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Long before the sun has risen on any day of the year, Kirk Myers can be found at the Dogpound, the black-cube gym he opened in downtown New York in 2016, where he trains some of the most statuesque bodies in the world. (Clients include Kaia Gerber, Laura Harrier, Hailey and Justin Bieber, and Hugh Jackman.) And long after most people have finished their days and closed their laptops, Myers is still finishing up one-on-one training. It’s a level of dedication that helps explain the Dogpound’s growing international demand, with additional locations in West Hollywood and, soon, Qatar. That nonstop drive also makes Myers an expert in the art of deodorizing. “Chewing gum and mouthwash are essential. You need to limit the percentage [of you that might smell],” Myers observes with a laugh on a Zoom call from his sprawling 5,500-square-foot Los Angeles space. “You’re always thinking about that.”
Which is why, when a mystery bottle of Performance Body Spray came across Myers’s desk earlier this year, courtesy of the nascent brand OffCourt, he misted it on right away. “I was very impressed honestly,” he says, remembering the first whiff of the new category-defining hybrid—a product that lives somewhere between fragrance and post-sweat essential. “If you put on cologne, it’s too strong. Deodorant doesn’t stay as long. So it’s kind of the perfect balance,” says Myers. He found himself reaching for it again and again.
If the mere mention of “body spray” stirs up memories of a ubiquitous teen staple and pungent notes of toxic masculinity, fear not. OffCourt’s mist recasts those stereotypical expectations, building its subtle and sophisticated scents—with notes of sandalwood, fig, and citron—upon a proprietary odor-fighting formula. Today, with the arrival of a new Dogpound edition (available online and in the gym’s locations), there’s a fourth iteration: a bergamot-mandarin blend that gives way to a coolly confident mingling of suede, oak, and musk.
“The only way to make a great fragrance is to have a great deodorizing base,” reasons OffCourt cofounder Jonathan Lawrence, a bicoastal former management consultant who frequents the kind of boutique fitness studios that boast hyper-customized toning techniques, sculptural equipment, and tony Zip codes—but almost never include showers. (Dogpound’s new Los Angeles gym actually does feature showers, but they’re used so infrequently one has been repurposed as an office.) Between workouts and home, he was left without a smell-good solution—a lament his cofounder, wife, and Glossier alum Bani Bahari recognized as a hole in the market. She set to work crafting a formula. “There wasn’t a fragrance brand out there that had an active base that handled the deodorant part of it,” Bahari explains, “and in the deodorant aisle there wasn’t a lot of innovation from the scent perspective.”
For Performance Body Spray, antimicrobials methodically expunge skin’s odor-causing bacteria, while prebiotics encourage the proliferation of good, scentless bacteria to improve the body’s natural aroma over time. Three aluminum-free deodorizing ingredients neutralize whatever unwelcome smells might be lingering. Then, a technology called Neo Fresh punches up the formula, hoodwinking fragrance receptors to save passersby from the perception of malodors. That is how OffCourt’s cologne-worthy, nongendered scents are capable of imparting understated, clean, and quietly seductive finishes, all in an aluminum can that can be nonchalantly tossed into a gym bag and applied in the open over clothing—stain- and residue-free.
“Michael Jordan always says, ‘Look good, feel good, play good,’” says Myers, reflecting on the new Dogpound venture—which could soon wind up in well-known hands. “It’s adding another element to that: “Look good, smell good, feel good, play good.”
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