An Australian activewear brand brought undone by a viral gym scandal is shutting up shop, with founder Connor Wright revealing Suave is drowning in debt after months of brutal backlash.

Wright announced the closure in an emotional video posted to Suave’s TikTok account, saying the business had been struggling financially for months and the fallout from the controversy only made an already bad situation worse.

“Ultimately, we have decided that we’re going to be closing down Suave,” he told followers.

The founder said the backlash – which was sparked by a controversial video posted by wife and business partner Chloe Wright – extended well beyond angry comments online, claiming customers turned on the brand, people linked to the business were harassed, and both he and his wife Chloe received threats.

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He also revealed he had lost his FIFO job after people contacted his employer, cutting off the income he had been using to keep the activewear label afloat.

The decision brings a dramatic end to a turbulent year for Suave, which Wright said had previously generated up to $60,000 a month in sales.

“Continuing to pour any money into Suave just doesn’t make sense to me, and I’d rather take everything I’ve learnt from this business and move into something else,’ he said.

“We’re simply just trying to escape the debt that we’re in. There is no funding any future for Suave.”

Wright was adamant the scandal alone did not kill the business, saying Suave had already been under pressure due to poor strategy, limited resources and a lack of time.

“A lot of people seem to think that Suave is just a big elaborate team, but it’s not. It’s just me, and Chloe helps out. I haven’t been able to afford to hire anyone,” he said.

The brand has been in operation since 2023. Picture: Instagram/

Wright added that major life events had also pulled focus away from the brand.

“Honestly, Suave took a back seat to our lives. There wasn’t enough focus going into it,” he said.

He also conceded he made a major business mistake by relying too heavily on TikTok to drive awareness and sales, rather than investing more broadly in events, in-person promotion and other social platforms.

“I ended up putting way too many eggs into one basket,” he said.

Suave’s business model also added to the financial pressure.

Instead of producing white-label activewear, Wright said he chose to create custom-designed products from scratch, a decision that led to higher manufacturing costs and larger minimum orders.

“By the end of it, we were left with f**k all, to be honest. My goal in the market was to create genuinely custom products. It wasn’t to create mass-produced s**t,” he said.

Aussie activewear brand owners, Connor and Chloe Wright, have copped criticism over a video some claim was mocking a gym-goer. Picture: Instagram/mrschloewrightt

The brand’s problems exploded into public view in May after Chloe Wright filmed a stranger using a rowing machine at a gym, with the footage shot from a restaurant overlooking the venue.

She later posted the clip to Instagram with the caption: “Turns out me and Emily have been doing the rower wrong all these years,” followed by a laughing emoji.

The video quickly sparked outrage, particularly after fitness identity Joey Swoll, who is known for calling out poor behaviour in gyms, condemned the post.

“A grown woman doesn’t know better than to film strangers in the gym to post online and make fun of them,” he said.

Both Connor and Chloe apologised in the aftermath.

As Suave prepares to close for good, Wright said he and Chloe plan to remain online and share whatever comes next.

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Real estate agents are natural marketers. You know how to craft a compelling listing, build a personal brand and show up consistently in your market. You understand that visibility drives business and that if no one knows you exist, no one calls.

So you invest in the look: the headshots, the mailers and the social media presence. You stay current on trends, pivot when something isn’t working and chase what’s getting attention. That instinct is exactly right for marketing.

The problem starts when that same instinct bleeds into your finances.

The loudest financial advice is usually the worst

Here’s what I’ve noticed after years of working with real estate agents: The financial strategies that get the most attention are rarely the ones that build lasting wealth.

I had a client — let’s call her Dana — who was a genuinely talented agent. She had a great brand, consistent closings and an engaged social media following. She also had a habit of overhauling her financial strategy roughly every six months.

She fell in love with crypto in 2021. Then, she launched a “passive income” coaching program in 2022. Then, her sights got set on a complex real estate syndication she found through a financial influencer on Instagram in 2023. Each one was marketed as the thing she’d been missing. Each one demanded her attention, her energy and her money.

When we sat down to look at her actual financial picture, the math was humbling. Years of “optimizing” her investments had produced anxiety, scattered accounts and no clear system. What she didn’t have, and desperately needed, was something boring: a basic automated allocation system that moved money the moment a commission landed.

Dana’s story isn’t unusual. It’s what happens when you apply marketing brain to money decisions.

