Catching up With: David Eaton - TURN Founder & President

By Shannen Horan

David “Dave” Eaton is a former British national team member and Cal alumnus. Eaton retired from gymnastics in 2007, following the European Championships, and began working at a rugby apparel company. He spent eight years as a product manager, and on a plane ride back from visiting one of the factories, he decided he wanted to bring his industry experience to the gymnastics market, specifically for men. And so, in 2011, Eaton created the brand TURN and has been fulfilling the apparel needs of elite male gymnasts worldwide ever since. 

The CGA and TURN have collaborated for several years and recently renewed their commitment to continue the partnership. CGA President and Nebraska Men’s Gymnastics Assistant Coach John Robinson says, “The CGA deeply values our long-standing partnership with TURN, a relationship built on a shared passion for and commitment to men’s gymnastics, particularly at the NCAA level. With Dave’s leadership and background as an NCAA gymnast, you can feel the passion TURN has for the sport and the authenticity to support it. From providing critical support to new and emerging programs to investing in events like the CGA All-Star Competition, TURN has consistently stepped up when the sport needed it most. The CGA is where it is today in large part because of partners like TURN, whose belief in our mission and willingness to reinvest in the men’s gymnastics community continue to help us build a stronger, more sustainable future for the sport.”

CGA staff writer Shannen Horan recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Eaton about TURN, its partnership with the CGA and its impact on men’s gymnastics. 

ABOUT TURN

Shannen: You've been doing gymnastics apparel for 14 years, but what drew you to wanting to create TURN?

Dave: It's a bit out of, firstly, passion. My love for gymnastics was always there, but it was a frustration as well, underlying. You're looking back on it and we had some questionable uniforms, you know, some choices in design. I just hadn't seen much innovation in the apparel space in men's gymnastics. The amount of focus given to men's gymnastics was minimal and, that showed in the product that was being put out. It was some of those frustrations, like the fit, that I hadn't seen anything change. I was seeing other sports innovating and always looking to see how they can make the product better. So I saw that gap, and felt that I had the skills and the passion to do that. I didn't really think much of it. I just thought it'd be a side project, to be honest, but upon launch, a few of my friends at that time had become assistant coaches at some of the colleges and it sort of grew pretty quickly from there.

Shannen: Most of like the college teams use TURN as their main uniform provider, and you even sponsor athletes like Fred Richard, so what do you find the most exciting about working directly with athletes and teams?

Dave: Yeah, that’s probably my favorite part of the job and creating the business. I just love the process of conceptualizing or just deep diving into how we can create a design or something really unique to that team. Just seeing that process come through and getting to see it out on the competition floor, nothing beats that pride. And giving athletes something that I never had: a uniform that I was super proud to put on, that’s comfortable and it's better than what came before. 

Shannen: There's been an evolution within the gymnastics landscape and the apparel. How has your vision of where the company started to now changed?

Dave: Yeah, I'd probably preface it by saying it probably hasn't changed enough. I'd like to see a lot more change happening within our sport, but it has changed and obviously, on the college side. Probably the biggest change has been the change in NIL and getting to work now with athletes who are in college. Our partnership with Frederick Richard, for example, wouldn't have been possible five years ago. So we've been able to take advantage of that and work with gymnasts who are starting to get to the prime of their careers, build a lasting relationship and do something a bit more impactful.

Shannen: Other than Fred, does TURN have sponsorships with other athletes? 

Dave: Yeah, we're trying. We've played around with different models, and starting in 2026, we're gonna be featuring different athletes for certain product launches, using them for specific projects. In today's modern age, I think having a real reason for why you want to enter into a partnership sort of gives it a bit more meaning, so we're looking at different ways to create that. We have a partnership with Ruben Padilla, who's a double mini trampoline world champion, and we have an international team called Team Turn Titans. But we're just always looking for new guys that we can create new connections with. 

Shannen: There are a bunch of other brands out there, like GK, so how is TURN trying to differentiate itself from other apparel brands?

Dave: I think it was pretty clear from the beginning that we were doing something different. It's a brand built by a male gymnast and is focused 100% and always will be on men's gymnastics. Before, and even still, the majority of brands will just carry men’s products just so they have a full line of products for gyms. But for us, it's our bread and butter and it always will be that central pillar to everything that we do, which is creating a better product for the male gymnast.

Shannen: Other than providing apparel, what is TURN doing to support men's gymnastics behind the scenes?

Dave: It's difficult. Like I said, with a limited budget because of the limited size of the market, it doesn't allow us to do the things we would absolutely love to do. But, I mean, essentially the premise of everything we do is supporting men's gymnastics by really trying to maximize the market size so it's more cyclical. We're keeping money within the gymnastics market, so we're a bit more self-sustaining. In the past, teams spent their uniform budget on brands that are not then investing back within men's gymnastics or gymnastics at all. So, helping create a product line that captures all those team uniform strengths, then allows us to do more as our business grows. We're trying to show our support for college gymnastics by really pinpointing efforts, and I think that's why we wanted to really work with the CGA. Especially in the US, college gymnastics is the bedrock of the national team, and it plays such a pivotal role in the gymnastics community here. So the efforts to maintain and ensure that it exists for future generations are really something that I feel passionate about, too. So, not creating my own plans and ideas, but really supporting the ones that already exist.

