This might be Garth Irwin’s biggest flip yet.
The Carman product’s homegrown fitness equipment manufacturing business, Irwin Fitness, will upgrade to bigger digs when it moves from its 1,200-square-foot store at 79 4th Avenue NorthEast to a new 7,000-square-foot space in the Carman Industrial Park in February.
The new facility will include a full-scale gym for prospective customers to view Irwin’s products and mark another milestone in an unlikely business venture that took off in August of 2020.
“It’s quite a big jump for us,” said Irwin, who started building equipment out of his parent’s garage.
“We’re building that new facility in town here and the way things are going, it’s probably going to need another building quite soon.”
Irwin, 30, was flipping houses before he started manufacturing gym equipment. But when the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortage in gym supplies, the lifelong fitness buff decided to put his background in fabrication welding to good use.
Irwin made his own squat rack and bench and documented it on Instagram, and it wasn’t long before his friends began requesting additions for their home gym.
“Initially, I really didn’t want to just because I was busy with other projects. I agreed to make one for a friend and, long story short, he ended up not needing it after I built it, so I put it on the Facebook marketplace and it sold in 30 minutes,” he said.
A short time later, Irwin had another five messages from strangers who were requesting his services.
“I was like, ‘If I actually put some effort into it, I could probably streamline this and just make some extra cash on the side,’ he said. “I kind of got obsessed with it and got pretty crazy with it.”
Irwin’s venture hasn’t come without its naysayers. Some warned him to not invest too much time and effort into Irwin Fitness, as it would die off once gyms re-opened following the pandemic.
While Irwin admitted there were stretches that required some mental fortitude — such as enduring the price increase of materials, which led to leaner profit margins — he trusted that it would remain a viable business.
“It seems so cliché but that was what motivated me a lot at the beginning,” Irwin said. “There were probably four or five other businesses across Canada that started making gym equipment (during the pandemic), but none of them are in business today.”
Irwin has expanded his catalogue to storage racks, gym flooring, weight plates and advanced custom designs and now owns an extensive customer base that reaches Peru, Australia and Germany.
In December of 2022, Irwin completed his biggest custom job when he manufactured the Winnipeg Blue Bombers weight room. He said he’s in talks with other sports teams like the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers about designing their weight rooms, too.
“We’ve kind of cornered the high-end gym market, which is where we’ve gone with the business,” he said. “In a perfect world, I would love to do a lot more of that— the full gym for a sports team or athletic facility.”
Irwin Fitness has remained local, with welding done in the Carman shop, bench pads sourced from Winnipeg and powder coatings done in Winkler.
With business booming, Irwin said he’s more motivated than ever to continue growing. No matter how much Irwin Fitness expands, however, he’s just as committed to the smaller projects that have proved to be the bedrock of his company.
“I always wanted to have my own business, I just didn’t know it was gonna take shape like this,” Irwin said.
“I find enjoyment out of doing a full (gym) start to finish, but the business was built on home gyms, and that’s who supports us the most right now. So I’m never going to shy away from that, I’m always going to try and support that community, as well.”
