| Type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fitness |
| Founded | Harlingen, Texas (1992) |
| Headquarters | Waco, Texas |
| Key people | Gary Heavin, CEO & Founder Mike Raymond, President |
| Products | Weight loss Fitnesss Exercise, Physical Fitness |
| Revenue | $2.630 Billion(estimated) USD (2004) |
| Employees | 160 (2004) |
| Website | http://www.curves.com/ |
Curves International, also known as Curves for Women, Curves Fitness, or just Curves, is an international fitness franchise co-founded by Gary and Diane Heavin in 1995. Curves currently has 10,000 locations worldwide and an estimated 4 million plus members (as of October 2006).[1] The company is privately held by its co-founders, with corporate offices located in Waco, Texas. Curves fitness and weight loss facilities are designed specifically for and focused on women, although in some states, men are allowed to join.
The clubs compete with other women's-only chain health clubs, including Spa Lady and Lucille Roberts.
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Curves was founded by Gary Heavin and his wife, Diane. They opened their first Curves in Harlingen, Texas, in 1992. This new concept of 30-minute fitness, strength training, weight-loss guidance, and an environment designed for women was immediately successful. They began to develop plans for franchising the concept, with the first opening in 1995. Curves claims it is the world's largest fitness franchise and was recently recognized as one of the 10 largest franchise companies in the world.[2] According to Curves International Inc's fact sheet, Curves achieved 6,000 franchises in 7 years. Curves facilities are located in over 60 countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Japan. Curves is known as FitCurves in Ukraine, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Kazakhstan, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia.
Curves fitness and weight loss facilities are designed specifically for and focused on women.[3] The program is designed around circuit training, which utilizes hydraulic resistance equipment to achieve results. The strength training regimen is combined with cardiovascular training for a full body workout.
In 2002, the Exercise & Sports Nutrition Laboratory at Baylor University began researching the efficacy of the Curves fitness and weight loss program. Curves awarded the ESNL a $5 million, five-year grant to start the Curves Women's Health Initiative.[4]
In 2008 this grant funding moved with Dr. Richard Kreider to the Texas A&M University.[5]
The mission of the initiative is to examine the short and long-term efficacy of the Curves fitness and weight loss programs, identify ways to optimize the Curves program through various diet, exercise, and/or nutritional interventions; and examine ways to improve the health and well-being of women.
Among the research findings: the Curves program seems to be effective in increasing calories burned at rest, reducing the symptoms of osteoarthritis, and helping women lose weight and maintain weight loss. A study of the effect of calcium supplements on weight loss showed that calcium might aid weight loss by preventing the release of fat-storing hormones that are usually released when a person reduces calories enough to promote weight loss.
Results of completed studies have been published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal, Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, Sports Nutrition Review Journal, and Nutrition and Metabolism.[6]
In 2010 The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) awarded Dr. Richard Kreider, head of the Department of Health & Kinesiology at Texas A&M University, the 2010 NSCA Nutrition Research Achievement Award for his work on the Curves studies.
Numerous studies have shown that the Curves' programs have proven effective at helping women lose weight, gain muscle strength, and raise metabolism with aerobic activity, all of which contribute to healthy bones, muscles, and joints.[7]
November 2009 - The American Cancer Society recognized Curves International with the Corporate Impact Award for contributions to the society exceeding $1 million in 2009.[8]
January 2010 - Curves founder Gary Heavin flew the company jet to shuttle US doctors back and forth to Haiti to aid earthquake victims. To help out even more, Curves sold a specially designed Haitian relief T-shirt, which was available at participating Curves locations. All proceeds from T-shirts sales were donated to provide food, clothing, shelter, and other basic needs in Haiti.[9]
May 2010 - This spring, Curves clubs participated in the 12th annual Curves Food Drive. Together, the clubs collected 7 million pounds of food to benefit local food banks. Since 2004, the Curves Food Drive has brought in more than 61 million pounds of food.[10]
March 2011 - Gary and Diane Heavin were selected to be part of an episode of ABC's Secret Millionaire. They packed the bare essentials and were taken to the Houston, Texas Third Ward to spend 10 days undercover in a 1920s row house. At the conclusion of the episode, the Heavins collectively gifted $410,000 to three local organizations: The Lazarus House, No More Victims, Inc., and The Sean Ashley House.[11]
In 2004, Curves International and its franchisees received some mixed and unwanted publicity stemming from articles about the charitable contributions of founder Gary Heavin.
Heavin was heavily praised by pro-life advocates for pulling all contributions to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity due to the fact that Komen donated money to Planned Parenthood in grants as part of Komen's efforts to support this community organization. [12]
In an interview with Today's Christian, Heavin was quoted as saying that he donates money to "pro-life pregnancy care centers."[13]
The San Francisco Chronicle printed an article by Ruth Rosen, accusing Heavin of supporting militant anti-abortion groups.[14] However, in an open letter to the Chronicle, Heavin challenged Rosen's characterization of his contributions.[15] The Chronicle later published a correction which included a breakdown of the contributions at question. The contributions were given to three groups, Family Practice Center of McLennan County ($3.75 million), McLennan County Collaborative Abstinence Project ($275,000) and Care Net ($1 million.)[14]
Numerous blogs picked up the Rosen's version of the story, and several other articles on the subject subsequently appeared in other mainstream media.[16] The publicity affected business at some individual franchises, particularly in the U.S. West Coast region (specifically California) and a few in the Atlantic Northeast and Pacific Northwest, causing an uproar from franchisees of Curves International.[17]
Although the errors were corrected, business was affected, with memberships down and some franchisees severing their ties with Curves.[18]
Another controversy came into play in 2005 when six plaintiffs brought a suit against Curves, Gary Heavin, and Roger Schmidt (the company's attorney) for $20 million.[19][20] The plaintiffs claimed that Heavin cheated them out of their share of profits by he and Roger Schmidt pressuring them to sign a buyout contract allotting them a fraction of what they might have earned.
Most of the plaintiffs were hired as independent sales reps after Curves had already opened hundreds of locations. The lawsuit failed to mention that the sales reps were paid more than $26 million for their work.[21]
In 2008 a Curves branch in Dublin ran into controversy for sending letters to local secondary schools inviting staff and students (as young as age twelve) for a free tour and "figure analysis." The National Parents Council described the letter as worrying. The company apologized for the incident.[22]
Curves has been parodied in The Simpsons, in the episode entitled Husbands and Knives, in which Marge opens a successful franchise of a gym called Shapes, and in an episode of South Park entitled D-Yikes!. In The New Adventures of Old Christine, Christine owns a gym extremely similar to Curves - a franchised 30-minute gym for women where a recorded voice tells them to "change stations" every 30 seconds.