of the United Kingdom’s capitol city.
The budgets have been spent, and the plans have been executed. Now that Coachella 2025 is officially behind us, apparel brands across the retail realm are hoping to ride the word-of-mouth wave that typically follows such a significant cultural gathering. Yet amid the social hype and excitement, a new, perhaps more practical question has emerged: Can these brands successfully capitalize on the festival’s halo effect, even with new tariffs creating supply chain chaos?
The good news for brands is that Coachella still has significant cultural influence, which allows them to check off a major box on their goals list: driving brand awareness and earned media impact. Influencer marketing technology firm CreatorIQ calculated the earned media value on branded posts for apparel brands the first weekend of Coachella, and the data pointed to a clear winner in REVOLVE.
The fashion retailer uses Coachella as a (literal) influencer playground every year; its co-located REVOLVE Festival brings celebs, musicians, and social media creators together to bring the brand *vibe* to life. The gap between the retailer and its peers was staggering. While music fest mainstay Free People didn’t garner even half as much buzz, it didn’t spend nearly as much budget to get its logo front and center and somehow it still managed to rank in the top 10.
Liza Amlani, Principal of Retail Strategy Group and a former merchant, says that in order to see the true impact of earned media, brands of all sizes need to connect key performance indicators (KPIs) and examine the revenue impact of the attention they garnered.
Ultimately, if brand awareness through earned media is not impacting profitability, then there is a missing link to the investment. “It would be fascinating to compare the 'festival revenue' of the top media earners versus the smaller brands who don't have a festival media budget,” she notes.
The Creator IQ research also signals a fascinating shift in the brand ecosystem surrounding Coachella and “festival culture” in general. What’s “in” has evolved from the boho-centric aesthetic of 2015-2016. Consumers are now turning to a cornucopia of brands, from luxury staples like Chanel to Y2K throwbacks like Guess, which both landed in the top 10. Yet the data leaves out a whole subculture of brands that don’t necessarily have the budget to market at Coachella, but taps strenuously into festival culture. Brands that have more diverse aesthetics — think rave accessories, low-rise flares, and oh so many belts — as well as more diverse AOVs. These brands are smaller, more agile…and are more likely to feel the financial and operational aftershocks of Trump’s tariff war.
Will Supply Chain Struggles be a Suck on Post-Festival Hype?
The live music market is expected to reach $775.7 billion globally by 2035 at a 10.2% CAGR. Festivals are a critical piece of that pie and they have a strong grip on not just travel but retail. Brands attempting to tap into this global market potential will need to quantify the impact of new tariffs and develop a response plan that allows them to maintain their global reach and drive growth.
This is especially true for the key brands we analyzed. Direct, brand-specific supply chain details are often not fully disclosed on official websites, so some information is largely based on a combination of general industry knowledge and conclusions derived from public-facing content.
For example, use of premium microfiber polyester likely ties to major manufacturing hubs like China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. However, a 2022 document from Boohoo Group outlined its approach to sourcing and supplier relationships and while specific countries weren’t named, the group is known to rely heavily on manufacturing in South Asia. Additionally, ASOS disclosed in a 2018 filing that its supplier list sources from 175 suppliers using 944 factories, with main sourcing regions including China, Eastern Europe, India, Turkey, and the UK. In the US alone, there are not only specific tariff rules for different countries but also HS codes for different product types and materials used, which not only help classify the item being shipped but also determine standard duty rates.
Global supply chains are complex, with rates changing rapidly and rules varying by each product’s final point of creation. Final duties and tariffs can flex depending on the baseline tariffs of a specific country, as well as the associated rates for HS codes. Moreover, if brands are shipping direct-to-consumers from China, they will now incur the current blanket 145% tariff rate and will no longer be able to benefit from the $800 de minimis threshold. In many (most) cases, these costs are not simply picked up by the brand. They are inherited, and ultimately felt, by the customer, which opens even more questions for how brands can and should move forward.
Tariff Talk Becomes Marketing Fodder
Because consumers are most likely to feel the pain of tariffs, brands need to determine how they plan to communicate to their audience about any changes in pricing, promotions, product development, or inventory assortment.
Even fast-fashion behemoths SHEIN and Temu know this is an unavoidable truth and have already alerted shoppers that price increases are imminent. Other brands are taking a more creative (read: manipulative) approach, going so far to use tariff turmoil as marketing fodder for new deals and promotions.
