Grab your weights, SPF, and sneaks... we're going on a hot girl walk 💋
Brandish Issue No.13. A newsletter about cool brands I've been thinking about.
Hey fam! Summer is here. The days are long, the weather is warm, and everyone’s going on a hot girl walk.
Trends happen across all industries, and fitness is no exception… and the
”it” new workout is actually just going on a 4 mile walk.
Despite the name, hot girl walks are for everyone, and while I personally love that my favorite workout is trending, it makes sense why.
For one, it’s easy: put on shoes and step outside. It also aligns with the mental health movement encouraging breaks from screens to spend time outdoors. But also, it’s weirdly luxurious… If you think about it, what’s more decadent than taking 2 hours to focus on yourself?
So put on your hot girl walk playlist, and let’s take a look at a couple of brands that are benefiting from this trend 🏃♀️
Bala
Bala quickly jumped up the ranks as one of my favorite fitness companies after stumbling into their flagship store in Soho. With their soft colors and fun shapes, I was surprised they sold workout equipment and not clothing.
Founded in 2018 by a husband and wife duo, Bala sells “beautiful and functional workout equipment” but their claim to fame was making ankle weights cool again with their Bala Bangles.
When compared to all the home gym startups (ie: Peloton, Mirror, and Tonal), Bala’s product design and brand aesthetic look unlike your traditional fitness company.
Their product shots are opulent, dreamy, and stylish. All of their photography can pass as editorial content, and that’s intentional. This is just one example from their feed:
Investing in photography propelled them as they started out. Instead of having to pay the fashion magazines and retailers to showcase their product, these magazines and stores wanted to promote Bala because no other product looked like theirs. Whether this is what fueled their success or not is uncertain, but what I do know is that Bala didn’t spend a cent on ads till after 2020… which for a consumer company is wild.
I think the biggest lesson we can learn from Bala is to take chances with your visual identity and invest in it. If you want to learn more about them, I’d start with their Shark Tank pitch.
Supergoop
I debated including Supergoop in the issue because their brand identity isn’t particularly showstopping… yet, it’s thanks to Supergoop that the whole world knows to apply (and reapply) sunscreen daily and I think that’s worth something.
If you didn’t already know that sun exposure is terrible for your skin… where have you been? But prior to 2007 people only thought to apply SPF when heading to the beach.
Supergoop was founded by a school teacher turned CEO that knew the harm of sun exposure and developed a great, light-weight sunscreen for everyday use.
She tried to get traction by approaching schools, and as you would expect, didn’t get very far. She finally blew up by repositioning as a beauty product and entering a new product category.
This is one of the most impactful strategies companies can do: Instead of playing in the product categories that already exist (ie: beach sunscreens), you can create or enter a new category (ie: skincare/beauty essentials).
They invested in educating users about the importance of sunscreen, repositioned, and landed a contract with Sephora that almost immediately put them on the map.
In a way, I like that their brand is simple, it doesn’t distract from their mission of everyday SPF. And, when they want to be more whimsical, they lean into creative events and fun collaborations.
HOKA
And last, surpassing Crocs, we have the controversial shoe of the season: HOKA, the chunky sneaker brand that doesn’t scream sleek or sexy — but that’s the main appeal.
HOKA was founded by two former Salomon employees back in 2009 and acquired in 2013 by the ugly footwear conglomerate, Deckers Brands (parent company of UGG, Teva, and more).
Yet, despite being one of the fastest-growing footwear brands in history, they were mainly known only by runners or nurses and only recently got more traction as a fashion staple.
Maybe this was due to the wave of brands making the comeback from cringe to cool, think Crocs, GAP, New Balance. Or maybe HOKA is coming at a time where “so ugly it’s good” is flourishing.
I have no problem with ugly, my qualm with HOKA is that their brand falls flat. Supergoop’s brand is simple but intentional, HOKA just feels uninspired which is ironic for a brand so clearly passionate about comfort and functionality.
Their website gives me cheap travel agency vibes. I’d personally love to see them modernize their look, take a page from Bala and invest in funkier photography. But maybe not trying is their whole thing. What I do know to be true is that HOKA sticks to what it knows and doesn’t try too hard to be something that they’re not, and in a way ins’t that the dictionary definition of too cool to care?
That’s all for now, friends! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please give it a like below 💖
See you next month!
-Dani