Where this came from
Skilled Athlete was founded in 2016 while contracting overseas in Afghanistan. It started with two t shirts and one strength and conditioning e book, sold through a buy button on a Facebook page.
Its first backers were the men on that contract. We are forever grateful for their commitment to backing a mate. Not because they felt they had to, but because that is what real mates do. They back each other. It grew from there, built by Australian Army veterans on a simple idea. Lift heavy. Run fast. Fight hard. Make the people around you better than they were yesterday.
In April 2018 the then Chief of Army, who went on to become Chief of the Defence Force, banned skulls and "death symbology". We believe it was a cowardly decision, and it set the tone for a culture of weakness, risk aversion and appeasement in a profession that cannot afford any of them. We raged against that mentality then and we rage against it now.
The rank began tearing down banners, ripping off stickers and ordering men to take off our shirts. We thought this was the death of our brand. Instead, sales went up.