CaliB wrote:
Today is Mother’s Day and everyone should read/watch that:
https://www.nytimes.com/...maternity-leave.html (As well as Kara Goucher’s posts on her social media)
It made me feel guilty. I try to buy responsibly but sometimes I just get sucked into marketing; like many I dropped a few hundreds on vaporflys and gear without really thinking where my $ would end up just based on false (?) hopes of performance (Not going to lie, I like my 4% but my hokas seem equally good).
It’s really hard to tell who really back their corporate values with actions. I’ve been trying to find somewhat ethical brands but it’s not obvious. Any brands that you think deserve a shout out and our $?
Liv, Felt, Hoka, Running rabbit seem relatively controversy-free and backing athletes through life events as well as good initiatives.
I have worked with many brands over the years and I have demonstrated some amazing loyalty to most. A few products I really enjoyed their product, their pitch, and was on board but in the end they wanted me to pitch it in some sort of sensationalist way that was unrealistic IMHO. That really soured the relationship on my end, and then the fact that I wouldn't comply with their sensationalist marketing/promotion request soured it on their end. A good four years or so back I stopped with formal sponsorship because you basically agree to promote in a way that is unrealistic and/or deceitful sometimes. There are many stories of athletes who promote products and don't even use them - Red Bull and Chocolate Milk were two campaigns I heard a lot about in this regard (athletes being sponsored but refusing to use the product) even though I do personally use both sparingly. You had athletes just throwing their integrity out the window because they are willing to 1up someone else just so they can take the deal on the promise of being even more sensational.
This attitude and the rise of things like Instagram/Youtube is where I decided to pivot a bit and pursue brands of products and services that I used, but were not officially sponsored by but helped grow their business. In all instances they allowed me to speak my mind even including the ability to promote competitor brands if a specific customer could benefit more from that specific competitor. Two brands that have really allowed me to do this both come from the compression boot space which I am a huge believer. Both are family run small businesses. I have talked about
Air Relax many times and the other is a brand I have been working with for about six months but only recently started promoting is
Speed Hound. I know there was a customer from Speed Hound recently who had some one-off requirements and their boots just were not going to work for the customers so they encouragd the customer to seek out other alternatives like Normatec in this instance.
Save: $50 on Speed Hound Recovery Boots |
$20 on Air Relax|
$100 on Normatec|
15% on Most Absorbable Magnesium Blogs: Best CHEAP Zwift / Bike Trainer Desk |
Theragun G3 vs $140 Bivi Percussive Massager |
Normatec Pulse 2.0 vs Normatec Pulse |
Speed Hound vs Normatec |
Air Relax vs Normatec | Q1 2018 Blood Test Results | |
Why HED JET+ Is The BEST value wheelset