Why finfluencers are selling you a brand, not a plan

Financial influencers (aka finfluencers) are marketers first. Whether they started on radio 40 years ago and moved to YouTube, started only on TikTok in 2021 or something else, they understand, perhaps better than anyone, that attention is currency.

Their content is engineered to interrupt your scroll, trigger urgency and make you feel like you’re missing something. And it works, because the marketing instincts that make you good at your agent role also make you susceptible to their role.

The problem is that their incentives and your interests are rarely aligned. Often, their conflicts of interest are not disclosed.

However, at a minimum, a finfluencer’s business model runs on engagement, clicks and course sales. Your financial plan needs to run on consistency, automation and patience. The problem is that consistency, automation and patience do not generate compelling content.

Generic advice delivered with confidence is still generic advice. An Instagram reel about the “best” retirement strategy for real estate agents doesn’t know your income pattern, your tax situation, your risk tolerance or your timeline. It knows what gets saves, likes, comments and shares.

The generic advice may even be fraudulent in some cases. FINRA reports a 300 percent increase in victim complaints from social media “investment groups” in 2025 compared with 2024. These groups may start on social media but then move to group chats or text messages. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has some great information and tips to protect investors from outright fraud. 

The most financially stable agents I work with have one thing in common: They’re deeply unimpressed by financial noise. They’ve stopped chasing strategies that make for great content and started building systems that quietly do their job.

The antidote is automation

Finfluencer culture thrives on reactive messages like “Act now,” “Don’t miss this,” and “The market is changing.” The direct antidote is a system that removes reactive moves entirely.

That’s what automation does for your finances. When a commission hits your account and transfers are already scheduled — a percentage to taxes, a percentage to owner’s pay, a percentage to profit and reserves — there’s nothing to decide. No moment of “should I invest this?” or “maybe I’ll pay myself more this month.” The system runs whether the stock market is up, whether a financial guru is trending, whether you had a great quarter or a brutal one.

This is the whisper. It’s not exciting. It won’t get engagement. But it’s the foundation that makes everything else possible.

Your calm is your competitive advantage

Here’s the part that connects your finances back to your brand: when your financial systems are quiet and solid, it shows up in ways clients can feel even if they can’t name it.

Agents operating from financial stress — who need this deal, who can’t afford to walk away from a difficult client, who are one slow month away from panic — communicate that energy whether they intend to or not. No amount of polished branding covers it.

Agents operating from financial stability show up differently. They negotiate with patience. They give honest advice even when it costs them a commission. They take the long view because they can afford to. That’s a brand that no Canva template can replicate.

Which leads me to my bold opinion: Your marketing should be loud enough to get you in the room. Your finances should be quiet enough that once you’re there, you’re completely present.

2 different jobs, 2 different rules

Your brand: disruptive, visible, trend-aware, always evolving.

Your finances: automated, consistent, boring and completely indifferent to what’s trending.

The agents who confuse these two — who apply marketing energy to their money decisions — tend to stay stuck in the feast-or-famine cycle regardless of how much they earn. The agents who keep them separate build something that actually lasts.

So by all means, shout from the rooftops about your listings, your market expertise and your personal brand. Just make sure your finances are quietly doing their job in the background — no audience required.

March is Marketing and Branding Month at Inman. As the spring selling season kicks in, we’ll examine the proven tactics and new innovations driving results in today’s market — and celebrate the industry’s top marketing and branding leaders with Inman’s Marketing All-Star Awards.

Amanda Neely is a Certified Financial Planner with Wealth Wisdom Financial. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

I recently watched the TV series House of Guinness, and as I followed the story of how one family turned a dark Irish stout into the most recognized beer brand on the planet, I couldn’t stop thinking about real estate.

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Not because beer and houses have much in common, but because the principles that made Guinness iconic are exactly the principles that separate forgettable agents from unforgettable ones.

So, grab a pint — or at least a notepad — and let me walk you through what Guinness can teach you about building a real estate brand that stands the test of time.

Make your service physically different, not just ‘marketed’ as different

Guinness didn’t become a global powerhouse by slapping a fancier label on the same beer everyone else was brewing. They used nitrogen instead of just carbon dioxide, creating a smooth, creamy texture that no other mass-produced beer could replicate. The product itself was different. That distinction mattered because customers could taste it, feel it and see it in every glass.

