Jimmy Toppin, 30, from Walthamstow, and Jordan Green, 29, created dance platform Study Off, and are now signing a long-term partnership with JD Sports
By Holly Kintuka, with help from Cosmic Thapa
Two local entrepreneurs behind a dance battle platform with over one billion views on TikTok have signed a long-term partnership with JD Sports.
Tracksuit brand owner Jimmy Toppin, 30, from Walthamstow, and award-winning money influencer Jordan Green, 29, created dance platform Study Off after meeting through mutual friends.
Sturdy Off sees dancers battle it out while ‘sturdying’ which is an athletic hip-hop dance style that originated in New York.
The pair has managed to grow the Sturdy Off social media platforms to over 2.4 million followers, and reaching over one billion views on TikTok, with some individual videos having over 40 million views.
Meanwhile, amateur dancers that have participated in Sturdy Off videos have seen their own TikTok profiles blow up and their fledgling professional dance careers are being managed by Jimmy and Jordan.
At the same time, the Sturdy Off team has quickly grown, from having a joint office to renting a dance studio in Bow full time to create content, to launching a worldwide competition, touring the UK, US, and Europe.
Speaking to the Echo about how Sturdy Off started, Jimmy said: “At the time, we both had individual businesses, Tax3, which is my clothing line, and he [Jordan] had a sneaker reselling business, which was really big. We just naturally bonded on a business level, and then on a friendship level.”
The pair’s inspiration behind Sturdy Off was that the dance had gained attention in the UK however, as Jimmy says, “no one [was] really doing anything in terms of a dance competition for it”.
Sturdy Off now launches worldwide competitions, touring the UK, Europe, and the US. Alongside their long-term partnership JD Sports, Jimmy and Jordan have worked on promotion deals with Nike, Adidas, Wingstop, and Wireless Festival, alongside other big brands.
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Their partnership with JD Sports involves them signing a “multiple-year lease” giving the Sturdy Off company a studio where they can “create a stream of content” for JD and other brands.
Jordan said: “We’ve been working with JD consistently, just like on a contractual, so like on a one-off basis. We had regular work, but it wasn’t a long-term contract.”
He added: “The talent’s easy to work with, we’re easy to work with. So naturally, they wanted to build a longer-term partnership with us. Since we signed that long-term partnership, we’ve had a lot of work with them, and it’s going really well.”
Jordan and Jimmy have also launched a Sturdy Off talent agency where they represent dancers and use their business knowledge to help guide young people in the industry. Those represented by the agency have had the opportunity to travel to Nike’s Dance Camp in Barcelona with JD Sports, perform at events and be part of various Nike and JD Sports campaigns.
Jimmy said: “We’re always looking for new trends and we tap into the ideas of the young people we work with and make them more polished. So, when we’re working with the big brands, we’re able to incorporate product placement.”
The business has “big plans coming up”, which the two founders are looking forward to, and they hope to expand the Sturdy Off brand by creating “an interactive experience” for viewers to enjoy.
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