Company sets industry pace with runner obsession and performance focus
In 2018 I wrote a post Why People Should Stop Saying Performance Is ‘Soft or Slow’ – ARCH-USA In that post, if you click through and read it, you’ll notice I was extremely frustrated with the thought leaders in sneakers who were garnering considerable coverage in media and with brands. For years I explained that performance remains a gateway to longevity for brands. Fashion is fickle and it shifts as moods change. What lies at the core of success for the most powerful sneaker company in the world is performance. The introduction of new technology inspires interest. In that post from 2018 I used the Brooks Levitate as an example to explain this:
Performance isn’t slow, it has shifted. Originally performance models featured tech that didn’t exist in other shoes. That was 30 years ago. Since the advent of Cross Training in the 90s the footwear was meant to transition from the track – to the gym, to the street.
Last year Brooks hit numbers the company hasn’t seen before, “Brooks Running set new records in 2021, ending the year with global revenue exceeding $1.11 billion, an increase of 31% percent year over year. This result marks the first time the running brand has reached $1 billion in annual revenue.” There is an important strategy the brand utilized in complete opposition to every other brand on the market.
Brooks Running Helps ‘Black Girls Run’ To Shatter Stereotypes
Brooks at one point listed heritage running sneakers on their site. It was an obvious play at trying to navigate the lifestyle/casual trend in sneakers. New Balance is taking advantage of this trend and even Saucony has their Originals line up of sneakers. Saucony went as far as trying to align itself with sneaker culture through limited drops. While this has worked on a small scale, it hasn’t endeared the brand to the sneaker community in a considerable manner. To be honest, the focus on trying to figure out hype probably slowed the competition with Brooks in attracting true running communities. The heritage section on Brooks’ website is gone. in 2016 the company began doubling down on running communities and began building bridges throughout different running programs. Above is a link to Black Girls Run. There was also this moment where Brooks provided grants to high school teams:
I’ve been tracking Brooks for years because the company is intriguing. While every other company in the industry is all in on fashion and lifestyle with collabs and various campaigns to try and earn cool points, Brooks avoided dabbling in an area where they would have to connect with influencers for IG. Brooks ramped up the creation of technology for running. They took a deep dive into promoting fitness and well-being. This was not something that happened because of Covid, it was intentional.
Why Small Chains Losing Nike Should Look at Brooks Running for Pointers
In the video above, I explained that Brooks was a standard. This was before any announcement of their success in 2021. I hadn’t covered or discussed the success of Brooks this year but wanted to make sure to document the success of the brand. I also wanted to draw a parallel to the success of Nike in the 60s and 70s. In the 60s Bill Bowerman wrote a book about running which inspired a boom in the sport. This year Jim Weber wrote a book on how Brooks turned the corner and delivered results at a time when retailers are dying because they over indexed on the Swoosh. The foundation of success in any company is staying true to the market. How did Brooks earn their way to a billion? They ran with purpose: