What Will be the Storylines at TRE?

I've never been to San Antonio but have heard great things and am genuinely excited about making the trip this year. Although, nobody is ever as excited as our European counterparts who make the yearly pilgrimage to marvel at the spectacle that is Texas. There has to be a spike in cowboy boot sales that correlates with TRE. Brice Partouche and the Satisfy crew outta Paris seem to have found their way into a country music venue where someone in a Santa Clause costume was riding a donkey through the bar. Happy TRE-mas everyone!

Here are my musings:

• The retail/DTC brand divide.

  • The hype we see on social media is often a false flag for what is happening IRL. As opposed to the DTC brands that go hard on social, TRE turns the spotlight toward the retail side of the industry. Does the energy mirror that social scene or there a different story?

• The footwear entrants.

  • They’re coming. A lot of them. Who else will throw their hat in the ring?Notace, Kizik, Kailas, CEP, R.A.D., hylo, KEEN, KIPRUN, Lems, X-BIONIC - an absolutely wild list, right?

• How does Satisfy follow up last year’s energy?

  • Satisfy was all the talk last year. They dropped a big influx of investment money, a flashy new booth and both a new trail shoe and women’s line. What do they have planned to follow that up? Are there any copycat brands emerging to tell the same brand story?

• Who makes the big splash this year (à la Satisfy last year)?

  • Are there any other brands with a POV that is as differentiated as Satisfy?

  • The bro culture presence (BPN, 247, etc). Is this persona carving out more space in the room? BPN has a booth this year.

• Does anything interesting go down apart from group runs?

  • Much of the excitement also happens at morning or evening activations outside of the expo room. Group runs are the norm, obviously. At TRE however, we usually see more parties, relay races and creative activations. I can’t wait to see what unfolds this year. Let me know if you hear of anything that is a must-see.

  • The Brooks party on the last night is where everyone really lets loose. Who will be stumbling drunk? Will the Spazmatics play? Will I have enough will power to say no to shots?

• New athlete signings/appearances?

  • Brands like to bring their athletes to TRE to draw traffic to the booth. We’ve seen new signings introduced at the show. Are any surprises headed our way?

• Matching outfits and expo floor activations

  • Does Altra wear jean jackets again? Will Precision wear their ugly shirts? It’s all usually pretty corny with huge corporate trade show vibes but they add to the atmosphere.

  • As sure as the sun will rise, at least one brand will have a treadmill at a booth with people running non-stop. In the past treadmill records have been attempted.

• More price increases are coming. What does that look like?

  • Tariff chaos was introduced this year and brands have now had time to adjust. There have already been price increases but more are surely on the way.

• Does Bandit finally go hard on retail like Satisfy?

  • Bandit have always played too cool to court retailers and have instead focused on DTC and a handful of owned retail shops. Will we see them finally making a push into run specialty? After Satisfy took the investment bag they found their way into Fleet Feet. How does a presence in Fleet Feet affect the energy around these hyped brands? We will find out.

• Does Nike show up creatively or just throw money around?

  • Nike pushed harder last year but have now had a full year to plan their reintroduction to the run specialty channel. I’m curious what they’ll do this year. Nike is one brand that I rarely if ever hear from through back channel conversations so I’m truly out of the loop here.

• Do we see a pendulum effect away from high stack height and max cushion?

  • My run specialty interview revealed the exhaustion from run specialty shops around high stack height and max cushion. They are seeing injuries and durability issues. What is next?

• Will footwear make the turn toward a new differentiator?

  • Beyond max cushion, can durability become a new differentiator given the macroeconomic conditions? Mount to Coast have created real value with a durable midsole and reasonable $160 price point.

• Anyone new? Does SportStyle have a bigger presence?

  • Running is booming and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Does anyone new come to the party? Nonendemic brands? Outdoor brands? Lifestyle brands?

  • Related to the last question, do we see more lifestyle than in the past? The exhibitor list shows brands like RAINS and Chubbies will have a booth. Will we see endemic brands pushing more lifestyle footwear or apparel?

• Who are the sleeper brands poised to take off?

  • Rabbit are running a solid business in run specialty and made the footwear jump last year. Hylo have recently beefed up their team. Saysky are a personal favorite that have a lot of potential. Veloci? I have a brand crush on Balmoral out of Montreal. What is the secret sauce for brands like these to make the jump?

• Who is missing from the expo floor?

  • Raide Research. After taking a bunch of investment and adding a marketing lead, I expected Raide to show up but don’t see them listed as an exhibitor.

  • Currently. Nash Howe is a wildly creative guy who is doing great things and just launched product in Running Wylder in San Francisco via a cool film on owner Katherine Douglas that was written by Lee Glandorf - what a collab combo. They’re probably not quite there yet but I’d love to see Currently at the show.

  • Which other brands are skipping TRE? Is it because they have a different strategy or are budgets tight and it didn’t make the cut?

• Brands at a crossroads.

  • Tracksmith comes to mind here. They aren’t quite the creative muse they used to be. Are you buying or selling Tracksmith going forward?

  • Saucony?

  • Puma? Speaking of Puma . . .

• What will happen to Puma?

  • Are the whispers of an Anta acquisition for real? I also read a rumor that Adidas were in talks. Puma just went through a big reorg. Where are they going?

• Brands that are dropping the ball.

  • Mizuno. They’ve been completely MIA despite great product and a history of success in run specialty. If there’s ever a company in bad need of brand marketing investment it’s Mizuno.

• What are the top retailers (Renegade, Mill City) buying and seeing?

  • I’m looking forward to chatting with these shops that have a knack for sniffing out the next winner before the rest of the field.

• And finally - who will destroy me on a “conversational” run?

  • Every year I end up running with someone that absolutely destroys me at a pace I can hardly sustain but is easily conversational for them. How long can I keep it up for? Will I be able to swallow my pride and slow it down? Only time will tell.

To build on all of this and set the scene for the event, SGB did a really great recap of the Q3 earnings from many major running footwear brands. It’s extremely informative if you missed it.

See you in TRE and stay tuned for a follow-up piece.

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I’ll be walking the floor with KAIRONIC magazines in my bag. Give me a shout if you want to grab one or purchase ahead of time on the website and if we can make the handoff in person I’ll refund your shipping. I’ll also have some new product samples with me and would love your feedback.

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