Stanley, Stanley everywhere, and not a drop to drink
[insert joke about hockey once I care about hockey.]
I’m a millennial woman, so I’m perennially a little dehydrated. But unlike many of my peers, I’m not too fussed about it. I’ve let every water bottle trend pass me by, from Nalgenes to Hydro Flasks to S’wells. So you can imagine that I find all of this Stanley Tumbler shit quite bemusing.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
On their face, there’s nothing particularly notable about Stanley Tumblers. The most popular ones are absolute units, with 40oz capacity, a big jug handle, and a straw with no cover. They are famously leaky. They come in a range of colours, some of them co-branded with middle-class mainstays like Starbucks and Hearth & Hand with Magnolia. Those co-branded colours are also limited edition, and their releases are the ones you’ve seen go viral, due to the stampedes.
For some buyers, there’s a real “gotta catch ‘em all!” mentality. Those are the ones you’ll see with entire cupboard shelves dedicated to their collections. For others, the joy is in having your one Stanley Tumbler kitted out with a mind-bogglingly long list of accessories. There’s always something new to consume with these guys.
Aesthetics are central to the Stanley Tumbler’s appeal, although here’s where it’s hard for me to avoid being judgmental. I find these things quite ugly. They’re just too clunky, and there is something eerie to me about their opacity. (My current water bottle is an adorable 16.9oz guy, colorless and transparent and very unassuming. I don’t know his name, and I prefer it that way.) But their sturdy build is a whole selling point. They look indestructible, and apparently they actually are, to the point that they can survive a car fire and keep your bevvy cold while so doing.
The most captivating thing I found in my research was how big a role Mormon influencers played in Stanley’s ascendance. Mormon influencers are a huge part of Instagram and TikTok, albeit a part that never shows up on my algorithm. (My IG algorithm is mostly astrology memes and Sex and the City content. TikTok is mostly Black queer dancers and women talking about movies. Go figure.) These women have a disproportionate amount of purchasing power and social capital, and wield both of these with maximum enthusiasm. Sharing the joys of motherhood is a spiritual calling, and sharing the items you need to purchase in order to have a joyful motherhood is a financial one, so it’s a match made in heaven. And pretty white women with shiny hair are the biggest thing on any visuals-based platform, so once the Stanley Tumblers took off with Mormon moms, they were locked in. The Mormon momfluencer —> soft life girlie —> corporate baddie consumerist pipeline is undefeated.
The background to the Stanley mania, and the thing that links seemingly distant groups like Mormon moms and career women, is our current obsession with “quiet luxury” and “looking expensive.” Lots of coded phrases that are steeped not only in classism but in racism, withered old gender norms, and toxic beauty standards. If nothing else, social media is a hotbed of conspicuous consumption. For every Aja Barber out there advocating for sustainability in the face of genuine and avoidable ecological horrors, it feels like there are dozens screaming back that buying things we don’t need is a right, and that telling people to buy fewer things is oppression, actually.
Stanley Tumblers are expensive for what they are, but unless you’re in the horrifying resale market, they fit a Target price threshold. They’re reusable, so fans can claim eco-consciousness. And they’re vaguely health-related, in that they’re associated with whiteness, thinness, and richness. So we’re still consuming conspicuously, but there’s a virtuous, Lululemony sheen to this consumption. Unlike a Telfar bag or a pair of Tabis, a giant water bottle is giving function as well as form. You need it to hydrate and fuel you throughout your day, whether you’re running errands or running Zoom meetings.
So, this is my understanding of the Stanleymania. I’ll be sticking with my little guy and waiting to see whether the Starbucks tumbler girlies stage a comeback. Then again, a hot new bombshell has entered the villa. And word is, this water bottle doesn’t leak!
THANK YOU for pointing out the problem I with “quiet luxury”. Enjoyed reading your thoughts as always!!
My coworker loves to collect water bottles, she is the reason I have a Starbucks one. I love a big water bottle, only because it’s perfect for putting stickers all over. lol