‘Drops help you find your crazy fans’: Limited editions paid off for brands like Brunt Workwear during Cyber Week
To kick off its once-a-year sale event during Cyber Week, Brunt Workwear released a limited-edition dark brown colorway of its best-selling Marin Boot the Monday before Thanksgiving. The boot was so popular it sold out well before Thanksgiving.
The element of exclusivity helped give Brunt a record-breaking November, Girouard said. Black Friday, in particular, was its biggest sale day in company history, with $2.5 million in net sales, an 85% increase from last year.
“We know those would be gone by Black Friday, but that’s why we did it,” said CEO Eric Girouard. The brand had more limited editions lined up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, ensuring there was something new on the site for other shoppers to snag.
Limited-edition drops are one way that brands are driving record holiday sales this year. For some companies like Brunt, it means exclusive colorways or designs that can only be grabbed during a holiday sales event. But others, like Stanley’s metallic accented tumblers and Glossier’s Espresso and Biscotti Balm Dotcom Duo, are specifically tied into the colors and flavors of the season. The prevalence of holiday limited editions even inspired a recent Ryan Reynolds skit on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, with a “Get the F@*! Out of My House” scented candle.
Jay Myers, co-founder of Bold Commerce, said limited edition drops are a way to generate exclusivity and excitement among a brand’s customers. For brands trying to stand out during a noisy and competitive holiday season, it’s a way to attract attention from some of their core customers, who in turn may broadcast their buys on social media. “Drops help you find your crazy fans—the ones who become ambassadors for your brand,” he said. “It’s not just about selling. It’s about the 3,000 people who’ll post about it when they get it.”
Myers points to how Kylie Jenner scored massive buzz around her Kylie Lip Kits back in 2016 by locking the site and then letting followers know when sales would be live. “It’s not about the product’s quality. It’s about the experience and exclusivity she created.”
It’s a strategy that has to be marketed carefully and executed smoothly. Brands can backfire if the drop leads to sites crashing, inventory mix-ups or logistics challenges. There’s also the potential for bots to take over, and the technical issues can hurt consumers’ trust in a brand.
At Brunt, limited editions are an annual tradition planned a year in advance. Because the company doesn’t offer promotions any other time of the year, it also uses tiered discounts and gift-with-purchase strategies to stack onto the drops. This year, Brunt marketed the drops via email, SMS and social in the beginning of November without revealing the exact styles. The company also offered limited-edition free beanies with orders over $100 that it advertised in advance. “We build an audience and make people conscious about it,” Girouard.
The new styles were so popular that some customers on social asking when an item would be restocked only to be told it wouldn’t be. They were just one of many products that helped propel the brand past the $100 million sales mark through its Shopify site for the year.
“Once a limited-edition item is gone, it doesn’t come back for at least a year,” Girouard said. “It adds to the appeal and scarcity for customers.”
But keeping limited editions truly limited is one of the challenges. Brands might be tempted to bring a limited-edition item back from the vault if they see people clamoring to get their hands on it the first time, only to see its popularity fade over time.
P.F. Candle has a tradition of bringing back archival scents for its limited-edition green jar collection. This year’s collection included five scents in two sizes. But Kristin Pumphrey, the brand’s founder and creative director, said this will be the third and final year for the concept. “This is the last year we’ll do the green jars as our holiday special, as we’re starting to see diminishing returns,” she said. “The shine has worn off.”
It’s a fine balance, as there will always be some diehard fans who beg a brand not to discontinue a product. P.F. Candle retired its limited-edition, fall-themed Spiced Pumpkin scent last fall, and the decision was met “with a mild uproar” on social media, Pumphrey said: “huge mistake!” wrote one commenter; “PLEASE DON’T VAULT THIS!” commented another. In response to the feedback, the company decided to produce a small batch of “spicy p” to sell in its brick-and-mortar stores starting in October.
Still, P.F. Candle will likely continue to experiment with new limited-edition concepts for the holidays and beyond. It already has an under-wraps concept lined up for holiday 2025. Pumphrey said the holidays tend to be a good time for limited-edition drops because it can be an extra-special gifting item.
There’s also the simple FOMO of wanting something that might not be available again.
“Limited-edition items tend to pick up more social media and traditional media coverage because of the time constraint,” Pumphrey said, “so people have additional touch points that entice them to try it out.”