Too many agents try to differentiate through slogans and headshots while delivering the same cookie-cutter service as everyone else on their block. If you want to stand out, your service has to be fundamentally different, not just your marketing.

That means superior market analysis, a genuinely better listing presentation, a negotiation strategy that gets measurable results or a client communication system that makes people feel like they’re your only client.

Think of it this way: If a homeowner blindfolded themselves and compared your listing process to the agent down the street, would they be able to tell the difference? If not, you have a branding problem that no tagline can fix.

Turn your process into a ritual

One of the most brilliant things Guinness ever did was turn the act of pouring a beer into theater. The famous two-part pour. The 119-second settle. The mesmerizing cascade of bubbles. Ordering a Guinness isn’t a transaction; it’s a visual experience. And that experience reinforces the brand every single time.

What’s your version of the two-part pour? Every touchpoint with a client is an opportunity to create a ritual that signals professionalism and care.

Maybe it’s the way you conduct a listing consultation, with a custom-bound market analysis instead of a few printouts stapled together. Maybe it’s a 30-day post-closing follow-up system that makes clients feel remembered long after the keys are handed over.

The agents who build rituals into their process create anticipation, and anticipation creates perceived value. When a client watches you work through your carefully designed system, they’re watching your version of that Guinness cascade — and it tells them they made the right choice.

Own a clear lane, and never leave it

Guinness never tried to be light, cheap or trendy. They owned a lane — creamy, smooth, dark, premium, ritual-based — and they stayed in it. While other brands chased every fad in the beer market, Guinness doubled down on what made it unique. That clarity of identity is one of the most powerful things a brand can have.

In real estate, the temptation to be everything to everyone is enormous. You want to list luxury homes and starter condos. You want to farm three ZIP codes. You want to be the relocation specialist, the investor whisperer and the first-time buyer champion all at once.

But the agents who build the strongest brands are the ones who pick a lane and own it completely.

Be the neighborhood expert in one community. Be the go-to agent for move-up buyers. Be the listing specialist who consistently gets top dollar. When you try to be everything, you end up being nothing memorable.

Guinness understood that saying “this is who we are” also means saying “this is who we’re not” — and that discipline built an empire. (That’s especially important for agents right now in that whole “the other guy said they would … ” conversation.)

Engineer consistency into everything you do

Here’s something most people don’t know: A Guinness poured in Dublin tastes exactly the same as one poured in Tokyo or New York. That’s not an accident.

The company invested heavily in controlled gas systems, specialized equipment and rigorous training protocols to ensure that human error couldn’t compromise the product. They essentially built quality control into the infrastructure itself.

Think of your business the same way. Every listing presentation, every buyer consultation, every market update you send should feel consistent and professional — regardless of whether you’re having a great week or a terrible one.

That means systems, checklists and templates that ensure your standard of service never dips below a certain level. It’s the difference between a pilot who flies by instinct and one who follows a pre-flight checklist before every takeoff. Both might be talented, but only one guarantees safety every single time. Your clients deserve that same reliability.

Make price secondary to experience

Guinness has never been the cheapest beer on the menu, and they’ve never tried to be. They competed on “worth it,” not “cheap.” Customers gladly pay a premium because the experience justifies the price. The ritual, the taste, the identity of being a Guinness drinker: It all adds up to something that transcends a price tag.

This is perhaps the most important lesson for agents navigating today’s commission conversations. If you’re leading with how low your fee is, you’ve already lost the brand battle. The agents who command full commissions without resistance are the ones who have built such a compelling value proposition that price becomes secondary.

They don’t defend their fee — their service speaks for itself. When a homeowner has watched you execute a flawless marketing plan, negotiate with surgical precision and communicate with them at every step, the question of “why should I pay you this much?” simply never comes up.

Let your process be your proof of integrity

At the heart of the Guinness brand is a simple, powerful message: “We won’t rush it.” That 119-second pour isn’t just a gimmick — it’s a statement about craftsmanship, standards and respect for the customer. It says, “We care enough to do this right, even if it takes a little longer.”

In a market flooded with agents who cut corners to close faster, your commitment to doing things right is your greatest competitive advantage.

When you take the time to properly research comparable sales instead of pulling a quick number, when you insist on professional photography instead of iPhone snapshots, when you walk a client through every line of a contract instead of rushing them to sign — you’re sending the same message Guinness sends with every pour: We don’t rush it because you deserve better.

That’s not just good business. That’s a brand worth building.