Gatorade Is Sweating The Small Stuff

Fitness accessories have come a long way since your basic heart rate monitors and step counters.

Gatorade, the sports drink powerhouse, has launched its first-ever wearable device – the Gx Sweat Patch. The company says the device will offer insights into how much fluid was lost during a workout and give guidance on how to properly recover (we’d imagine drinking Gatorade will be high on the list).

Sweat Equity

Drinks, drinks, chews, and more drinks – over its decades of market dominance, PepsiCo’s Gatorade has largely stuck to what it does best – food & beverage. Now, the company is bringing its long-touted “sports science” skills to bear with a single-use wearable:

• The disposable patch is worn on the inner arm, funneling perspiration into a color-changing panel on the patch.
• Post-workout, athletes will be able to scan their patch using Gatorade’s Gx app to discover their personal “sweat profile.” Key features include sodium loss profile and comparisons vs prior workouts to optimize hydration strategy.

To offer deeper targeted insights into nutrition and training, the company will fuse data from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute with that of fitness tracking heavyweights like Apple Health and Garmin.

Smart Fitness Sprint

Gatorade still holds an unparalleled 72% market share of U.S. sports drink retail sales (per Euromonitor), but the latest move shows Gatorade can’t take a rest day in an increasingly competitive field. Competitors like BodyArmor and better-for-you beverages have opened up a playing field long dominated by Pepsi’s Gatorade and Coke’s Powerade.

The takeaway

Gatorade executive Brett O’Brien said, “We’re supporting athletes like never before.” At $24.99 for a two-pack of its disposable patches, athletes will be supporting Gatorade like never before, too.