That technique tapped into deep currents in client tradition that may drive enormous gross sales—but in addition overconsumption. “We see all the time that [a customer] wants her Quencher to match her fit, her nail polish, her car, her mood, her kitchen,” Reilly advised CNBC in December. “We’re serving her where she wants the product.”
Stanley has appeared to encourage the thought that you simply want a couple of oversize, bomb-proof, buy-it-for-life beverage container in your life. In August, the firm’s TikTok account posted a video of “must-haves for the school year,” assigning 4 of its merchandise every a novel and hyperspecific function.
The Varsity IceFlow was really helpful for “trips to campus,” whereas the Quencher was mentioned to be for “library sessions,” which is someway completely different from the Classic Bottle, which may present “all day study fuel.” Then on Saturdays and Sundays, after all, you’ll want a Trigger Action Travel Mug for “weekend iced coffees.” In May, the Stanley TikTok account even reposted a video made by a buyer with a set of roughly 60 Stanley merchandise. “SO. MANY,” the caption reads.
Whether Stanley likes it or not, plastic consumption has change into a way of showcasing one’s Stanley spirit. The tumblers themselves have change into canvases by which one can mission a character or the temper of the day or second. After choosing which coloration Quencher to hold, Stanley followers can then enhance the cup with appropriate equipment, none of that are produced by Stanley and lots of of that are fabricated from and wrapped in plastic and different disposable supplies. Your Stanley can put on a rufflike snack tray so you possibly can eat on the go. Your Stanley can put on its personal backpack, or an IKEA tote, relying on its desire. Your Stanley may even put on jewellery. You should buy your Stanley its very personal mini-Stanley, so it doesn’t get lonely.
Ultimately, the Stanley cup’s true legacy will take form as soon as one other water bottle model inevitably usurps it. (Some argue that Owala’s FreeSip (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is already on its option to exchange the Quencher as the vessel of the second).
The destiny of Hydro Flask serves as a reminder that after an merchandise turns into on-trend, it could possibly shortly change into painfully off-trend. The model’s iconic Wide Mouth water bottle with the Flex Straw cap was inextricably embedded in the VSCO woman phenomenon, related to an outdated aesthetic of the late 2010s.
On TikTok, many playfully mock their Hydro Flask–carrying previous selves, whereas some push again on Stanley’s rise by selling their loyalty to the no-longer-in bottle. Although Hydro Flasks usually didn’t encourage cabinet-sized collections, customers’ urge to personalize their bottles catalyzed the business manufacturing of plastic stickers that usually depicted hypercurrent (and subsequently inevitably soon-to-be-outdated) web memes. Hydro Flask now markets a line of 40-ounce cups that look identical to Stanleys.
Whatever Quencher’s 40-ounce future holds, what it has achieved deserves recognition. “Sustainability efforts to try to move us beyond disposables have suffered from a lack of cool factor,” says Wiens of iFixit. “If what it takes is to have a mass movement around this, and the side effect is that you get some crazy people that have 40 of them, I guess I would say I’m okay with it, because we are mainstreaming the right behavior.”
Now that Stanley has helped present that comparatively ecofriendly merchandise can change into wildly well-liked, the subsequent milestone in nondisposable drinkware ought to be to show {that a} mass client pattern doesn’t inevitably result in waste and extreme consumption. If Stanley actually goals for a much less disposable world, it should stability producing pleasure for its strong cups with taking duty for his or her full lifetime. Otherwise, the Quenchers that throng TikTok at the moment could change into nothing greater than a pastel-hued strata in the world’s landfills.