Rising costs, economic uncertainty, and evolving consumer expectations are changing the way people interact with brands.
Shoppers have become increasingly discerning, with more than 40% of consumers in the US, UK and Germany spending less on fashion in 2024 than the previous year, despite increased discretionary budgets, according to BoF and McKinsey & Company’s 2025 State of Fashion Report. In this climate, acquiring new customers is expensive and retaining existing customers is more important than ever.
In this context, community building emerges as a key differentiator. BoF’s recent case study, How Brands Build Authentic Communities, shows how brands like Bandit Running, Arc’teryx, Aerie, Topicals, and KidSuper are building emotional connections that go far beyond transactional relationships. Through shared values, activity-based engagement, and founder-driven personalities, these brands demonstrate that building loyalty requires listening to and truly caring for customers.
Building these connections goes beyond social media followings and one-time events and activations. Brands that are successful in building meaningful communities actively cultivate safe spaces, both online and offline, where individuals feel acknowledged, heard, and inspired.
For emerging and early-stage brands, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. With limited resources, small teams, and the need to demonstrate return on investment, a thoughtful approach is essential. But when done intentionally, these efforts can yield benefits such as higher engagement, deeper loyalty, and advocacy that organically amplifies your brand’s story.
With its global retail footprint and select tenant community, real estate developer Brookfield Properties seeks to make this type of connection possible. Through strategic store placement, experiential activations, and support for early-stage brands, Brookfield Properties aims to help retailers translate these community-building strategies into tangible results.
In the fourth and final installment of this series, BoF, in partnership with Brookfield Properties, investigates how fashion and beauty brands foster authentic communities, exploring the values, shared experiences, and relationship-centered approaches that ultimately define success.
Explore what it takes to build lasting, valuable relationships with your customers using insights from our exclusive case study, How Brands Build Authentic Communities, and unique insights from Brookfield Properties and its tenant portfolio.
Building genuine connections with your customers can increase customer retention, encourage repeat purchases, and turn buyers into loyal advocates. (Brookfield Properties)
01 — Turn group activities into brand loyalty
Carrie Melissa Jones, CEO of CMJ Group, a US consultancy that helps organizations build community, previously told BoF that community is about “genuinely caring about the customer as a whole person, asking not just ‘What can my customer buy from me?’ but ‘How can I help my customer live a better life?'”
This sentiment captures the essence of community as a competitive advantage in retail. For early-stage brands, building genuine connections with customers can improve retention, encourage repeat purchases, and turn buyers into loyal advocates.
This case study highlights multiple paths to success, including activity-driven engagement, character-driven leadership, and shared values. For example, Bandit Running demonstrates an activity-driven approach.
Rather than create another running club in Manhattan, where many runners already belonged to existing clubs, Bandit opened its West Village store early in the morning to accommodate morning runs, providing a service-first environment that prioritized community needs over immediate sales.
“It’s really important to approach any community with great care and understand the nuances of how that community operates,” founder Nick West said in a case study.
Similarly, Arc’teryx has built a community around the shared experience of outdoor sports, offering Arc’teryx Academy clinics that combine skill-building, cultural programming, and immersive experiences.
Activewear brand Fabletics is exploring a similar approach in California, inviting visitors to Brookfield Properties’ Glendale Galleria for a free one-hour Pilates class to encourage movement, support, and self-care during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“Community-driven retail thrives when brands create experiences that bring people together in real time,” said Erin McCarthy, vice president and head of retail development at Brookfield Properties.
She points to premium activewear and lifestyle brand Rhone as a prime example. “Rhone accomplishes this through our ‘Mind and Muscle’ gatherings held at Tysons Galleria, Oakbrook Center, and The Shops at Merrick Park, bringing groups together for movement, breathing techniques, and conversation that support both physical and mental health.”
Ear piercing and jewelry brand Rowan, as another example, invites friends and family into its stores to celebrate milestones and special moments.
“This in-store experience is a huge hit as the brand rapidly expands its footprint across the United States,” McCarthy said. “When brands facilitate these shared in-store experiences, retail stores become more than just a place to shop. They become spaces where people feel connected, supported, and part of something bigger.”
02 — Appoint founder as community strategy leader
Personality-driven communities often start with founders who are deeply engaged with their customers. This case study cites KidSuper’s Colm Dilane as a best-in-class example. Dillane treats her brand as an extension of herself, personally managing her social media posts, interacting with fans, and co-creating content. In his case study, he states: “Remember, ‘If I was a young kid, what brands would I support?'”
For early-stage brands, this approach shows that credibility is more important than scale. A founder’s personality can humanize a brand, making it relatable and approachable. CMJ Group’s Jones says successful communities “translate the founder’s story into something that resonates with the customer’s own experience” and move beyond a cult of personality to a true engagement with the brand itself.
