Two roads, one Minted

Bear with me as I try to organize thoughts that have been swirling around my head for months.

Two roads, one Minted. Where do we go from here?

Minted New York happened by chance. It wasn’t some well-thought-out master plan. It started after I had spent the greater portion of a year making fashion and fitness content online. I released fifteen-ish two-packs of sterling silver necklaces (that I had originally made for myself with no intention of selling). They sold out, I reinvested, and scaling began.

While the brand continued to grow, so did my passion for running and, with it, running apparel. The team expanded to me and Shawn full-time, and Clay part-time as he was still in school. But we still had, and still do have, an affinity for the true art of luxury fashion and, more specifically, menswear. We introduced canvas jackets and later our first full menswear capsule, the Warehouse Collection (part of popup #1). The performance part of the business snowballed into pre-workout, running shorts, racing tops, performance long sleeves, running hats, gloves, socks, etc.

Then came our first Saucony shoe collaboration (a lifestyle shoe), great for introducing new people to the brand we were building; less great for people awaiting the next menswear release. This issue was exacerbated by our second Saucony shoe collaboration (a running shoe): the Endorphin Speed 4.

Only recently have we felt like we’re finding our footing and aligning more closely with the traditional market calendar.

This is where it gets complicated… a customer who discovered us through running might be confused when a Spring/Summer menswear capsule lands, followed by a Spring/Summer running capsule, especially when social media is our main touchpoint with our community (as illustrated by the comments below).

Each side ultimately benefits the other. The technical lessons inform better garment engineering, and the constraints of fashion allow us to better understand silhouette and movement. We just need a brand architecture that lets both functions thrive without causing confusion among our customers (see below).

This leads us to our main issue:

Our menswear is defined by muted palettes, heritage washes, and classic tailoring, whereas our performance/running apparel is defined by hi-vis accents, ultrasonic bonding, heat-sealed seam tape, and material movement studies.

One uses selvedge denim, brushed cotton, fine-gauge cashmere. The other uses moisture-wicking 4-way stretch fabrics, spacer mesh with targeted ventilation, and abrasion-resistant fabrics measuring Martindale cycles in the thousands. One conjures '70s silhouettes and classic Americana. The other draws inspiration from stealth fighters, futurism, and GPS heat maps.

We admit, the Instagram can be confusing. We need brand cohesion, but it has become harder to achieve with two drastically different design languages and product purposes.

My biggest fear, especially as we grow, is that people love our story and our product but can't figure out where to place us. Are we performance/running apparel? Contemporary menswear? Having both under a single “Minted New York” mark complicates things.

Simply put: the identity we've built is starting to feel unclear, and we want to address it.

So where do we go from here? I've been thinking about these four ideas:

1. One “master brand” with clearer sub-lines. Shared equity, one trademark family, cross-selling ease. This requires an aggressive visual system to separate moods, and the (social media) grid still ends up mixed. The website would need to natively split into two experiences, as would the packaging.

2. Spin-off performance gear rebrands under a new name; the menswear keeps Minted New York. Crystal-clear positioning, dedicated socials, easier potential wholesale segmentation. But we'd lose the "Minted" equity on the performance running apparel as well as the logo mark we paid to develop (unless the new naming structure started with an "M"). A big change for our community, and probably the most confusing and risky option to implement.

3. Reverse spin-off: menswear adopts a new name; the running/performance division keeps "Minted Running" and leverages existing momentum in the run niche. The biggest hurdle would be creating the new menswear/fashion line with a new name (total overhaul of branding, packaging, website).

4. Endorsed-brand system: Minted Running by Minted New York; logo situation similar to "Jordan Brand by Nike." It retains a halo effect, the brand continues to have a shared DNA, and we stick to our existing storytelling style. However, the name is long and could be challenging to effectively implement on certain apparel pieces. Additionally, our social media grid-curation challenges wouldn’t be resolved.

What ultimately matters the most? Our branding architecture:

• Product Integrity: The materials, construction, testing, and promise to our customers remain unchanged. Operate at the highest standard.

• Authenticity: Our design language stems from our lived passion, agnostic to trends.

• Community Trust: We have spent four long years earning the trust of our community by developing and making quality products. In turn, we must provide exceptional service.

I'd love to hear your thoughts (feel free to leave them below).

Or if you prefer to write something longer form (and anonymously): https://tally.so/r/wvbxzD

While I've laid out some options, I'm sure I haven't thought of everything.

Cheers,

Marcus