Diversions
The 24 Brands to Watch in 2024
This year’s most promising trends, product launches and anniversaries — and the companies behind them all.
At Dude Awesome, we continuously monitor the development of new products and the brands making headway in various industries. Our team discovers trends in the market, highlights outstanding manufacturing and engages with designers and leaders shaping innovation.
With a finger on the pulse of the product cycle — from inception to develop to release to reception to update — Dude Awesome is drawn to brands making innovative changes to manufacturing or business models, offering unique and superlative products, or creating novel solutions to widespread problems.
Below, find a wide-ranging selection of companies and organizations that fulfil those requirements, Dude Awesome’s 24 brands to watch in 2024.
This list is in alphabetical order.
1. Anchor Brewing Co.
Last summer marked the end of an era when Sapporo Holdings, after 127 years of continuous operation, announced the closure of Anchor Brewing Co., America’s oldest craft brewery. In response, a coalition of the brand’s employees, including brewers, bartenders, and production workers, initiated a successful GoFundMe campaign to repurchase the company, surpassing their $50,000 goal.
Can an employee-owned and -operated Anchor Brewing succeed where the corporate version failed?
They followed that with a WeFunder to buy the Anchor Brewing IP and secured a lease of a brewing location in San Francisco. The reborn, employee-owned Anchor hopes to start brewing again by early 2024, but whether this indie venture can triumph where a big corporation failed remains to be seen.
2. Apple
Each year in Cupertino is significant, but 2024 stands out. The game-changer is the Vision Pro headset—a groundbreaking product for Apple and undoubtedly the most anticipated release of the year. While capable of VR and AR functionalities like previous headsets, the Vision Pro’s aspirations extend far beyond the norm.
Apple, the biggest gadget maker in the world, is set to prove that spatial computers (aka headsets) are the future.
It is termed a spatial computer by Apple, and it holds the promise of revolutionizing our online work and play experiences. The Vision Pro appears to represent a potential future for computing that, given Apple’s involvement, doesn’t come across as mere wishful thinking.
3. Arizona Coyotes
The NHL team based in Arizona, the Coyotes, has adopted a strategy reminiscent of the NBA, prioritizing the creation of tasteful and stylish merchandise for its fan base. The team enlisted the services of Rhude designer Rhuigi Villasenor as a creative strategist for the 2023 season. Building on this momentum, luxury menswear designer Doni Nahmias has now assumed the role for the 2024 season.
The NHL is elevating its style and the Coyotes are leading the way.
“It’s been an honor to collaborate with a legacy sports brand like Bauer alongside the Arizona Coyotes to raise the profile of hockey in the world of popular culture,” Nahmias said in a statement. “In creating this capsule, my aim was to bring a fresh perspective into the sport’s design elements.”
4. Audemars Piguet
For the first time in over three decades, there’s someone new at the top of Audemars Piguet. Cosmetics industry veteran Ilaria Resta took over from François-Henry Bennahmias at the start of this year, ushering in a question-filled new era.
With a new CEO at the helm for the first time in 30 years, will that mean a new direction for the brand?
Bennahmias is credited with turning the Royal Oak from a ‘70s curiosity into an icon, while also working to deeply intertwine Audemars Piguet with pop culture. The big question is: Will the new CEO continue AP’s successful but controversial run as a hype brand, or will she take the 149-year-old luxury watchmaker in a new direction?
5. Best Made Co.
If you weren’t closely following the outdoors industry in 2018, you might be curious about the fate of New York’s beloved outdoor brand, Best Made Co. The niche brand experienced changes under various ownerships, from Bolt Threads to Duluth Trading Company, leaving some fans dissatisfied. However, years later, it appeared the brand had lost its momentum—until its founder, Peter Buchanan-Smith, reclaimed ownership in 2023.
The brand that made the ax cool is back — and we’re keen to see what’s next.
Is 2024 the year when Best Made Co. will stage its comeback with stylish new axes, or does Buchanan-Smith have another impressive plan in store?
