1ENEMY’S ORIGIN STORY

To really understand what 1Enemy is all about, I would like to walk you through the brand’s origin and early days.

Back in 2017, our CEO Frank Stewart had the idea to try something different within the fitness world. He wanted to focus on strength and, more specifically, weighted vests. He knew he could revolutionize the industry with one-of-a-kind multi-curved steel plate inserts for weighted training vests. The innovative design allowed for more comfort and ease of running. Just as important: It met competition regulations for the CrossFit games. And this is how, with only one product, Premier Fitness was born.

Frank quickly developed a business plan and began sharing the product with potential vendors and other fitness and sports-related companies. With his family-owned company—despite its many successes—Frank was not able to compete with a larger company that undercut him and took a similar product to market roughly a week before he could.

Having many thriving businesses making demands on Frank’s attention, Premier Fitness and the weighted vests idea—as innovative as it was—made their way to the back burner.

That was until 2020, when I was getting ready to graduate from Western Carolina University and had the idea to revive Frank’s plans for the weighted vests. This is a good time to mention that Frank is my dad. It’s a dream to be able to work with my family.

This time, with me as the vice president of the company and with a vision that extended beyond vests, we decided to relaunch as 1Enemy. The name is derived from a mindset and a lifestyle that I developed during my time in the United States Marine Corps.

It’s the idea that every day we wake up, we are inherently fighting ourselves to be the best we can be: that little internal voice that tells us that we can’t, those bad habits that we picked up along the way—laziness, complacency—and all those small battles that we go through in life. No one can fight those battles for you. No one can wake up and go to the gym or go for a run for you. Only you can find that strength for yourself to be the best version of you. That is what 1Enemy is, and we can thrive with new habits and a healthy mindset, no battle required.

We took that mindset and wanted to create something out of it. We started redesigning our vests, then we wanted to get into apparel, and so we did. And now a little more than four years after my dad’s innovative weighted vests idea, we have two apparel collections (sportswear and a streetwear collection), as well as the most comfortable weighted vest on the market. We’ve assembled an awesome team to support this mission and work.

This is a first note from me, but I look forward to many conversations to come. We want to continue to improve our brand, culture, and service to our community.

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Christian Stewart
Vice President, 1Enemy

Vice president Christian Stewart is a modern-day Renaissance man whose wealth of experiences informs not only 1Enemy’s extensive line of fitness apparel but also our commitment to collaboration and a strong company culture. As a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, he’s embraced the motto of Semper Fidelis and shows up, always faithful, to the work of inspiring and equipping people to be their best, happiest selves. Born in Dallas, North Carolina, Christian attended Western Carolina University, where he was extremely involved in his fraternity and earned a bachelor’s of science in parks and recreation management. He played football while in college and worked as a horse trail guide. Christian is a total outdoorsman, and when he’s not working, you’ll often find him on a trail or fishing.