Hong Kong’s Pure Fitness Is Losing Its Swank

I am a Pure rat. For more than a decade, I’ve been an avid member at Pure Group, whose swanky gyms and yoga studios across Asia attract overworked bankers and wannabe influencers. Through Pure, I finished hundreds of hours of yoga teacher training, went on exotic retreats, and I am spending thousands of dollars trying to learn how to handstand, a gymnastic stunt that still eludes me.

When news broke last week that Pure Fitness was being sued for overdue rent at some of its facilities in Hong Kong’s Central business district, I was not surprised. It’s a fitness chain that tries to court aspirational luxury consumers, and is lost in a world where only the most exclusive or value-for-money brands can survive.