How Brooks harnessed the run club boom to generate record-breaking revenue

Brooks Running, which is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, disclosed earlier this month that it ended 2024 with record global revenue, up 9% year-over-year. The company did not disclose exact revenue numbers.

“We’re now in our 25th year of growth. Over that 25 years, we’ve grown approximately 15% compounded,” said Dan Sheridan, CEO of Brooks. “I think it’s an outcome of this incredible, sharp focus we have on the category of run that has mass appeal to anybody that really moves.”

Sheridan joined this week’s Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about Brooks’s 2024 performance and how the brand is setting itself up for growth in the years to come.

There have been different types of running booms over the years, Sheridan said. “In the early 2000s, the running boom was centered on a broader approach and invited walkers and people that just wanted to be active.” Right now, Sheridan said, Brooks is benefitting from the post-pandemic running boom, which is being led by Gen Z. 

This generation, Sheridan said, is getting into running earlier. They are also trying to balance the mental, physical and social aspects of their life differently. 

“Run clubs are the new dating app. It’s where you’re finding your mate. And people are choosing run clubs over going to the bar. And we see that in Gen Z. They’re they’re drinking less; alcohol sales are down. … So we think this next generation is a running boom for our industry.” 

International sales, too, are fueling Brooks’s growth. Sales in China, in particular, grew 228% year-over-year. 

Here are a few highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

How Gen Z is fueling a running boom 
“There’s some really interesting data that we’re getting from survey data here at Brooks and through public data, as well as Strava and the like. The first time [Gen Z] ever runs is at [around] 11 years old, and that’s about 3 years earlier than the other generations. So they have access to running in their lives earlier, and they’re doing it for different reasons. We’re starting to see people are choosing an active life, not just for the physical benefits, but for the mental benefits and the social benefits. And that’s a push off, maybe, from being trapped in your home for so long [during the pandemic], when you’re thirsting for connection and social connection What we’re seeing is events are starting to grow again.  Run clubs are the new dating app.”

Where Brooks sees international growth 
“We launched a couple years ago in China. Our results are pretty incredible. We’re really excited about what we’re seeing. … The reason we launched in China was participation rates are just exploding there as the middle class grows. People have more time and more disposable income to spend on their hobby or their fitness journey. And so we saw that, and we’re investing like crazy. We just opened our first store in Shanghai, and we’re expanding. We’ll probably open 10 more stores this year. … We see that as a growth engine. It doesn’t come without risk. … But we’re very bullish on our business in China.”

Responding to tariffs 
“Tariffs are tough for Brooks and, I would argue, for our industry. It’s not just a Brooks issue. It’s a broad footwear issue. I think the stats are that 99% of the shoes that are sold in the U.S. are imported. Fifty-six percent of those are from China. We’re not [manufacturing] in China; we’ve worked really hard to create redundancy throughout our supply chain and minimize risk as much as possible. We’re in Vietnam mostly and a little bit in Indonesia. So, right now, we’re not impacted by the China tariffs that were implemented this week. But if we were to see tariffs come through to other countries, it would impact us, and so we’re working really hard on that. We would have to push some of those tariffs on to price increases.”