brand-collaborations
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The $8,000 Bet That Put a Pink Whale on American Prep
Two brothers quit jobs they disliked, borrowed $8,000 on credit cards and started selling neckties from a Jeep. Twenty-eight years later, their most valuable product may still be the feeling stitched into a smiling pink whale.
Anthropologie Sells Taste at Retail Scale
A former Pennsylvania garage became a 254-store laboratory for turning curation, theatrical displays and private labels into a mass retail business. The trick is making scale feel like discovery.
SNIPES
SNIPES is a global sneaker and streetwear retailer founded in Germany in 1998 and owned by the Deichmann Group. It sells footwear, apparel and accessories from brands like Nike, Jordan, adidas and New Balance across roughly 750 stores in the US and Europe plus its e-commerce sites, and positions itself as a culture-first brand tied to hip-hop, sport, music and youth communities.
Michael Grimes
Michael Grimes is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for JD North America, the parent of JD Finish Line, one of the largest specialty athletic footwear and apparel retailers in the United States. Based in Indianapolis, he leads brand strategy, omni-channel marketing and consumer experience for a chain that generates around $2.1 billion in annual revenue and employs roughly 16,000 people. A Butler University graduate who started in the agency world at Willow Marketing, Grimes has spent his Finish Line career stitching together the store and online worlds, steering high-profile sneaker launches and culture-forward collaborations, while also serving on the Finish Line Youth Foundation board.
Concept Labs
Concept Labs (formerly Concept Art House) is a San Francisco-based creative and Web3 studio that builds NFTs, digital collectibles, and games for the world's biggest brands and IP. Founded in 2007 by James Zhang, the company spent over a decade producing art for AAA game franchises before pivoting to Web3, and has shipped more than 1,000 games and collectibles for partners including UFC, the NFL, the International Olympic Committee, Gucci, and Frank Miller's Sin City. It raised a $25M Series A in 2021 led by Dapper Labs.
ShopMy
ShopMy is a New York-based creator commerce platform that turns trusted recommendations into a shoppable business. Creators build curated digital storefronts, link to products from tens of thousands of brands, and earn commissions, while brands run gifting, collaborations, and paid campaigns with measurable performance. Founded in 2020, the company reached a $1.5B valuation in 2025 on the back of more than 240,000 creators, 1,600+ brand partners, and roughly $1 billion in annual platform sales.