At the time of this writing, Boohoo, SpiritHoods, Revolve, Urban Outfitters, Free People, and LASR all are promoting sales—up to 65% off. However, there’s no indication that tariffs are the reason. It may be due to standard inventory changeover, the season change, or as a way to activate customers when they’re in a peak concert shopping mindset. Regardless, aggressive promotions aren’t sustainable, especially for brands incurring the extra fees that come with shipping across borders. If these brands continue to make festival season the epicenter of their sales calendars, now is the perfect time to determine whether these major marketing investments can drive so much buzz (and in turn sales) that they will ultimately help minimize the impact of tariffs.
Amlani believes that Coachella and similar festivals present a great long-term opportunity for product development teams: to test small-batch collections and determine their relevance for a larger eCommerce and in-store push. “Coachella [and similar festivals] could present a great opportunity for brands to test small product quantities before investing in all stores or online,” she says. “If the product assortment does well and they scale it, they will have more confidence that they will be able to sell at full-price and avoid the cost of a markdown. The tariff could be worth the sale.”
While the social and cultural impact of Coachella and other music festivals are still very much intact, it’s still unclear whether their influence and value are significant enough to help brands weather new global policy storms. It may very well be that even the biggest budgets and the most popular influencers can’t help brands tackle wavering customer sentiment and new supply chain constraints.
The budgets have been spent, and the plans have been executed. Now that Coachella 2025 is officially behind us, apparel brands across the retail realm are hoping to ride the word-of-mouth wave that typically follows such a significant cultural gathering. Yet amid the social hype and excitement, a new, perhaps more practical question has emerged: Can these brands successfully capitalize on the festival’s halo effect, even with new tariffs creating supply chain chaos?
The good news for brands is that Coachella still has significant cultural influence, which allows them to check off a major box on their goals list: driving brand awareness and earned media impact. Influencer marketing technology firm CreatorIQ calculated the earned media value on branded posts for apparel brands the first weekend of Coachella, and the data pointed to a clear winner in REVOLVE.
The fashion retailer uses Coachella as a (literal) influencer playground every year; its co-located REVOLVE Festival brings celebs, musicians, and social media creators together to bring the brand *vibe* to life. The gap between the retailer and its peers was staggering. While music fest mainstay Free People didn’t garner even half as much buzz, it didn’t spend nearly as much budget to get its logo front and center and somehow it still managed to rank in the top 10.
Liza Amlani, Principal of Retail Strategy Group and a former merchant, says that in order to see the true impact of earned media, brands of all sizes need to connect key performance indicators (KPIs) and examine the revenue impact of the attention they garnered.
Ultimately, if brand awareness through earned media is not impacting profitability, then there is a missing link to the investment. “It would be fascinating to compare the 'festival revenue' of the top media earners versus the smaller brands who don't have a festival media budget,” she notes.
The Creator IQ research also signals a fascinating shift in the brand ecosystem surrounding Coachella and “festival culture” in general. What’s “in” has evolved from the boho-centric aesthetic of 2015-2016. Consumers are now turning to a cornucopia of brands, from luxury staples like Chanel to Y2K throwbacks like Guess, which both landed in the top 10. Yet the data leaves out a whole subculture of brands that don’t necessarily have the budget to market at Coachella, but taps strenuously into festival culture. Brands that have more diverse aesthetics — think rave accessories, low-rise flares, and oh so many belts — as well as more diverse AOVs. These brands are smaller, more agile…and are more likely to feel the financial and operational aftershocks of Trump’s tariff war.
Will Supply Chain Struggles be a Suck on Post-Festival Hype?
The live music market is expected to reach $775.7 billion globally by 2035 at a 10.2% CAGR. Festivals are a critical piece of that pie and they have a strong grip on not just travel but retail. Brands attempting to tap into this global market potential will need to quantify the impact of new tariffs and develop a response plan that allows them to maintain their global reach and drive growth.
This is especially true for the key brands we analyzed. Direct, brand-specific supply chain details are often not fully disclosed on official websites, so some information is largely based on a combination of general industry knowledge and conclusions derived from public-facing content.
For example, use of premium microfiber polyester likely ties to major manufacturing hubs like China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. However, a 2022 document from Boohoo Group outlined its approach to sourcing and supplier relationships and while specific countries weren’t named, the group is known to rely heavily on manufacturing in South Asia. Additionally, ASOS disclosed in a 2018 filing that its supplier list sources from 175 suppliers using 944 factories, with main sourcing regions including China, Eastern Europe, India, Turkey, and the UK. In the US alone, there are not only specific tariff rules for different countries but also HS codes for different product types and materials used, which not only help classify the item being shipped but also determine standard duty rates.
