1. American Eagle: From Viral Jeans to Earnings Beat

In July, American Eagle dropped its cheeky “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” campaign.
It went viral instantly sparking both praise and backlash.

📈 Stock Impact: Shares jumped nearly 10% on launch day as meme traders piled in.
👖 Sales Impact: The featured jeans sold out despite criticism.
💡 Q2 Earnings: This week, AEO reported 700k+ new customers, digital engagement highs, and an earnings beat sending the stock up 38% in a single day, its best run since 2021.

The takeaway: love it or hate it, cultural relevance is still a powerful growth lever.

2. Garage Beer: From $20M Revs to $200M Valuation in 12 Months

In mid-2024, Travis and Jason Kelce invested in Garage Beer, then doing ~$20M revenue.

Fast forward to 2025:
💰 Tracking $60–70M revenue
🏈 Fueled by NFL-level cultural reach
📊 PE firm Durational Capital invested this week, valuing the brand at ~$200M (~3× sales)

Not bad for a beer brand that started with a $500K crowdfunding round in 2016.

3. Lululemon: Can Athletes Save the Brand?

Once unstoppable on the back of black yoga pants, Lululemon stock is down nearly 50% this year.

Rivals like Alo Yoga & Vuori are gaining ground. Tariffs are pressuring margins. Last quarter earnings missed badly.

Now, Lulu is pivoting:

• Signing Frances Tiafoe & Leylah Fernandez (tennis)

• Signing Max Homa (golf)

• Most notably, Lewis Hamilton, 7-time F1 champion

The strategy? Build credibility beyond yoga by attaching to elite athletes.
The risk? It may be too late for endorsements to fix slowing fundamentals.

🎙 Podcast Spotlight: What Happens When It Doesn’t Go to Plan?

This week’s guest, Andrew Kitirattragarn, built Dang Foods into a national snack brand with $12M+ in VC funding and thousands of retail doors. But the big exit never came, and eventually, he had to wind it down.

Now at Sherwood Partners, Andrew helps other founders through restructurings and distressed exits.

Key takeaways from our conversation:

• Warning signs founders should watch before it’s too late

• Why VC money can sometimes create fragility

• How to approach capital efficiency and resilience in 2025

• Why founder survival skills matter as much as growth skills

This episode is both a founder therapy session and a playbook on resilience in consumer.

🎧 Watch on YouTube, listen on Spotify.

That’s it for this week.
If you liked this issue, forward to a friend who obsesses over brand strategy, capital flows, or exit timing.

In the Money – following the flow of capital in consumer

P.S. We love talking to brands interested in exiting in the next 3-18 months. If you know of any brands interested in exiting, or any firms trying to help port cos manage turnarounds, we'd love to share a POV.

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