6. Cadillac
2024 could well go down in history as the year Cadillac saved itself – or damned itself. The luxury brand has been tasked with being the vanguard of General Motors’s EV onslaught by going all-electric by 2030, and three of the most important thrusts of that attack arrive this year: the Celestiq, a $340,000+ Bentley-rivaling sedan; the Optiq, the company’s electric play for the hotly competitive compact luxury crossover class; and perhaps most importantly, the Escalade IQ, the all-electric next generation of Cadillac’s most iconic model of the 21st Century.
A trio of new EVs debuting this year will set the tone for the brand’s future.
If all goes well, Cadillac could rise like a phoenix and once again become a truly dominant force in the luxury car space. If not, well, GM’s history is filled with nameplates that outlived their usefulness…
7. Filson
Established in 1897 as an outfitter for Yukon Gold Rush pioneers, Filson has been an American institution for well over a century, specializing in exceptionally reliable apparel, gear and accessories. This year, two of its most iconic jacket designs, the Mackinaw Wool Cruiser and the Tin Cloth Cruiser, turn 110.
The best used and vintage Filson is now availabledirectly from the brand.
Furthermore, the brand is expanding into a larger market and has even launched a pre-owned division, Filson Unfailing, to help customers find its used and vintage clothing. All of this points to a major shift for the iconic brand in 2024, and it could shape up to be Filson’s biggest year ever.
8. Humane
Humane’s Ai Pin is a tiny wearable with an ambition goal: to be just as useful as a smartphone, but without requiring you to look at a screen.
The Ai Pin aims to be the smartphone of the future. And that future is screenless.
The tiny AI-powered personal assistant combines software, OpenAI’s GPT and a surprising amount of hardware (including a camera, microphone, speaker, projector and a multitude of sensors) to deliver a new kind of personal computing experience, one where you interact entirely with your voice, touch and gestures. The Ai Pin went on sale in November and will start shipping in March 2024.
9. Levi’s
One of the most iconic American brands of all time, Levi’s has been in operation for over 170 years. So where does this denim giant go from there?
Can denim giant Levi’s transform into a DTC-first brand? Its new CEO thinks so.
Well, the dominant denim company has found a new CEO in Michelle Gass — former CEO of Kohl’s, whose e-commerce segment she helped grow to $6 billion — who is poised to push the brand toward a DTC-first model for the first time ever and she hopes to grow the brand’s international presence in 2024. It’s hard for any company to grow beyond what Levi’s has achieved to date, but if anyone can do it, it’s this brand.
10. Lochlea Distillery
The Lochlea name may not spark the same sort of recognition as Lagavulin or Laphroiag yet, but you’ll probably know it a lot better by the end of the year. Its first expression dropped in early 2022, and it’s spent the last two years racking up awards for innovation from some of the biggest names in the Scotch world.
This young whisky brand aims to set itself apart through experienced talent and a green thumb.
The independent operation is run by John Campbell, who spent 27 years managing Laphroaig’s distillery before coming aboard to help create the brand’s core release; known as “Our Barley,” brings together whisky from three different types of casks for a distinct flavor. The name isn’t an exaggeration, either. Lochlea grows all the grain used in its spirits — one benefit of its location in southern Ayrshire County, one of the most fertile areas of Scotland for agriculture.
11. Omega
Omega is never a brand to shy away from special edition watches, and 2024 is shaping up to be a year that could see some truly special pieces. First and foremost, this year marks the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which almost certainly means we’ll get some sort of commemorative Speedmaster.
A number of events and anniversaries could mean a big year for the brand.
But that’s not all. The Paris Olympics will take place this summer, and official timekeeper Omega will surely have special watches in store for it. Finally, the next James Bond could be announced this year — and maybe a special Seamaster along with it?
12. Polestar
Polestar launched as an independent manufacturer with a lot of hype. 2024 is when we finally see the end product, beyond the understated Polestar 2. Polestar is throwing down a gauntlet at Porsche this year. Premium Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 crossovers are coming after the Cayenne.
The much-hyped EV brand will finally deliver some end product.
