FIT Club looks to trade east
Newcastle's FIT Club is hoping to sell its sporting equipment in Russia and the Ukraine.
The business, which uses military and boxing training techniques and equipment to help its customers lose weight, has contacted Newcastle-based LMC International to identify retail outlets in Moscow and Kiev in which to stock its boxing equipment and sportswear.
The High Bridge Street business is said to be keen to source distributors and retail outlets within Russia, where boxing is a very popular sport, both professionally and at amateur level.
LMC International directors Lesley Milbourne and Yasser Jan said they have set up appointments and translators for negotiations when FIT Club founder Clive Gibson visits Russia later this year.
Gibson, also a former army commando, said: "We wouldn't have known where to start building links with Russian retailers what with the language differences and our lack of knowledge of the country.
"Now I'm packing my bags and getting ready to go out there for a number of meetings with people I could never have hoped to speak to without LMC International's help."
Milbourne added: "This was a challenge for us as the majority of our contacts are in the Middle East and Europe and Russia is a vast country in which business dealings are carried out very differently."
