When you go to Starbucks, you aren’t just visiting a coffee shop. You’re participating in a lifestyle. Over the past 50 years, the company has achieved a cult following: Consumers plan vacations around visiting Starbucks Reserve roasteries, drive for miles to purchase limited-edition merchandise, and use a shared language (calling small drinks “tall” and ordering signature Frappuccinos).
How do companies like Starbucks build such a fiercely loyal customer base? Here’s what defines a cult brand, along with examples of 15 brands that have achievedcult status.
What makes a cult brand?
When a company or brand transcends its own products, services, or mission to become synonymous with a lifestyle, it’s recognized as a cult brand.
Cult brands are not necessarily niche brands or part of a niche market, but they do tend to share common characteristics related to product offerings, customer engagement, and other elements, such as the following:
Hero product
Cult brands usually have at least one hero product—an iconic, easily identifiable item that withstands the test of time and becomes synonymous with the brand itself. A hero product is highly marketable and often drives a considerable proportion of sales for a brand. For example, the makeup shade “Orgasm”—which beauty brand Nars first launched in 1999 as a blush—now comes in a range of products and accounts for almost 25% of the company’s sales in the US.
Alex Drexler, founder of cult clothing brand Alex Mill, emphasizes that a solid product should inform your branding and marketing strategies. “I think you need a product that resonates with people,” he says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “There are some companies I see out there that have incredible marketing—you know, noise—but the product isn’t very good. It’s hollow.”
Distinctive terminology
Just like Lady Gaga has her “Little Monsters,” Rihanna has her “Navy,” and Beyoncé has her “Hive,” cult brands often have their own distinctive terminology.
For example, department store chain T.J.Maxx refers to customers as Maxxinistas—someone who’s particularly apt at finding high-ticket items at very discounted prices. Meanwhile, Harley-Davidson refers to its motorcycles as “hogs,” and coffee company Starbucks refers to its different cup sizes as “short,” “tall,” “grande,” “venti,” and “trenta.”
When a cult brand has its own unique vocabulary, it helps set its loyal customer base apart, reinforcing its brand identity and creating a sense of community or being in the know among consumers.
Passionate community
Cult brands’ customers are often so passionate about the company that being a customer becomes an identity. The feeling of having a unique connection to a brand often leads to a Facebook group, subreddit forum, or similar community platform where users discuss the brand and product, speculate on upcoming releases, and bond over shared interests. These word-of-mouth exchanges fuel interest in the brand, keeping it in the zeitgeist.
Some brands choose to establish their own communities to facilitate customer engagement. In the case of motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson, owners can join the official Harley Owners Group and take advantage of Harley-Davidson Membership perks—like invitations to events and early access to select product launches.
Strong customer loyalty
Customer loyalty is a byproduct of a passionate brand community, since people who have become fans of a brand tend to buy multiple products. But loyalty is fostered by more than the functionality or quality of a product—it can also come from a brand’s mission and values.
According to communications firm Edelman, nearly eight in 10 Gen Zers—known for prioritizing community, nostalgia, and values—make purchase decisions based on a brand’s mission. And while customer loyalty can be fostered with programs that offer discounts or subscriber perks, customer data platform Redpoint reports that 74% of Americans feel brand loyalty is about feeling understood and valued, rather than just getting financial perks.
Longevity
In the age of social media and online content, a brand can go viral and achieve cult status seemingly overnight. Whether they are instant sensations or sleeper hits, cult brands often prove they have staying power in their market. They’re frequently trend-averse with cross-generational appeal, attracting a new generation of consumers without losing loyalty among previous ones.
For example, even though the first Barbie doll was launched in 1959, there’s still a highly engaged community of collectors. Today, Gen Z collectors show off their spoils on “Dollstagram,” with the Instagram hashtag boasting more than 7.7 million posts.
Similarly, current generations lust after Birkin handbags by Hermès—both as status symbols and investment assets—even though the design house introduced the iconic bag back in 1984. The handbags have even gone viral on TikTok, proving that once a brand reaches cult status, it can remain a staple of consumer culture for decades.
15 cult brands
- Glossier
- Olipop
- D.S. & Durga
- Brandy Melville
- Dollar Shave Club
- Skims
- Rothy’s
- Liquid Death
- AriZona Beverages
- AeroPress
- Kith
- Hill House Home
- Erewhon
- Stanley
- Alex Mill
These cult brands stand out in their market categories for having hero products, engaged communities, and cross-demographic appeal. Read on to see how each company has achieved and maintained a cult following.
1. Glossier
Founded in 2014 as an expansion of the beauty industry blog Into The Gloss, beauty brand Glossier rapidly rose to cult status, thanks to both its simple branding and straightforward products, which contrasted sharply with the market’s status quo of maximalist, full-coverage products.
