Disclosure
Jade Peak writes about places, experiences, and the people behind them, so hotels, operators, and companies come up often. We have no financial relationship with any entity named in this article. If that ever changes, we'll say so plainly, right here at the top.
This was the year fitness and wellness brands stopped just selling you things and started throwing you experiences. Pop-up gyms, sound baths, run clubs, gummy-vitamin mocktails: the shop floor became the marketing. Here are the ones that actually got people talking.
Lululemon.
The most talked-about was Studio Yet, a high-end pop-up gym Lululemon dropped on Melrose in LA for three weeks. Billed as a "sanctuary for the modern athlete," it ran drop-in classes with heavyweight trainers, with proceeds going to a local running nonprofit. Over in London, it also ran rooftop yoga-and-brunch clubs. The message was clear: Lululemon wants to be a place you train, not just a place you buy leggings.
Alo Yoga.
Alo did what Alo does best, which is turn wellness into a VIP flex, and this year it quite literally set sail. As part of a full French Riviera takeover, the brand chartered a brand-new 72-metre Sanlorenzo superyacht, the Silver Fox, and turned it into "Alo Voyage: Wellness Club at Sea," a floating, invitation-only wellness club timed to the Cannes Film Festival before sailing on to the Monaco Grand Prix. On board: deck-side Pilates and reformer classes, EMS training, cold plunges, a sauna, lymphatic drainage, IV drips, and, because of course, matcha soft serve on tap around the clock. It filled feeds for weeks, largely thanks to A-listers and creators like Alix Earle documenting the whole thing. On land, Alo paired it with new "sanctuary" stores in Cannes and Saint-Tropez and a takeover of the Hôtel Martinez pier. The yacht wasn't really the product, of course. It was a floating advert for the idea that wellness is the new luxury, and it worked, though it did earn a fair few "is marketing getting out of touch?" comments online too.
Vuori.
To launch a new fabric called BlissBlend, Vuori threw experiential pop-ups in New York, London and LA that paired the product with aura readings, meditation, sound baths and post-workout smoothies. It also kept building out its free in-store ACTV workouts and run clubs. A fabric launch cleverly dressed up as a wellness day out.
On.
The Swiss running brand rode the year's biggest fitness story: the run-club explosion. Strava reported run clubs nearly quadrupled in 2025, and On leaned all the way in with community runs and experiential stores, positioning itself right where running quietly became this generation's night out.
Nike.
Nike played the same running-community game at scale. Around the 2026 LA Marathon it showed up with workshops and pre-race events through its Re-Create concept, part of a broader bet on run clubs and community runs as the new front door to the brand. When run clubs are the moment, Nike intends to own the pavement.
Nature Made.
The wildcard, and honestly the most fun. A multivitamin brand opened a full wellness pop-up in SoHo, the Nature Made Wellness Experience, fronted by Mindy Kaling and running for months. Inside: gummy-vitamin mocktails, an affirmation wheel, a "routine builder," and a giant gummy mascot named Sunny. Proof that in 2026, even your vitamins want to be a moment.
The honest read
Step back and it's obvious what happened: the store became the advert. A lot of it is genuinely lovely, especially the community side, with run clubs and sober, movement-based socialising quietly replacing the bar. And a lot of it is simply very photogenic marketing designed to get you through the door and onto your feed. Both things are true at once. Our advice is to enjoy the free sound bath, keep one eyebrow raised, and maybe join the run club, which was arguably the real winner of the year.
Originally published at jadepeak.com.
