Clearweather, a growing but relatively new sneaker brand from Southern California, said it has achieved company-record sales growth in just a few short months thanks to a massively renovated and modernized release schedule—powered by a new, streetwear centric e-commerce platform, TheDrop.com.
The sneaker brand was one of the first to adopt TheDrop’s platform after its official launch in February 2018. Today, the platform hosts brands like Vans and Adidas and says it is already the “largest and most curated” website for streetwear and skateboard brands.
When Clearweather approached TheDrop, it had been running a typical release schedule: seasonal drops of seven to 10 footwear styles with a new release about every three months. As it became more apparent that this model would be a disadvantage in the current streetwear market, the brand asked for assistance in reforming its product release schedule to closer conform to modern-day “drop” releases.
By analyzing both consumer behavior data from its platform and social media engagement, TheDrop came up with a plan to increase footwear sales for the emerging sneaker brand.
“After determining that the landscape of Streetwear apparel is shifting towards smaller, more frequent releases—driven largely by the impact of social influencers who constantly shift trends in real-time—TheDrop theorized a similar approach to footwear would increase Clearweather’s engagement and build longer relationships between the brand and consumers who can jump to any new micro-trend of the moment,” TheDrop said in a statement.
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Starting in March 2019, Clearweather began implementing this mindset into its release schedule, announcing and releasing new styles every week during its Spring/Summer campaign. TheDrop claims that, as a result of this new strategy, Clearweather’s product sell-through reached 72 percent within the first three days of a sneaker release during the new season on average—a 500 percent increase compared to the brand’s previous release model.
“The frequency of product releases coupled with strong visual and storytelling assets to support them are two critical factors for brands looking to effectively engage with Millennial and Gen Z consumers,” Matt Falcinelli, founder and CEO of the TheDrop, explained. “When we see both of these pieces in place, we know that a brand will do well. In the case of Clearweather, the brand had both of these factors in place. The data we provided helped to validate their decision to transition to a faster release schedule, thus improving their direct-to-consumer strategy.”
This release schedule, according to TheDrop, was integral in preserving the brand’s place in consumer’s minds, keeping their product “relevant and fresh” for a much larger portion of the year and creating demand for upcoming drops in August.
Pointing to the success of brands like Allbirds, Supreme and Bonobos, TheDrop said the model for streetwear retail has changed considerably from retail strategies used over the last 50 years. By leveraging behavioral data, especially concerning millennials and Gen Z, brands can grow market share in the streetwear industry simply by maintaining a constant stream of relevant products and content.
“We have seen ‘drop’ culture increase on the apparel side of our industry more and more over the last couple years,” Clearweather founder, Josh Brubaker, agreed. “When we implemented the weekly release schedule supported by the data-based recommendations by the team at TheDrop.com, we were able to not only sell through inventory faster but we were also able to more effectively communicate the unique details of each sneaker- information that is important to sneakerhead consumers. The data that Matt and his team presented is what ultimately swayed our decision to adopt a new release schedule—a decision that has proven to be enormously beneficial.”