Brands Briefing: Brands are drumming up tactics to boost consumer sentiment during a fraught summer

Chip Malt, the co-founder of cookware brand Made In, said there is now a “clearer picture of the economic landscape,” but warned that many consumers are still cautious. “It’s becoming a wallet-share game,” he told Modern Retail. “Consumers are spending, just more selectively. For brands like ours, that means we’re not just competing against our direct peers, but also against anything else vying for discretionary dollars.”

In this environment, brands told Modern Retail they are sticking to what they’ve determined their customers care about the most this summer: quality, durability, utility and simplicity. They’re rolling out new products that align with these messages, and they’re offering more sales and deals to get people coming in the door. And they’re doing it all amid larger economic, social and political turmoil.

On the product front, Made In is hard at work to create “innovative and relevant” launches for the summer, Malt said. “In a tighter spending environment, products need to be more than just good — they need to be compelling,” he said. This summer, for example, Made In is launching a handmade, portable grill fit for camping, tailgating and cooking at the beach. “That product works because it taps into a lifestyle moment … and enhances it,” Malt said.

Meanwhile, Elix, a menstrual wellness brand, is stepping up its sales to broaden access to its brand. Last year, Elix ran one sale in June, its only such event for the whole summer. This year, it’s running a Summer Solstice sale with email- and SMS-exclusive promos, Meryl Montgomery, the brand’s vp of marketing, told Modern Retail. Every Friday in July, Elix will also offer free health coaching sessions with a doctor of Chinese medicine.

“As summer ramps up, people are feeling overstimulated and burnt out, both physically and emotionally,” Montgomery said. “[We want] to support deeper education, awareness and healing.”

Nicks Ericsson, CMO at the footwear brand Keen, mentioned that summer “is always a busy season for Keen, given our outdoor-focused offerings.” But, he admitted that customer habits are looking different this year. “We are finding that consumers are being more cautious and strategic in their shopping this year,” he said, noting a shift from impulse buying to more strategic buying. What’s more, he said, “We’re seeing a stronger movement toward fewer and more responsible pieces.”

Keen is folding these insights into its marketing strategy for the summer. It plans to point shoppers toward items that apply to multiple occasions and hold up long-term, whether that’s waterproof hiking boots or open-air sneakers. It’s also emphasizing its price tags; earlier this year, Keen committed to no increases for 2025 based on tariffs.

NiK Kacy, founder of a gender-free footwear brand of the same name, is taking a multi-step approach when it comes to summer strategy, noting that “access and affordability guide every move right now.” This summer, NiK Kacy is partnering with other footwear brands and granting them the use of its proprietary gender-equal footwear lasts. “That collaboration lets us bring inclusive sizing to a wider audience, without forcing customers to absorb sudden cost spikes from potential tariffs,” Kacy said.

The brand is also introducing a limited run of accessories from other artisans and donating a portion of sales during Pride Month to causes affecting the trans and non-binary community. It’s also “spotlighting the people who wear NiK Kacy Footwear and the communities we reinvest in” via its marketing campaigns, Kacy said.

Ultimately, brands told Modern Retail they are hoping to add some sort of value in today’s politically- and economically-fraught environment. It’s a time in which “people are tired — mentally, emotionally, even digitally,” Malt said. Kacy added that “many folks toggle between wanting to treat themselves to a little joy and wanting to hold every dollar in reserve.”

“That tension is the backdrop for every purchasing decision today,” Kacy said. –Julia Waldow

How the UNFI cyberattack muddled a brand launch

Clean deodorant brand Cleo+Coco is making its debut in Whole Foods stores nationwide this week. But as many retail brands discover when they go wholesale, even a well-planned launch can be disrupted by factors outside of their control. 

For Cleo+Coco, everything was on track for the launch — most orders had already been placed and shipped. However, one key region, the Northeast, hadn’t received its shipment yet. Then, the food distribution system UNFI experienced a cyberattack, which the company disclosed on June 9. This brought its systems offline, including those that service Whole Foods. As a result, Cleo+Coco’s shipment was held up, potentially delaying the brand’s debut in that region by a week or two.

Suzannah Raff, founder and CEO at Cleo+Coco, said the company couldn’t risk shipping products with the system down and had to wait until ordering and distribution systems were in place. But she handled it in stride and said the rest of the launch went smoothly. 

“This kind of thing is just part of the territory,” said Raff. “You have to be ready for everything. Nothing ever goes completely smoothly, and there are so many moving pieces that aren’t even on your end.” –Melissa Daniels

Brightland’s big new product bet is a line of ‘everyday’ olive oil

When Aishwarya Iyer launched olive oil startup Brightland in 2018, she said she initially took marketing cues from the beauty industry. Brightland is known for olive oils in glass bottles, with labels often designed by artists. They’re designed not just to be kitchen counter staples, but also products that look pretty on shelves, which in turn positions them as more of special, giftable items. That also means its products are more expensive than the average grocery store bottle — its hero ‘Awake’ and ‘Alive’ olive oils retail for $37 each on Brightland’s DTC site. But now, Brightland is making more of a play for mass customers. 

This week, Brightland is launching its everyday olive oil line that consists of two bottles — an everyday cooking oil and an everyday salad oil — that will go for $19.99 each. They’re available for sale on Brightland’s DTC website now and will launch at Whole Foods in August. 

If you’ve been watching the olive oil space, Brightland had been trending in this direction for a while. In 2023, the company launched a $28 “pizza oil,” which is a jalapeño- and herb-infused olive oil in a squeezable plastic bottle. While launching a mass line may seem like a straightforward next step for a young startup like Brightland, Iyer said it actually took the company “three years to find a partner based in California that could pass our vetting process for quality and had the capability to scale with us.” 

To lower the price, Brightland ended up using oils milled in November. As Iyer explained, the oil that is featured in Brightland’s glass bottles are typically milled in October. “ The November harvest produces a higher volume of oil with a more mellow flavor for everyday application. So that higher volume coupled with the more affordable, recyclable squeeze bottle allowed us to lock in that $20 Whole Foods Market price point.” –Anna Hensel 

What we’re reading

• Stitch Fix CEO Matt Baer has been making the interview rounds lately to talk about his turnaround plan, and early signs indicate he’s seeing some traction. During its latest earnings report, Stitch Fix reported sales growth for the first time in 12 quarters. Active users, however, declined. 
• How Nike CEO Elliot Hill is building out his turnaround team. 
• BNPL provider Sezzle is suing Shopify, alleging that the e-commerce tech giant violated antitrust laws by launching its own BNPL offering and prioritizing that over financing options from other companies like Sezzle.

What we’ve covered

• Rothy’s is increasingly sponsoring events hosted by Substack writers. 
• How Dude Wipes leveraged Walmart‘s first-party data to launch new baby wipes. 
• In a Modern Retail+ focus group, executives from Prose, Fashionsphile and The Clear Cut sound off on how AI is reshaping the shopper journey, and how they are trying to optimize for ChatGPT.