We should see at least a glimpse of the Panamera-rivaling Polestar 5. And in one of the most interesting design moves in decades, Polestar is chucking off the fig leaf and starting to replace its token rear windows entirely with cameras.
13. Porsche
The 911 defined Porsche as a manufacturer. As the brand celebrates the 911’s 60th anniversary, we will see Porsche redefined by some of its most revolutionary product launches since. The Macan SUV, Porsche’s best-selling vehicle, is going all-electric.
The iconic sports car brand embraces battery power.
Porsche should unveil its first all-electric sports, the successor to the Cayman 718. And while Porsche isn’t quite ready for a whole hog 911 EV yet, the nameplate should receive its first hybrid option with an upcoming refresh.
14. Ram
Any shift in the full-size truck market is seismic, and Ram has three absolutely titanic ones in store for the new 2025 Ram 1500. The combustion truck is abandoning Hemi V8s entirely for more powerful and more efficient Hurricane inline-six units.
The new 1500 replaces the V8 in three radically different ways.
Ram’s first electric truck, the 1500 REV, arrives at dealers before the end of the year. So is the wild new 1500 Ramcharger, an EV truck with around 145 miles of range that will be packing a 3.6-liter V6 in reserve to charge the battery.
15. Seiko
Watch brands love birthdays and few more so than Seiko — the Japanese company that’s using 2024 to mark its 100th anniversary with a rolling collection of limited-edition watches.
Interestingly, the company has been around much longer than that. Its founder, Kintarō Hattori, started selling clocks as far back as 1881 before moving on to pocket and wristwatches at the turn of the century. Finally, in 1924, it sold its first wristwatch with the name Seiko on the label, hence all the fuss about 100 years.
Seiko teases a rolling collection of reissues to celebrate an important milestone: the 100th anniversary of its original watch. Sort of.
Seiko has teased up to nine new watches and reissues as part of its series of 100th-anniversary watches. So far, we’ve already seen three of Seiko’s celebratory watches, but we have no idea what tricks the company still has up its sleeve. Here’s hoping the brand revisits some of its more popular models, like the ultra-affordable Seiko 5 Sports watch, in novel ways.
16. Sonos
Sonos had a big year in 2023 — it introduced a number of next-gen speakers — but 2024 is poised to be even bigger. For years it’s been rumored that Sonos has been working on its very first headphones, but nothing’s come of it.
The king of wireless multi-room speakers aims to disrupt the market for noise-canceling headphones.
But during an earnings call in late 2023, CEO Patrick Spence confirmed that, after years of R&D investments, Sonos would be entering into a new “multi-billion dollar” product category in the second half of 2024. Yep, we’re expecting the first Sonos headphones.
17. Specialized
In 1974, Mike Sinyard founded Specialized bikes in Morgan Hill, CA. After a fateful bike tour in Europe, Sinyard brought handlebars and stems made by Cinelli back home to the states, and as they say — the rest is history.
Celebrating 50 years is no mean feat — but Specialized isn’t resting on its laurels just yet.
50 years later, Specialized dominates the bike industry — and just as it did in the mid-70s, the brand continues to push boundaries. In 2022, Specialized welcomed a new CEO after being led for 48 years by Sinyard; the brand also announced it was going direct-to-consumer, which made waves across the bike industry as critics and proponents alike wondered what the move meant for the bike industry as a whole.
But at the end of the day, Specialized continues to sell bikes that perform — and in 2024, we can expect to see new updates and innovations. Consider our fingers crossed for new S-Works models in the next 12 months.
18. Spotify
At this point, Spotify’s lossless streaming tier, Spotify Hi-Fi, is a bit of a joke. It was announced in February 2021, promised to arrive before the end of that year, and nearly three years on … Mum’s the word.
If Spotify wants to remain the world’s most popular music streaming service, it needs to embrace lossless.
