Serena Williams Launches New Lifestyle Brand Focused On Recovery
Serena Williams is a champion on and off the tennis court and on Thursday, the superstar athlete launched her newest venture, "Will Perform," a brand that has been several years in the making to help athletes recover from post-workout muscle aches.
According to WWD, her five topical products include, Will Relieve, Will Cool, Will Rest, and Will Soothe, which promote recovery and self-care.
"You really are only as good as you recover," The tennis player revealed to WWD, a message her coaches often told her throughout her champion tennis career, when recovery often took up more time than tennis matches."
The idea for the lifestyle brand came when she realized she didn't connect with recovery products available. "I remember being at the French Open and using a product and thinking, 'I'm too young to be using this product.' Literally, that was one of my thoughts. And I was like, 'OK, there has to be something better,'" Williams told WWD.
She continued, "The category felt solely focused on if you're injured or older…which, of course, are real needs. But there is a much bigger opportunity. So, I wanted to create something that I could've seen myself and really anyone benefiting from."
When she tried the products pre-launch she saw the difference. "I was surprised at how much it benefited me. I stayed away from a lot of these products for so long because I just felt like they didn't really speak to me," Williams said. Williams considered factors like scent and texture, and she "was really excited about developing something that was just more light and more usable in everyday life."
She partnered with Eric Ryan, an entrepreneur who co-founded Welly, Method, and Olly, and Hank Mercier, a consumer-packaged-goods executive. "Serena is obviously a big part of how we think about the vision of this," Ryan told WWD. “Her ethos is really bringing together this grit in art.”
Well Perform is now available on WillPerform.com and will launch in-store and online at Target on Dec. 18.