Global supply chains are complex, with rates changing rapidly and rules varying by each product’s final point of creation. Final duties and tariffs can flex depending on the baseline tariffs of a specific country, as well as the associated rates for HS codes. Moreover, if brands are shipping direct-to-consumers from China, they will now incur the current blanket 145% tariff rate and will no longer be able to benefit from the $800 de minimis threshold. In many (most) cases, these costs are not simply picked up by the brand. They are inherited, and ultimately felt, by the customer, which opens even more questions for how brands can and should move forward.
Tariff Talk Becomes Marketing Fodder
Because consumers are most likely to feel the pain of tariffs, brands need to determine how they plan to communicate to their audience about any changes in pricing, promotions, product development, or inventory assortment.
Even fast-fashion behemoths SHEIN and Temu know this is an unavoidable truth and have already alerted shoppers that price increases are imminent. Other brands are taking a more creative (read: manipulative) approach, going so far to use tariff turmoil as marketing fodder for new deals and promotions.
At the time of this writing, Boohoo, SpiritHoods, Revolve, Urban Outfitters, Free People, and LASR all are promoting sales—up to 65% off. However, there’s no indication that tariffs are the reason. It may be due to standard inventory changeover, the season change, or as a way to activate customers when they’re in a peak concert shopping mindset. Regardless, aggressive promotions aren’t sustainable, especially for brands incurring the extra fees that come with shipping across borders. If these brands continue to make festival season the epicenter of their sales calendars, now is the perfect time to determine whether these major marketing investments can drive so much buzz (and in turn sales) that they will ultimately help minimize the impact of tariffs.
Amlani believes that Coachella and similar festivals present a great long-term opportunity for product development teams: to test small-batch collections and determine their relevance for a larger eCommerce and in-store push. “Coachella [and similar festivals] could present a great opportunity for brands to test small product quantities before investing in all stores or online,” she says. “If the product assortment does well and they scale it, they will have more confidence that they will be able to sell at full-price and avoid the cost of a markdown. The tariff could be worth the sale.”
While the social and cultural impact of Coachella and other music festivals are still very much intact, it’s still unclear whether their influence and value are significant enough to help brands weather new global policy storms. It may very well be that even the biggest budgets and the most popular influencers can’t help brands tackle wavering customer sentiment and new supply chain constraints.
The budgets have been spent, and the plans have been executed. Now that Coachella 2025 is officially behind us, apparel brands across the retail realm are hoping to ride the word-of-mouth wave that typically follows such a significant cultural gathering. Yet amid the social hype and excitement, a new, perhaps more practical question has emerged: Can these brands successfully capitalize on the festival’s halo effect, even with new tariffs creating supply chain chaos?
The good news for brands is that Coachella still has significant cultural influence, which allows them to check off a major box on their goals list: driving brand awareness and earned media impact. Influencer marketing technology firm CreatorIQ calculated the earned media value on branded posts for apparel brands the first weekend of Coachella, and the data pointed to a clear winner in REVOLVE.
The fashion retailer uses Coachella as a (literal) influencer playground every year; its co-located REVOLVE Festival brings celebs, musicians, and social media creators together to bring the brand *vibe* to life. The gap between the retailer and its peers was staggering. While music fest mainstay Free People didn’t garner even half as much buzz, it didn’t spend nearly as much budget to get its logo front and center and somehow it still managed to rank in the top 10.
Liza Amlani, Principal of Retail Strategy Group and a former merchant, says that in order to see the true impact of earned media, brands of all sizes need to connect key performance indicators (KPIs) and examine the revenue impact of the attention they garnered.
Ultimately, if brand awareness through earned media is not impacting profitability, then there is a missing link to the investment. “It would be fascinating to compare the 'festival revenue' of the top media earners versus the smaller brands who don't have a festival media budget,” she notes.
The Creator IQ research also signals a fascinating shift in the brand ecosystem surrounding Coachella and “festival culture” in general. What’s “in” has evolved from the boho-centric aesthetic of 2015-2016. Consumers are now turning to a cornucopia of brands, from luxury staples like Chanel to Y2K throwbacks like Guess, which both landed in the top 10. Yet the data leaves out a whole subculture of brands that don’t necessarily have the budget to market at Coachella, but taps strenuously into festival culture. Brands that have more diverse aesthetics — think rave accessories, low-rise flares, and oh so many belts — as well as more diverse AOVs. These brands are smaller, more agile…and are more likely to feel the financial and operational aftershocks of Trump’s tariff war.
Will Supply Chain Struggles be a Suck on Post-Festival Hype?
