This week in Shoreditch, London, Gymshark’s pop-up “Deload” Barbershop are offering free haircuts, one-on-one conversations, and panel discussions. The unexpected business endeavour makes up Gymshark’s strategy to persuade men to take care of both their physical and mental health.

In the research done in collaboration with the charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), Gymshark discovered that males felt more at ease talking to their barber than to a therapist or doctor. This served as inspiration for this pop up.

Throughout the week, barbers from the London-based Curfew Grooming chain will be trimming hair, and Gymshark will be selling products with all sales going to CALM. Along with the free hair cuts, the 12th Man trains businesses on how to tackle the subject of men’s mental health, has trained all of the barbers at the salon. This is with the aim of creating a “non-judgemental safe space” for men to open up to professional mental health-trained barbers.

Panel discussions with officials from CALM, Lions Barber Collective (which oversees a similar programme throughout the U.K. capital), Curfew, as well as Gymshark athletes and influencers, will also be held over the course of two evenings.

This move is also a component of a larger content-based campaign to encourage young people to take care of their mental health by offering information, stories, and guidance from wellbeing and medical specialists.

The barbershop pop-up will remain open until July 17.

All Photos Courtesy of Gymshark and CALM.