poorly, and I definitely agree that I could have done that better,” Wright stated in the video.

The couple’s physical and mental health suffered significantly during the ordeal, which Wright said created a toxic association with the brand itself. He also revealed that SUAVE had been struggling financially before the controversy, noting he had relied too heavily on TikTok marketing without reaching sufficient customers.

At the height of the backlash in May, Suave Activewear issued a statement to News.com.au apologizing for the video, calling it inappropriate and acknowledging the hurt it caused.

Social media users were divided in their response to the closure announcement. While some maintained the couple brought the consequences upon themselves, others expressed sympathy for the intensity of the backlash and its devastating personal impact on the family.

With information from New York Post

Eleni Papadaki-Van Der Merwe

She was born in 1986 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the granddaughter of an immigrant from Crete who settled in the Greek community of Johannesburg (one of the largest in Africa). She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Political Science from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg and a master’s degree in Journalism from Rhodes University in Grahamstown. She began her career at English-language media outlets in Johannesburg, covering politics and economics, with a focus on issues related to migration and the diaspora. She moved to Athens in 2015 to “return to her roots,” initially to pursue graduate studies, and has remained there permanently. She is married to an Afrikaner; they have two children and live in the southern suburbs of Athens.