The live music market is expected to reach $775.7 billion globally by 2035 at a 10.2% CAGR. Festivals are a critical piece of that pie and they have a strong grip on not just travel but retail. Brands attempting to tap into this global market potential will need to quantify the impact of new tariffs and develop a response plan that allows them to maintain their global reach and drive growth.
This is especially true for the key brands we analyzed. Direct, brand-specific supply chain details are often not fully disclosed on official websites, so some information is largely based on a combination of general industry knowledge and conclusions derived from public-facing content.
For example, use of premium microfiber polyester likely ties to major manufacturing hubs like China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. However, a 2022 document from Boohoo Group outlined its approach to sourcing and supplier relationships and while specific countries weren’t named, the group is known to rely heavily on manufacturing in South Asia. Additionally, ASOS disclosed in a 2018 filing that its supplier list sources from 175 suppliers using 944 factories, with main sourcing regions including China, Eastern Europe, India, Turkey, and the UK. In the US alone, there are not only specific tariff rules for different countries but also HS codes for different product types and materials used, which not only help classify the item being shipped but also determine standard duty rates.
Global supply chains are complex, with rates changing rapidly and rules varying by each product’s final point of creation. Final duties and tariffs can flex depending on the baseline tariffs of a specific country, as well as the associated rates for HS codes. Moreover, if brands are shipping direct-to-consumers from China, they will now incur the current blanket 145% tariff rate and will no longer be able to benefit from the $800 de minimis threshold. In many (most) cases, these costs are not simply picked up by the brand. They are inherited, and ultimately felt, by the customer, which opens even more questions for how brands can and should move forward.
Tariff Talk Becomes Marketing Fodder
Because consumers are most likely to feel the pain of tariffs, brands need to determine how they plan to communicate to their audience about any changes in pricing, promotions, product development, or inventory assortment.
Even fast-fashion behemoths SHEIN and Temu know this is an unavoidable truth and have already alerted shoppers that price increases are imminent. Other brands are taking a more creative (read: manipulative) approach, going so far to use tariff turmoil as marketing fodder for new deals and promotions.
At the time of this writing, Boohoo, SpiritHoods, Revolve, Urban Outfitters, Free People, and LASR all are promoting sales—up to 65% off. However, there’s no indication that tariffs are the reason. It may be due to standard inventory changeover, the season change, or as a way to activate customers when they’re in a peak concert shopping mindset. Regardless, aggressive promotions aren’t sustainable, especially for brands incurring the extra fees that come with shipping across borders. If these brands continue to make festival season the epicenter of their sales calendars, now is the perfect time to determine whether these major marketing investments can drive so much buzz (and in turn sales) that they will ultimately help minimize the impact of tariffs.
Amlani believes that Coachella and similar festivals present a great long-term opportunity for product development teams: to test small-batch collections and determine their relevance for a larger eCommerce and in-store push. “Coachella [and similar festivals] could present a great opportunity for brands to test small product quantities before investing in all stores or online,” she says. “If the product assortment does well and they scale it, they will have more confidence that they will be able to sell at full-price and avoid the cost of a markdown. The tariff could be worth the sale.”
While the social and cultural impact of Coachella and other music festivals are still very much intact, it’s still unclear whether their influence and value are significant enough to help brands weather new global policy storms. It may very well be that even the biggest budgets and the most popular influencers can’t help brands tackle wavering customer sentiment and new supply chain constraints.
The budgets have been spent, and the plans have been executed. Now that Coachella 2025 is officially behind us, apparel brands across the retail realm are hoping to ride the word-of-mouth wave that typically follows such a significant cultural gathering. Yet amid the social hype and excitement, a new, perhaps more practical question has emerged: Can these brands successfully capitalize on the festival’s halo effect, even with new tariffs creating supply chain chaos?
The good news for brands is that Coachella still has significant cultural influence, which allows them to check off a major box on their goals list: driving brand awareness and earned media impact. Influencer marketing technology firm CreatorIQ calculated the earned media value on branded posts for apparel brands the first weekend of Coachella, and the data pointed to a clear winner in REVOLVE.
The fashion retailer uses Coachella as a (literal) influencer playground every year; its co-located REVOLVE Festival brings celebs, musicians, and social media creators together to bring the brand *vibe* to life. The gap between the retailer and its peers was staggering. While music fest mainstay Free People didn’t garner even half as much buzz, it didn’t spend nearly as much budget to get its logo front and center and somehow it still managed to rank in the top 10.