This founder-led approach aligns with Brookfield Properties’ view that retail spaces act simply as trading hubs.
“Founders often set the tone for how a brand’s community is shaped,” McCarthy added, citing Tennant Rhone co-founder and CEO Nate Checketts and his personal commitment to purpose and wellness that features in each part of the brand’s engagement strategy.
She also mentions Gorjana and Jason Reidel, co-founders of California-based jewelry brand Gorjana. They work directly on store design, nurturing the brand’s foundation in a warm, welcoming, coastal-inspired environment.
Build community touchpoints, encourage two-way dialogue, host events, and create spaces where consumers can interact with brands and each other. (Brookfield Properties)
03 — Use your values as a unifying force
Shared values provide a third path to community. Brands that truly embody beliefs that align with customer priorities can inspire deeper loyalty.
This case study features Topicals, a skincare brand that incorporates philanthropy and co-creation into its approach to build a community around skin positivity and inclusivity.
Members of Try Your Best (TYB), a community rewards platform and the brainchild of Outdoor Voices founder Ty Haney, not only provide feedback on products, but also participate in challenges and events, resulting in a 53% higher lifetime value compared to non-members.
Similarly, apparel and lifestyle brand Aerie fosters loyalty through body positivity and has evolved its campaigns in response to community feedback. Its social impact has further expanded with the launch of the Aerie Real Foundation.
Chief Marketing Officer Stacey McCormick said in a case study: “As a brand, we have to live these values. We can’t just put them on paper and promote them. We need to champion them and embed them in more than just an advertising campaign.”
Building a values-based community doesn’t require a huge budget. We need clarity, consistency and reliability. Integrating these values across product design, customer experience, and communications helps shoppers feel like they’re part of something meaningful.
Mr. McCarthy of Brookfield Properties added: “Values, when truly lived out across a business, are a unifying force.”
She cites footwear and accessories brand Rothy’s and its commitment to sustainability as an example, saying, “It runs through everything we do, from using recycled materials to designing products that last.”
“Our focus on circularity and responsible design has created a customer community that connects with the brand’s mission,” she added. “When a company consistently lives its values, it creates trust and a sense of belonging for customers who want to support something that reflects their priorities.”
04 — Empower community members as contributors
Another key element of a strong brand community is involving customers in the creation process. As TYB’s Haney said in the case study, “There’s a strong desire to see inside things, but also a desire to be a contributor and a participant.”
For example, before Bandit Running opens a new store, it surveys its customers, voting on product color schemes and asking for feedback on their in-store experience. When the Los Angeles store opened in March 2025, Bandit opened its flagship to leaders in LA’s local running community and worked with them on what they could partner with and add to the scene.
Similarly, Topicals solicits input from the community months before a new product launches. These approaches allow consumers to feel invested in a brand’s success, increasing loyalty and advocacy.
Brookfield Properties also aims to help brands operationalize these strategies in physical spaces.
“We see many brands using their stores as a place to learn with their customers, and performance fashion brand Varley is a great example of this,” McCarthy says. “They built a loyal following through wholesale and listened carefully to feedback about fit, fabrics, and what women wanted in elevated everyday activewear. That same thinking is guiding their expansion into branded stores like Oakbrook Center in suburban Chicago.”
“Through conversations with guests, styling assistance, and engagement with local communities, the Varley team gains meaningful insight into what customers want,” she added. “When brands create space for this kind of interaction, stores become more than just a place to shop; they become spaces where insight and loyalty grow together.”
A store is more than just a sales location. These become hubs for engagement, feedback, and co-creation. Through pop-ups at sporting and experiential events, or in-store workshops, brands can achieve high levels of engagement without overspending.
05 — Turn your community into tangible results
Communities fostered authentically lead to measurable business impact. Engagement increases repeat purchases, increases lifetime value, and strengthens brand advocacy.
Social media metrics reflect this. As we found in our case study, Bandit Running achieves significantly higher engagement rates than competitors like Nike despite having fewer followers.
“We always see that when brands have engaged communities, that energy translates into real demand,” adds McCarthy. “When customers already feel connected to your brand before they walk in the door, it leads to higher intent, repeat visits, and the kind of advocacy that traditional marketing can’t match.”
Important points
Community breeds loyalty. In an era of prudent consumer spending, engagement built on shared values, activities and founder personalities is a key differentiator. Reliability is essential. Rather than treating community building as an afterthought to marketing, emerging brands need to commit to authentic connections. Physical stores are a strategic tool. Stores and pop-ups offer opportunities for co-creation, experiential storytelling, and two-way dialogue, creating emotional resonance that strengthens brand loyalty.
Read all articles in this series and check out Brookfield Properties’ www.Retailvisory.com for more retail insights.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Brookfield Properties as part of the BoF partnership.