Shannen: Is there a story or a moment throughout your journey with TURN that really encapsulates what the brand stands for?

Dave: The first time TURN actually won a competition probably encapsulates it. It was the London 2012 Olympic Games, and I started sampling and coming up with the idea. I reached out to a couple of gymnasts who I knew were going. One guy named Py Cesar, Evo coach and former Michigan gymnast, was out there representing Bangladesh, and I had a gymnast I knew who was competing for Argentina. I had these samples, and they were willing to give it a try. And despite that they were samples and the fact that they didn't even stretch enough to get over, they made it work. That showed me that they kind of understood what I was trying to create at that early stage. They were receptive, and they were kind of excited about someone doing something for us. This really then egged me on to keep going and keep building.

Shannen: How much athlete feedback goes into improving or creating more product lines?

Dave: It's a really important ingredient, and a fine balance. Our job is to really understand the market inside and out and give people products or innovations that they didn’t even know they needed or wanted. Listening to the pain points for sure. We did it recently with our trampoline ambassador, Ruben. We just launched a new trampoline shoe, and we took all of his pain points of the existing product and figured out how we can try and fix some of those issues. Same with Frederick. We listened to his ideas about his uniform, and we'd actually had some similar visions a few years prior, but we needed that platform that he could provide. So it's such an important part for sure. But it obviously helps that I did gymnastics for the majority of my life, so I kind of knew a lot of the pain points. But still, as I get older, I'm getting further away from what gymnasts are going through nowadays, and so I’m always eager to surround myself with people who are still at the elite levels.

TURN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CGA

Shannen: What inspired TURN to partner with CGA?

Dave: It was just my love for college gymnastics, essentially. I mean, that's kind of always what it comes back to is I'm passionate about that, and I realize the importance of it. When John Robinson and the group were looking at creating new programs and expanding opportunities at the college level, it was something that I was like, finally, we're doing something. I just wanted to help however I could. Realistically, we're a gymnastics apparel brand, and we're limited to what we can do, but we provided free uniforms for the new programs. And again, it's showing that the gymnastics industry cares. With the current environment, nobody knows what the future holds for college athletics, but it's important that we're being proactive in creating a stable platform. So no matter what changes come about, the CGA will be able to create solid foundations for whatever's next, so that they'll be able to continue college gymnastics at some level, at an elite level too.

Shannen: Are there any specific initiatives, events, or activations that you have planned with this partnership?

Dave: Yeah, the main one is the All-Star competition. Jordan and the team have done a fantastic job each year building on it. It's such a difficult thing to create a really established competition that captures the hearts and minds of fans, but I think every year it's building more momentum and we've just got to keep going ahead. So I just want to support that. This year, we were also excited to provide some apparel for each of the athletes who will be competing. But that’s the main part of our sponsorship is around that event and helping the CGA build on that. And then we've got some new ideas, but really just helping focus and helping the teams build on the ideas that they have.

Shannen: How do you see this partnership evolving over the next few years and its impact on the gymnastics community?

Dave: Yeah, I mean, it could become more significant, depending on what happens with college athletics as a whole. But again, it's just around support. We can't do exactly what I'd love to do, but it's providing colleges with really professional-looking apparel, a uniform that is keeping with their brand and one that the university is really happy with. And being a trusted partner that teams can turn to and provide a uniform that the university's going to accept, enjoy and be proud of is a big part of what we do.

WHERE IS MGYM HEADING

Shannen: Where do you see men's gymnastics heading in five to 10 years, especially on the collegiate level?

Dave: Yeah, I could spend hours on this topic. I’m super, super passionate about it. Within college athletics, it's the million-dollar question, really. We're in this strange period of time where we're going from one system to another, and no one really knows what the future's gonna hold. This just increases the importance of everything that the CGA is doing. If we can create a sustainable model, which I know a lot of the coaches are working really hard on, I think we're going to have a sport that can be around for a lot longer. I think we can learn from a lot more sports and bring in some more innovation, and we're seeing it slowly. I think we're gonna see a bit more as there's turnover in ideas and some fresh thoughts coming in. The coaches that are in place now have done such a fantastic job, but I think there's always room to grow. And it's difficult because we're inside the NCAA and World Gymnastics restrictions, and we have to work within the limits of those. One of the wins is that college men's gymnastics has always had a stick bonus, and now, finally, World Gymnastics has brought that in as well. So we can lead and innovate and show the world how good our sport can be. 

Shannen: What role do you believe that TURN or other apparel companies have in expanding the sport's reach and visibility, not just in college but also on a national scale?

Dave: Yeah, it's difficult. We're limited in terms of what we can do. There are rules restricting uniforms, but I really wanna just increase opportunities and lower uniform costs for teams to hopefully keep some more athletes in the sport for longer. But I mean, other than that, just pushing and probing, doing things like talking about our opinions and feelings and expressing them to the federations and national teams that can then make bigger changes and impacts. And for the time being, just supporting initiatives that we agree with, which is what we do with CGA. We support everything that they stand for and represent, and we hope that they have a great success in keeping college men's gymnastics around for many years to come.