Its plans were no doubt upended by Apple’s decision to release its own lossless tier of Apple Music at no extra cost, which left Spotify in a bit of a pickle. That said, despite these “delays,” it’s expected that Spotify will actually roll out its lossless tier this year. The question is: how much will it cost and what other features (maybe Dolby Atmos) will come with this premium plan?
19. TomTom
So far, the record of self-driving cars has not exactly been… confidence inspiring. But what if humans and machines could work together to be better drivers? That’s TomTom’s hope.
Together with Microsoft, the Dutch navigation brand aims to turn your car into the best shotgun passenger ever.
The Dutch brand, which launched route-planning software for mobile devices nearly 30 years ago, has teamed up with Microsoft to incorporate conversational OpenAI models into a fully integrated driving assistant. The tech promises to enable motorists to “naturally” chat their way through navigation, climate control, changing music and more complex, interactive tasks. Time will tell if it holds a candle to TomTom’s own reference point: Knight Rider’s KITT.
20. Tree House
The much-loved Massachusetts brewery Tree House expanded from brewing to distilling a couple years ago, and the brand’s offerings are now some of the more interesting spirits available. Led by innovative head distiller John Britton, the distillery highlights the best of the region’s agriculture and the brewery’s uncompromising mashing processes.
What happens when a wildly popular brewery opens an imaginative distillery? Magic.
The brand has produced seasonal vintages of native fruit brandy, a vodka made with kudzu, a complex Jamaican-style rum, and a kola liqueur made with a custom-malted mash of roasted and chocolate malts, among other things. And, for those who are patient: look for an agricole sorghum whiskey in the near future.
21. Tudor
Tudor has been on a continuous upward trajectory ever since it re-entered the U.S. market in 2013. Stepping more and more out of sister brand Rolex’s shadow each year, Tudor may take its biggest leap into the spotlight yet in 2024 after moving into a new state-of-the-art facility in Le Locle last year.
Rolex’s sister brand is making moves with a new manufacture and a big American expansion.
It’s also launching a big US expansion, with new boutiques and an expanded retailer network on the way. Finally, Tudor’s partner Red Bull Racing is competing in the America’s Cup, which likely means more fun and surprising watches like last year’s carbon fiber Pelagos FXD Chrono.
22. Universal Genève
If you ask vintage watch enthusiasts what lost brand they’d most like to see resurrected, most would say Universal Genève. Now, thanks to Breitling, the greatest casualty of the Quartz Crisis is being rectified.
The greatest lost vintage watch brand is finally making a comeback.
We won’t see any new UG models in 2024 — Breitling is estimating about two years before that milestone — but we should gain some insight into what we can expect from the rebirth, such as whether we’ll see modern reissues of Universal Genève models or movements. 2024 is also the 70th anniversary of UG’s best-known watch, the Polerouter, and Breitling may announce a new version — something the brand has already hinted at.
23. William Ellery
If you’re into small, cool outdoor brands you may have heard of William Ellery before now; but odds are the name is still unfamiliar — for now. Based in NYC, William Ellery’s aesthetic is unmatched, and its offering curated — think vintage camping meets Americana meets Wes Anderson.
This up-and-coming outdoor brand is equal parts style and substance.
Shopping the brand’s site or checking out its Instagram feels more akin to reading your favorite book or building a fort than it does e-commerce, and the brand is a representation of the thoughtful, unique, semi-custom movement we’re seeing return to the outdoors.
24. Wyoming Whiskey
Founded in 2006, Wyoming Whiskey is primed for a 2024 leap. Why else would Glasgow-based spirits giant Edrington Group (The Macallan, Highland Park) make its recent move for a majority share?
With a new majority owner, the craft distiller hopes to boost its national reach without surrendering its local flavor.
“The significant change lies in the enhanced resources provided by Edrington, including expert whiskey-making know-how and expanded distribution,” says co-founder David DeFazio. “This collaboration furthers our shared vision of crafting a whiskey that truly embodies the spirit of Wyoming.” Look forward to its ninth-annual Wyoming-only release, National Parks No. 4 (plus related philanthropic efforts) and more rich, distinct flavors you can’t find in Kentucky later this year.