Its hero products include the eyebrow tint BoyBrow, and its first fragrance, Glossier You. In 2023, the company claimed it sold one BoyBrow every minute, and in 2024, Bloomberg reported that one bottle of Glossier You sold every 20 seconds. The Glossier subredditcommunity has around 41,000 weekly visitors.
2. Olipop
Currently sold in more than 50,000 retailers, Olipop is a probiotic soft drink that combines innovative flavors with the claim that its formulation improves gut health. It achieved cult status through successful collaborations, such as its banana cream flavor for the Despicable Me film franchise in 2022, a peaches and cream flavor inspired by Barbie’s 65th anniversary in 2024, and a pineapple flavor inspired by the TV show SpongeBob SquarePants in 2025.
Olipop has a strong social media community: The brand has nearly 400,000 followerson Instagram and nearly 540,000 followerson TikTok, proving that targeting varied audiences with its strategic collaborations has no doubt won over plenty of new customers while expanding its reach.
3. D.S. & Durga
The cult status of fragrance companyD.S. & Durga stems from its hero scents, such as “Debaser” and “I Don’t Know What,” and its association with New York City. After musician David Seth Moltz and architect Kavi Moltz founded the brand in 2008, it became synonymous with Brooklyn’s craft movement, with its bottles and scents bearing a strong herbal, apothecary-like quality.
In 2015, high-end department stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Liberty London, and Galleria began carrying D.S. & Durga’s fragrances and candles. Now, the brand has retail stores on both coasts and a loyal customer base who look forward to each new fragrance drop, along with the accompanying curated playlist intended to reflect the inspiration behind the scent.
4. Brandy Melville
Founded in Italy in the 1980s, clothing companyBrandy Melville reached global cult status after opening its first US store in 2009. Today, it operates more than 100 stores globally. Although its prime demographic is teen girls, the global brand owes its longevity to the fact that it’s been able to appeal to different subcultures and aesthetics (think hyperfeminine “coquette,” collegiate prep, and classic Americana, to name a few) while staying true to a “one size fits most” product offering.
Instead of relying on traditional advertising, Brandy Melville marketers primarily focus on encouraging employees and fans to promote its products through social media channels and word of mouth. And this strategy works: The brand has 3.1 million Instagram followers, its stores regularly draw long lines, and the Brandy Melville subreddit counts more than 20,000 weekly visitors.
5. Dollar Shave Club
Dollar Shave Club offers razors and other personal grooming products. With a membership model that people hailed as a disruptor at the time of its launch, the brand delivers razor blades to customers on a monthly basis, with other products available as add-ons.
In addition to its membership model, its distinctive branding helped the company achieve cult status. The 2012 Dollar Shave Club video “Our Blades Are F—ing Great” reportedly cost only $4,500 to produce but immediately went viral, attracting an onslaught of customers. The brand now has a global audience of more than 100 million.
6. Skims
Launched in 2019, Kim Kardashian’s brand Skims offers shapewear, loungewear, intimates, and more. It swiftly reached cult status thanks to its founder’s fame, the quality of its designs, and its fair price point. Elle magazine called the brand’s Fits Everybody collection of undergarments “iconic.”
Skims’ products often achieve viral popularity on TikTok and other social media platforms. In addition, the company’s collaborations—with storied fashion houses like Dolce & Gabbana, White Lotus cast members, and famed fashion photographers Petra Collins and Elizaveta Porodina—enhance Skims’ visual aesthetic, elevate demand for its products, and keep the brand at the forefront of consumer culture.
7.Rothy’s
Shoe brand Rothy’s satisfies many criteria of cult brands. Its hero product is a ballet-inspired flat that the brand regularly updates with new patterns and colors, while remaining true to the original silhouette. It also has a strong community: The Facebook group Rothy’s Unicorn Collective has more than 10,000 members, and the Rothy’s subreddit has nearly 8,000 weekly visitors.
The brand also has multi-demographic appeal. As Business of Fashion reports, “Rothy’s has also found a strong following with older customers, who are often ignored by new, digital-first brands. … After Millennials, Rothy’s are most popular with Gen X.”
8. Liquid Death
Launched in 2019, Liquid Death is now valued at $1.4 billion. Its product? Water. The tall-boy cans feature bold colorways and heavy-metal-inspired designs, making the product look more like an energy drink. The brand is not shy about wanting to become an entertainment company that monetizes via canned water.
Its cult status is buoyed by its collaboration strategies—all of which reflect the brand’s unique visual aesthetic. For example, Liquid Death partnered with Martha Stewart to launch an all-black candle shaped like a severed hand holding its signature tall boy, and its Corpse Paint beauty collab with E.l.f. Cosmetics garnered 12 billion impressions within the span of two weeks—selling out the makeup kits in less than 45 minutes.