Liza Amlani, Principal of Retail Strategy Group and a former merchant, says that in order to see the true impact of earned media, brands of all sizes need to connect key performance indicators (KPIs) and examine the revenue impact of the attention they garnered.
Ultimately, if brand awareness through earned media is not impacting profitability, then there is a missing link to the investment. “It would be fascinating to compare the 'festival revenue' of the top media earners versus the smaller brands who don't have a festival media budget,” she notes.
The Creator IQ research also signals a fascinating shift in the brand ecosystem surrounding Coachella and “festival culture” in general. What’s “in” has evolved from the boho-centric aesthetic of 2015-2016. Consumers are now turning to a cornucopia of brands, from luxury staples like Chanel to Y2K throwbacks like Guess, which both landed in the top 10. Yet the data leaves out a whole subculture of brands that don’t necessarily have the budget to market at Coachella, but taps strenuously into festival culture. Brands that have more diverse aesthetics — think rave accessories, low-rise flares, and oh so many belts — as well as more diverse AOVs. These brands are smaller, more agile…and are more likely to feel the financial and operational aftershocks of Trump’s tariff war.
Will Supply Chain Struggles be a Suck on Post-Festival Hype?
The live music market is expected to reach $775.7 billion globally by 2035 at a 10.2% CAGR. Festivals are a critical piece of that pie and they have a strong grip on not just travel but retail. Brands attempting to tap into this global market potential will need to quantify the impact of new tariffs and develop a response plan that allows them to maintain their global reach and drive growth.
This is especially true for the key brands we analyzed. Direct, brand-specific supply chain details are often not fully disclosed on official websites, so some information is largely based on a combination of general industry knowledge and conclusions derived from public-facing content.
For example, use of premium microfiber polyester likely ties to major manufacturing hubs like China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. However, a 2022 document from Boohoo Group outlined its approach to sourcing and supplier relationships and while specific countries weren’t named, the group is known to rely heavily on manufacturing in South Asia. Additionally, ASOS disclosed in a 2018 filing that its supplier list sources from 175 suppliers using 944 factories, with main sourcing regions including China, Eastern Europe, India, Turkey, and the UK. In the US alone, there are not only specific tariff rules for different countries but also HS codes for different product types and materials used, which not only help classify the item being shipped but also determine standard duty rates.
Global supply chains are complex, with rates changing rapidly and rules varying by each product’s final point of creation. Final duties and tariffs can flex depending on the baseline tariffs of a specific country, as well as the associated rates for HS codes. Moreover, if brands are shipping direct-to-consumers from China, they will now incur the current blanket 145% tariff rate and will no longer be able to benefit from the $800 de minimis threshold. In many (most) cases, these costs are not simply picked up by the brand. They are inherited, and ultimately felt, by the customer, which opens even more questions for how brands can and should move forward.
Tariff Talk Becomes Marketing Fodder
Because consumers are most likely to feel the pain of tariffs, brands need to determine how they plan to communicate to their audience about any changes in pricing, promotions, product development, or inventory assortment.
Even fast-fashion behemoths SHEIN and Temu know this is an unavoidable truth and have already alerted shoppers that price increases are imminent. Other brands are taking a more creative (read: manipulative) approach, going so far to use tariff turmoil as marketing fodder for new deals and promotions.
At the time of this writing, Boohoo, SpiritHoods, Revolve, Urban Outfitters, Free People, and LASR all are promoting sales—up to 65% off. However, there’s no indication that tariffs are the reason. It may be due to standard inventory changeover, the season change, or as a way to activate customers when they’re in a peak concert shopping mindset. Regardless, aggressive promotions aren’t sustainable, especially for brands incurring the extra fees that come with shipping across borders. If these brands continue to make festival season the epicenter of their sales calendars, now is the perfect time to determine whether these major marketing investments can drive so much buzz (and in turn sales) that they will ultimately help minimize the impact of tariffs.
Amlani believes that Coachella and similar festivals present a great long-term opportunity for product development teams: to test small-batch collections and determine their relevance for a larger eCommerce and in-store push. “Coachella [and similar festivals] could present a great opportunity for brands to test small product quantities before investing in all stores or online,” she says. “If the product assortment does well and they scale it, they will have more confidence that they will be able to sell at full-price and avoid the cost of a markdown. The tariff could be worth the sale.”
While the social and cultural impact of Coachella and other music festivals are still very much intact, it’s still unclear whether their influence and value are significant enough to help brands weather new global policy storms. It may very well be that even the biggest budgets and the most popular influencers can’t help brands tackle wavering customer sentiment and new supply chain constraints.
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