As tensions rise over tariffs, one American brand is making its international imports a focal point.

L.L.Bean’s Japan Collection, which features streetwear-style products designed exclusively for the Japanese market, was first released in 2023, but US shoppers could only access its items through travel or proxy services. That is until last week, when the Freeport, Maine-based retailer brought the Japan Collection stateside for the first time at pop-up events in New York and LA. The pop-ups featured items including special-edition field coats, anoraks, and fish-print tees.

Beyond the fact that everyone and their mother seems to be traveling to Japan, Amanda Hannah, head of brand engagement and external communications at L.L.Bean, told us that now was the right time to highlight L.L.Bean’s history in the country as consumer demand for craftsmanship and “globally influenced heritage style” rises, and as other brands experiment with Japanese styles stateside.

“There is this pent-up demand that has existed in the US market for the Japanese-edition items,” Hannah said. “And so all of those things combined, we decided, ‘Hey, let’s test it. Let’s do this pop-up experience.’”

Continue reading here about the strategy behind the pop-up.—KH

March Madness may be over, but brands aren’t done with college hoops.

The five women’s college athletes with the most NIL deals from March 2024 to March 2025 were all basketball players, and athletes from that sport filled two of the top five spots on the men’s side, too, according to sponsorship intelligence platform SponsorUnited’s 2024-25 NIL report, which analyzed 3,000 deals across more than 1,700 brands.

While tech and non-alcoholic beverage brands increased their NIL activity in the past year, apparel and retail brands pulled back, meaning there was relatively little change in the total number of NIL deals year over year. That suggests a “quality-over-quantity approach” to the space, SponsorUnited wrote.

Queens of the court: JuJu Watkins, the sophomore basketball sensation out of the University of Southern California who tore her ACL during March Madness, had 20 NIL deals, including Nike, Fanatics, and Taco Bell, the most of any women’s college athlete, per the report.

• Twin hoopers Haley and Hanna Cavinder from the University of Miami followed Watkins with 18 combined deals with brands like Under Armour and Boost Mobile.
• Paige Bueckers, the projected No. 1 WNBA draft pick who led UConn to the NCAA championship and the first college athlete to ink a deal with Gatorade, had 16 deals, as does the University of Oregon’s Deja Kelly.
• Louisiana State University’s Flau’jae Johnson rounded out the top five, with 15 deals across brands including Powerade, Experian, and Puma.

Read more here.—AM

After a streak of dull sales, hair care brand Olaplex is hoping an effort to go back to the roots—literally—will help revitalize it.

Olaplex was founded in 2014, starting in the professional channel at salons before expanding into retail. The company launched on DTC and into specialty retailers like Sephora in 2018, and went public and expanded into Ulta stores in 2021.

The brand has had its struggles since going public, including a since-denied class action lawsuit and slipping sales, particularly in the professional channel. Former Supergoop CEO Amanda Baldwin took over as chief exec in December 2023 to begin a turnaround. In its most recent earnings reported in March, net sales dropped 9.8%, with professional sales down 27.1%, though specialty retail rose 5.7%. On that earnings call, Baldwin introduced the brand’s new “Bonds and Beyond strategic vision,” comprising three pillars: shifting its products and messaging beyond treating damage to “foundational hair health,” fostering its professional business, and creating an “emotional connection” with consumers.

A multi-pronged brand refresh is a core part of this. While Olaplex’s products were designed and marketed to treat damage from hair coloring, CMO Katie Gohman told Retail Brew, lately the company has found that “the visual identity wasn’t really representing everything that the brand could do for both stylists as well as consumers.”

“A great brand has an emotional territory in a world that consumers aspire to be a part of,” Gohman said.

Read more on Retail Brew.—EC

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Stories we’re jealous of.

• The New York Times wrote about how some restaurants are increasingly relying on vibes and merch to attract patrons.
• The Wall Street Journal wrote about Mark Zuckerberg’s personal MAGA rebrand as part of his efforts to get the FTC to drop its antitrust case against Meta, which went to trial this week.
• The Verge wrote about how Chinese wholesalers are “trolling anxious American shoppers” on TikTok, encouraging them to buy name-brand dupes to get around tariffs.