9. AriZona Beverages
AriZona Beverages, which has been around for 33 years, boasts more than one million followers on TikTok and half a million on Instagram. Originally a beverage company, it achieved status as a lifestyle brand with its merchandise—including puffer jackets, skateboard decks, backpacks, and press-on nails. Its membership and rewards program, Club ’Zona, offers its loyal customer base perks like previews of mystery flavors, exclusive swag, and a cash-back program.
10. AeroPress
The Financial Times described AeroPress as a “super quick, virtually self-cleaning coffee maker [that] has gained a cultish following across the world since its launch in 2005, despite looking very much like a big plastic needle-free syringe.” The AeroPress subreddit refers to its community members—39,000 of them—as “Avid Pressers” who see the coffee maker as an indispensable part of everyday life.
Alan Adler, who invented the AeroPress, is now in his 80s and holds 40 patents, including one for a powered-up Frisbee called the Aerobie. Since launching the product, he hasn’t changed what’s working: In the past 20 years, he has rarely raised the price of the basic AeroPress model and has employed the same California-based factory ever since launch.
11. Kith
After starting as a footwear retailer in 2011, Kith has evolved into a full fashion and lifestyle brand. It’s famous for its streetwear and cross-industry collaborations, such as with Cap’n Crunch, Coca-Cola, Tommy Hilfiger, Versace, BMW, Tag Heuer, Wilson, and Giorgio Armani. The brand has even expanded into cereal and ice cream.
Kith has retail locations around the world, including in Tokyo, Paris, London, Seoul, and Toronto. The brand’s strongest social media presence is on Instagram, where it has 3.2 million followers.
12. Hill House Home
Founded in 2016, Hill House Home started as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) linen and bedding company. In 2019, the company launched its signature Nap Dress. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place directives drastically changed the apparel landscape and shot Hill House Home to cult status.
People began to post photos of themselves in their Nap Dresses on social media using the hashtag #napdressnation (also the name of an 11,000-member-strong Facebook group dedicated to the brand). The original Nap Dress—which Hill House Home eventually renamed “The Ellie Nap Dress” to distinguish it from the other styles—is now available in more than two dozen colorways and a variety of materials.
13. Erewhon
LA-based grocery storeErewhon is a prime example of a cult brand in the food and beverage space, with tourists from all over the world flocking to it. The company is well-known for its celebrity clientele, high price points (which create an air of luxury), and collaborations with influencers and other famous faces.
Erewhon became synonymous with the wellness-industry boom, achieving social media virality for its “skin care” smoothies and other “beauty-boosting” beverages, such as those created in partnership with Hailey Bieber, Black Pink’s Lisa, Christina Najjar (Tinx), Sabrina Carpenter, and Nara Smith. In a profile on the business, Vogue Business captured its status as a luxury lifestyle brand: “Erewhon is more than just a grocery store—it’s a status symbol.”
14. Stanley
Drinkware companyStanley (also called Stanley 1913) has been around since William Stanley founded the company in 1913. The brand launched the first vacuum-insulated steel bottle on the market, which was originally marketed to workmen and outdoor enthusiasts.
Then in 2017, an online women’s shopping blog called The Buy Guide promoted the Quencher, Stanley’s 40-ounce cup, as the best insulated cup—selling 10,000 cups in less than two days. In the years since, the Quencher has gone viral on social media as an everyday life staple—resulting in stampede-like situations at retail locations, special collaborations, and a trending #watertok hashtag on social media.
15. Alex Mill
After hunting for the perfect button-down shirt, Alex Drexler decided to make his own and launched the clothing brand Alex Mill in 2012. The shirt soon gained a cult following with strong word-of-mouth marketing online and around New York City. After this initial success, the company began releasing other timeless silhouettes for everyday life—such as jackets and pants—all made with high-quality fabrics and a discerning attention to detail.
“One of the things that I’m most proud of is our connection with our customers and the community,” Alex says on the Shopify Masters podcast. “Endorsement from the community is more important than spending tons of money on a paid ad.”
Cult brands FAQ
What is an example of a cult brand?
Hermès, Glossier, Trader Joe’s, Harley-Davidson, and Starbucks are all examples of cult brands.
What is the difference between a cult brand and an iconic brand?
Cult brands generally gain their status within a specific community of customers and fans, whereas iconic brands maintain their standing in their industry. To give a luxury industry example, Hermès mainly had an older, trend-averse customer base in the equestrian sphere until it launched its Birkin bag, which catapulted the brand to cult status. By contrast, Valentino always had an association with high fashion, society, and Hollywood, which makes it iconic, but not necessarily a cult brand.
How do you become a cult brand?
If you want to become a cult brand, work on cultivating an engaged community of loyal customers who are particularly invested in your offerings, develop a distinctive terminology around your hero products, strive for multigenerational appeal, and aim for longevity in your space.
