Excerpt from Shopify, by Joy Blenman

“Running is hard, and running a business is hard,” says Monica DeVreese, co-founder and CEO of rabbit, a women-led running brand from California. “But hard work prepares you for greatness.” A runner’s grit, consistency, and ability to push through discomfort for a distant goal and delayed rewards nurtures the entrepreneurial spirit and translates perfectly to building a successful business.

Giants like Nike and Adidas no longer corner the space—hundreds of apparel and equipment brands are using Shopify to challenge these incumbents. Some of the most successful running brands on Shopify—rabbit, Bandit, MINTed, Endorphins, and others—win because they’re created by runners who intimately understand what other runners need. They’ve transformed their passion into thriving businesses with built-in customer bases. Many of these brands are less than 10 years old but already carving considerable share in the running apparel space.