Putting Your Best Foot Forward
The GTM Playbook for Performance-Driven Healthy Living Brands
Key Takeaways
Performance-Driven Wellness Gains Share
Consumers are shifting from clean-label wellness to performance-oriented products with measurable outcomes, driving demand for tech-enabled tracking, recovery tools, and data-backed fitness solutions.
Longevity Focus Reshapes Demand Tailwinds
An aging population and rising “healthspan” mindset are accelerating spending on supplements, low-impact fitness, and preventative care, creating durable growth across wellness and lifestyle categories.
Proof and Innovation Determine Market Winners
Investors favor brands with clinical validation, strong consumer data, and continuous product innovation, as selective buyers prioritize differentiated platforms with clear, provable performance benefits.
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Consumers are increasingly starting to prioritize healthy living and longevity lifestyles, going beyond “clean” labels and well-being aesthetics saturating the market into performance-enhancing products for both during and post-recovery activities. The average consumer now expects performance improvement and data-proven results, whether that’s across mobility, sleep, exercise or even walking, all fueled by the tech innovations at the ready, including a rise in fitness tracking, calorie counting and even sleep scores. Pair these dynamics with programs such as Whoop’s bundling of screenless wearable and annual subscription for in-depth tracking; Fitbit’s Air – a slimmer wearable that directly targets Whoop users; and VKTRY’s insoles designed to enhance athletic performance and promote recovery, particularly young athletes. What’s more, a growing number of brands offer reward programs and incentives for high-volume users’ personal milestones, better capturing their users into a refined health-centric ecosystem of products.
Meanwhile, the aging global population is fueling consumers’ concerns with quality of life, overall health and illness prevention. According to the World Health Organization, age 60+ is the fastest-growing segment of the world’s population. As Baird noted in our recent nutritional supplements report, consumers are increasingly focused on not only a long lifespan but a quality “healthspan,” or years lived in good health. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that seniors are helping to drive the growing focus on vitamins and supplements, red light therapy, fitness and wellness centers, as well as products that can be used to achieve daily fitness and wellness goals with longevity in mind.
Less strenuous sports, notably pickleball, are on the rise among all ages but especially among elder demographics – which, also notably, have high spending power.
The market’s deal activity has highlighted these new consumer demands by launching brands who prioritize innovation, meeting the consumers’ needs all while differentiating themselves from the market. Baird’s Performance & Lifestyle Apparel and Footwear team has been at the forefront of these sector trends by partnering with our clients as this exciting industry has matured and changed.
Deal Momentum Since 2022: What the Market Has Rewarded
Over the past few years, the market has embraced strong platforms with compelling brands as well as companies with truly innovative products that have provable benefits for consumers focused on wellness and longevity. There is momentum for such brands in the middle market, but buyers remain selective.
VKTRY is a rapidly-growing category disruptor in the insole and sports markets, specializing in premium carbon fiber insoles and footwear innovation. Its patented carbon fiber technology is designed to increase athlete performance and support injury prevention.
Operating as a platform of leading, differentiated brands, Foundation Wellness focuses on designing, marketing and manufacturing premium semi-custom orthotics, insoles and broader consumer wellness solutions. Its brands include PowerStep and Currex – two of the most preferred and top-rated brands by consumers and clinicians – as well as Foot Petals, Flat Socks and Doctor Hoy’s.
USB sells mission-critical, products used at every level of sport. With a collection of six unique brands – Shock Doctor, McDavid, Cutters, Nathan, PEARL iZUMi and Glukos – USB advances athletes with sports performance and protective products including mouthguards, protective gear, sports medicine and therapy, cycling, gloves and other sport-focused accessories and apparel.
Performance Health is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of branded rehabilitation and wellness products including progressive resistance bands and tubing, exercise balls, hand exercisers, stability trainers and a number of other specialty products. Its diverse product offering is marketed under the well-known THERABAND®, Rolyan®, Cramer®, Days®, Homecraft®, Metron®, Jamar® and SammonsPreston® brand names.
Implus is a leading global accessories platform offers its retail partners a comprehensive selection of high-margin and differentiated footwear, fitness and recreational accessories. Today, its products are marketed under a portfolio of 15 proprietary brands, including Sof Sole, Airplus, Perfect, TriggerPoint and Yaktrax, and sold across multiple sales channels through more than 75,000 storefronts in over 70 countries at leading retailers.
The Longevity Trend: How Does Your Brand’s “Performance” Stack Up in the Long Run (and How to Prove It)
The rise of longevity as a priority for consumers is changing how brands position their offerings. Claiming lasting impact or long-term benefits isn’t enough, nor is an ingredients-only narrative. In this climate, outcomes-based wellness is king. “Everyday longevity” is emerging in categories ranging from mobility, pain relief and foot care to recovery, functional nutrition and wearable-adjacent accessories.
Winning brands achieve two major objectives: build a solid “proof stack” that proves their performance as well as a healthy innovation cadence: a pipeline that sustains and grows customer attention. On the former, brands that can point to relevant consumer data, clinical support (when applicable), customer reviews and/or repeat rates, loyalty metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) and retailer velocity stand out and make stronger cases for what their products promise. Relevant examples include Foundation Wellness, which is the #1 recommended brand by podiatrists, as well as VKTRY, whose insoles were investigated in several independent, third-party studies that concluded athletes ran faster and jumped higher while using the brand’s product.
The “Best Foot Forward” Playbook: How Winning Brands Execute Their Go-to-Market Plan
In our work with clients in this space, discussions with brands and buyers, and long-term tracking of this market, we have observed a number of best practices of brands executing a successful go-to-market plan in this longevity-driven market:
- Distribution and channel alignment that makes sense for the business and meets customers where they’re at. Whether DTC, clinician- or physician-focused, retailer or otherwise, successful brands make strategic choices on both fronts.
- Thoughtful channel distribution that aligns with the brand’s state of promise. While it may be tempting to expand into all possible channels to reach a broader customer base, disciplined channel choices drive success.
- Focus on a core KPI pack, including unit economics, cohorts, CAC/LTV by channel, retailer metrics and innovation pipeline.
Longevity isn’t a fad - it’s a re-prioritization of consumer spend around specific outcomes. Brands that demonstrate performance, protect product differentiation and prepare their go-to-market strategy early can translate demand into strategic options. In a market where details decide value, precision deal execution plus industry experts can materially improve results.
To further discuss these themes and how they may impact your business or future strategy, connect with a member of Baird’s Global Consumer Investment Banking Group.
