Big Running, Magpie Culture + Merchandising our Creativity, a global doll shortage + more
If you're not making money in running its a skill issue for your brand.
Hi friends,
Some new faces in here after the last post! I don’t write about dj’s that often so hopefully you won’t be disappointed with what’s to come. I focus mainly on brand marketing (especially footwear, fashion, lifestyle brands) and the culture intersecting or influencing those. Also just various things, places and people I find interesting. Thank you for being here! I also love replies. You can just hit reply on the email and i’ll get it.
Big Running is Booming
Some wild results coming in from both HOKA and On in recent earnings reports, particularly considering we are in the midst of a Quiet Recession. (incidentally, I love getting my headlines in real time from Lois Sakany before diving into the reports/calls myself when I get the chance. good follow if you’re a nerd for the biz.)
On have reported a remarkable Q1, with the business exceeding 500M swiss francs (approx $547M USD) in a single quarter for the first time ever.
They are expanding into other verticals such as tennis, training, and tout the strength of On as the most premium global Sportswear brand, with net sales increasing 30% in Americas and 90% in APAC.
On x Loewe collab is gorgeous and launched last week. Rumor has it that Zendaya may have a partnership with On brand coming soon, which feels both likely and serendipitous given both her and the brands connections through to Loewe. She also wore the federer tennis sneaker on the red carpet throughout her Challengers press tour, which was a rare flat moment from the So Kate queen!
Over at Deckers, HOKA brand net sales increased 34.0% for the quarter to $533.0 million compared to $397.7 million.
Brooks running achieved record revenue in Q1, a 9% increase and ‘the highest quarterly results in the brands history’. Not my usual bag, but the recent Brooks commercial with Jeremy Renner was unexpectedly moving. This isn’t a ‘cool’ lifestyle brand, they are performance focused and they still found a way to thread emotion and relatability into it. “I have no business doing a running commercial” is quite the opener.
All this is to say there is an unimaginable amount of people’s money flowing into running footwear right now. So yes, running is big and getting bigger (that doesn’t mean it is ‘the new streetwear’ but that is a separate conversation). I’ve seen memes and tiktoks about it becoming a dating activity which is hilarious and much more interesting than if running is more Stussy or Supreme:
From the motherland, congrats are also in order to the inimitable 2021 Australian of the Year, Grace Tame who came first for women in the Great Ocean Road Running Festival 60km race. Absolutely next-level impressive human being.
A couple of reads on how creatives and Creators are living with Social Media (in case last week wasnt enough for you!)
Both of these pieces really got me in the past few days. The first one is titled “We Live In A Culture of Magpies”, written by
. This may be meta for me to be commenting on in my own substack, BUT, he writes:I am here to say the hard truth: the answer of “how they did it” [amass a large following and/or output] is usually (not always, but usually) by stealing other people’s content and repackaging it without linking to the original source. That’s it. That’s the only strategy that can reliably build large audiences from scratch on websites with high content demands. Meaning that, on many websites, especially on social media, there are basically only two types of very large accounts. First, people who have a good reason to already be famous (e.g., pop stars, well-known academics, politicians). Second, those unbothered by what might be called the consistent “minor theft” of ideas, images, or links, usually in a way that starts innocently but grows bolder over time as they build their nest of stolen things. Third, some tiny remainder who struggle to remain honest.
Erik goes on to elaborate on why this can grate on a person after awhile (i suspect, particularly elder millennials/gen x who generally value the idea of originality, or not posturing) and explores the idea that pride is what drives us to obsess originality, which comes with its own drawbacks. Idk, just made me think. Not sure where all this goes when AI turns everyone’s already-bootlegged creativity into an input for something else.
also had a really beautiful piece in her newsletter recently reflecting on social media/creator fame that sang to the depths of my soul, titled ‘Carrot Cake is better cold’. Having to “merchandise” ones creativity and self constantly is not it.But really, I am tired. Not so much from travel or touring… Specifically, tired of parading myself and the things I do and make up and down the internet. Please make this recipe. Listen to this podcast. Read this newsletter. Buy this book. Come to this event. Look at my fluffy cat. This is my hot husband. I went here for dinner. This is who I’m friends with. Here’s what I love. I do interesting things with interesting people. I am always in a good mood. I do not have a bad day. I wash my hair often but not too often. I always feel like talking about myself and never mind sharing all the details of my life. Make this Cold Carrot Cake, you’ll love it. Look at my fluffy cat again. Look here, look here, look here.
