Member Exclusive   //   January 20, 2026

Brands Briefing: Founders hope for a ‘dependable and stable’ 2026 after the chaos of 2025 

By Anna Hensel
Ivy Liu

More brands are starting off January confident that they can handle whatever 2026 might throw at them. 

2025, of course, was a chaotic year for brands, as the first half was spent responding to new tariff rates seemingly every few weeks. In turn, some brands had to postpone new product launches. Others found themselves with insufficient inventory to support retail launches. Still others laid people off or postponed hiring plans to cut expenses and eat more of the tariff costs. 

Now, as brands plan for 2026, “we know what to expect,” said Deepa Gandhi, co-founder and COO of bag brand Dagne Dover.

That was the throughline in conversations with a few brand owners this week about what’s on their mind as they plan for 2026. It’s not necessarily that 2026 is expected to be an uneventful year — after all, the industry is still waiting on a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of tariffs that could throw everything into chaos. But brands feel like they’ve learned a lot over the past year about how to operate in this new business environment. They have adjusted their supply chains, prepared to launch new products that aren’t manufactured in heavily tariffed countries and figured out how to further lessen their reliance on paid digital advertising, an ongoing focus for the past few years. 

This year, they hope to put all those learnings into practice. Even if 2026 is chaotic, brands feel they can have a more dependable, stable year. Or, at the very least, they are determined not to let whiplash changes in macroeconomic policy upend yet another year. 

“2025 definitely tested business resiliency,” said Michael Wieder, co-founder, president and CMO at the baby and toddler brand Lalo. “We did so much scenario planning in 2025 that wasted time, energy and effort. But now, we are living with some of the unknown and understanding that things could change at any minute — and we are acutely aware of those things. At the same time, we need to keep operating. 

For Lalo, growing its retail business is a big focus this year — the company launched in Target last year, marking its first major retail push. Lalo also has a lot of new products launching in 2026, including its first product that will be produced in the U.S. “We have more products coming out of other countries, not just China now,” Wieder said. 

Similarly, Ryan Close, founder and CEO of Bartesian, is hoping 2026 is the year his company can finally realize its full potential in retail. Bartesian sells an at-home cocktail appliance, and 60% of its revenue is earned within the last two months of the year. 

The challenge for Bartesian in 2025 was that it didn’t have enough inventory to properly serve all of its channels, which include its DTC site, Amazon and retail partners like Target. 

“Those retailers need to know what they are selling in Q4 six to nine months out, and we just couldn’t lock that down with our distributor,” Close said, noting that it was around the time tariffs on China were changing quickly. 

Close made other changes in 2025 that he hopes put the company in a better position for this year. For example, he cut digital ad spend by several million dollars. “Meta, and everything else, was getting more inefficient overall,” he said. “We just chose to cut back overall so overall, we have more cash in the bank” 

That is also what’s fueling Bartesian’s desire to grow its retail business this year. “We want to run our business and be self-sufficient and so in order to do that, you really have to be omnichannel,” Close said. “We are in that — expanding to the, you know $100 million-plus threshold — and to really get out there, you need to a brick and mortar presence.

Dagne Dover also spent much of 2025 rethinking its marketing playbook. “We definitely know [now] where we can push and where we can focus, and it’s not your traditional paid channels,” Gandhi said. When it comes to marketing, she said the No. 1 thing Dagne Dover is thinking about internally is events and activations; almost half of its customer acquisition now comes from word of mouth. 

Dagne Dover also significantly expanded its wholesale presence in 2025, launching in retail chains like Dick’s House of Sport and Von Maur. That gives the brand more places to host events and introduce itself to new customers in 2026; Gandhi said Dagne Dover found success with activations like workout classes in 2025. 

None of the founders interviewed for this article said they felt the need to hold off on certain initiatives while awaiting a tariffs ruling from the Supreme Court. 

“We’ve been in a holding pattern on tariffs since 2018 because there’s always been some case or some action being taken, or somebody trying to advocate or lobby [for a certain action],” Gandhi said. If the tariffs are overturned, “we view it as a best-case scenario. But it’s not something we’re planning or moving forward [on] based on the current state of affairs.” 

Even if tariffs are overturned, there will likely still be months of uncertainty as brands wait to hear about potential refunds. And of course, there’s also the chance that President Donald Trump will urge Congress to push his tariffs through legislation. 

As Close put it, “If and when tariffs do go up again, I have already future-proofed [my businesses].” 

What I’m reading

  • Pet toy company Bark has received a take-private offer from Great Dane Ventures. 
  • Gap, Inc. has hired its first-ever chief entertainment officer: former Paramount executive Pam Kaufman. “As we reinvigorate Gap Inc.’s house of iconic American brands to drive relevance and revenue, we recognize entertainment is a critical link to the consumer,” said Gap, Inc. CEO Richard Dickson. 
  • Women’s specialty apparel and accessories chain Francesca’s announced it is shutting down and began liquidating its inventory on Friday.

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