Brands to Watch: Ariat
A bull rider, an electrician, and a Gen Z shopper walk into a store. It isn't the beginning of a joke. It's Ariat's next decade, and the store is 10,500 square feet in Mall of America.
Every so often I go deep on a company just to see if I can see where things are going. This morning it was Ariat, and I came away thinking they are one of the more interesting brand stories in consumer right now, so I thought I'd share it.
They also have an interesting category to work with, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Western and workwear is large and fragmented, with heritage players like Justin Brands and Lucchese, a retail consolidator in Boot Barn, and newer entrants like Tecovas. But western is moving beyond the ranch and into fashion, music, outdoor, and everyday lifestyle. That creates a lot more room for a brand that can stretch without losing its credibility.
A few signals that caught my attention:
- $72.6 million expansion in Fort Worth, building a second center of gravity a long way from the Bay Area headquarters.
- a 10,500 square foot store coming to Mall of America this fall, (their largest ever) bigger than the Las Vegas flagship.
- recent distribution deal with S&S Activewear landing in spring 2027, which opens the corporate and promotional apparel channel. That is a genuinely different buyer than the one walking into a boot shop.
- hires for new roles like Director of Brand Licensing, responsible for building out the full licensing business. That's what you create when you believe your name carries weight outside your own shelf space.
Their creative is interesting as well. The Brock Purdy line dancing campaign with We are Social was designed to feel native to TikTok, then pushed into Thursday Night Football. That is a heritage brand behaving like a challenger, and it is a good example of where they seem to be headed.
As a brand guy, the thing I will be watching is whether the brand can stay coherent as the business gets bigger. Ariat is adding categories, channels, retail, licensing and new audiences at the same time. They've recently added senior creative leadership specifically to unify the brand across categories. The hard part of becoming a lifestyle brand isn't adding more things to sell, it's making all those things still feel like the same brand.
I'll admit, they're a new brand to me, but all the usual signals for going big are there. Anyone else been following this one? → (Comment on Jason’s original LinkedIn Post)