I love making things and I hope I get to make things forever. I want to write delicious recipes that work and make cooking videos that really teach people how to cook. I want to write funny, resourceful books and newsletters and create gorgeous photos. [ …] I also want to do all those things without having to talk about them all the time. I want to do all those things without worrying if I don’t talk about them all the time, I won’t have the luxury of doing all those things.
If it isn’t clear by now, I am terrified of internet culture and the control it has over people who’ve chosen a creative path in this life. I am genuinely concerned I do not have the stamina (or desire) to talk about myself or my work non-stop. If I stopped, would I still get to make things?
I don’t have a conclusion, moreso a question: who is the current content/creative economy actually working for?
Baddies with lego collections and cuties with SonnysAngels
Wholesome is back! Last week saw a trend of black women sharing their lego collections on tiktok, and this week I saw a (LOOOOOOONG) queue of Gen Z cuties down a block in East Village waiting for something called SonnysAngels. Now apparently this has been a phenomenon for a while, but if i didn’t know about it then i figured 🫵 you 🫵 might not also. Apparently this brand of toy baby-doll thing is in such severe demand there is a global shortage.
Sonny Angel has tapped into this little-treat market that Gen Z and millennials are embracing to cope with economic pressures—or just the burden of the angst of youth. Designed specifically for 15- to 30-year-olds, Sonny Angel was not meant to be a plaything but rather an emotional balm. With the tagline, “He may bring you happiness,” the doll is meant to bring a smile to the faces of those a little disillusioned with life.
Juicy Link Round-Up
Comedy is bigger than its ever been. Ticket sales have broken new records via Axios. I think comedy has benefited A LOT from social media world-building: weird parasocial bro-casting ecosystems that people can passively observe, reels and tiktoks of crowd work are really easy feed-fodder. twitter is a platform built for comics.
Put some respect on Michelle Farsi’s name: the sports photographer who took these amazing shots of Knicks players at the garden
Respect to Loewe’s social team for their outreach to the OG elder fit check couple on tiktok. They look great.
Tiktok failed to load.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserFor my fellow ‘word people’: there’s a clip going semi-viral of Peter Thiel talking about how ‘math people’ and ‘word people’ are going to trade places within the next few years; i.e, that silicon valley/tech has been way too bias towards ‘math people’, and that he would “bet on that getting reversed”. I found it interesting particularly after reading this piece titled “The Next Big Programming Language is English”. Considering how unbelievably hostile tech has been to people rooted in humanities and creative skills for the past however many years, it will be interesting to see how things evolve.
Footwear/Feets Notes;
Seeing as I went deep on running earlier, this is my only note- everyone is talking about this pic of Harry Styles and Alessandro Micheli, but I just want to say.. has no one else noticed the quiet return of (socially acceptable, non-skating) Vans?
Lets discuss.
Thats all for now - ciao!
GG x
I thought I was the only one with an eye on what’s happening with Vans. I’m a sneaker guy, but about 15 years ago I sold everything and only wore vans/converse to simplify my uniform. Not sure what’s causing it, but I’m feeling the way I did then. Just bought new slip ons over the weekend.
On has been doing a great job in the tennis world (of course they have...thanks Roger) by selecting very few athletes to sponsor. Yay Ben Shelton!! Zzz Iga Swiatek!! And the Loewe stuff looks so good. BUT I need to talk about Challengers. Oh, god, I should probably write about it. Thanks for the inspo. And yes, I'm LATE to the party but I'm also a tennis freak so maybe I have another perspective on it. 🤷♀️