🪞 “Mirror, no Mirror?” — Aritzia’s mirrorless fashion. Nobel’s Creative Destruction prize. Strava’s Garmin lawsuit. +Failure Day

0:28This is Nick. Their dressing rooms have zero mirrors. For our second story, Strava just announced it's interviewing banks for its IPO. But first, it is suing Garmin. I'm sorry, Jack. Two fitness tracking companies in a lawsuit. That's a cardio clash in the courtroom, baby. And our third and final story is the Nobel Prize in Economics. It just got awarded to three professors for their work on creative destruction. Ah, creative destruction. It sounds scary, but it's the reason your income is 100 times more than your great-great-granddaddy's. But yet is before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.

1:04Like we said, love the mix for T-Boy Tuesday, Jack. Today's pod is actually the worst one yet. Bessie, this ain't a T-Boy, it's a T-Way. Because today is the International Day of Failure. Yes, it is. True story. A full 24 hours focused on failing. In Finland, Failure Day, it's a national holiday. The Finns celebrate a whole day of doing the wrong thing. But here, it's just a podcast intro. Yes, it is. Our government doesn't recognize Failure Day. Yes. Lloyd Brotman, a listener to the show, first told us about this wonderful Finnish tradition years ago. Now it is an annual T-boy tradition. And we recently interviewed the founder of Waymo, who told us that failure is the fuel of success.

1:47Failure is the fuel for future success. So we commend the Finns for encouraging opening up about failure, not just success. Because for every fundraise, there were also 100 fundraise fails. So Yetis, if a chatbot stole your big idea today. Yeah, that's fine. If you sold your NVIDIA stock back in 2019. Don't worry about it. It's cool. If you were the one who redesigned the Cracker Barrel logo. Oh, don't worry. All is forgiven today. In fact, Nick and I made the biggest Failure Day fail of all. Yeah. Because International Failure Day isn't today. It was actually yesterday. That's right. We forgot about Failure Day.

2:25Which is the ultimate way to honor this holiday. So besties, a happy Failure Day to all those who celebrate. And especially to all those who, like us, forgot to celebrate. Celebrate the wins by celebrating the losses. And now, Jack, let's hit our five stories. You mean three stories. Exactly. Let's hit it. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast

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4:51For our first story, the fastest growing apparel retailer in America, it's Canadian and it's Aritzia. Aritzia, the women's clothing brand, is adding 200 stores across this country, but none of them will have mirrors. More on that in a sec. But in the meantime, Jack, can we go full Anna Wintour on the prediction here and say British Columbia, Canada, fashion capital of the world, eh? Milan, never heard of you. British Columbia, Vancouver specifically, has Lululemon, Arcteric, and Aritzia. All in Vancouver, Yeti's Aritzia. It is like Anthropologie and Tory Burch had a retail baby. It's Gen Z's baby female J.Crew.

5:38Yes, it is. Ambitious women's workwear and ambitious women's workout wear. That's what you get at Aritzia. Aritzia is actually 41 years old, but they are blossoming right now. Let's talk numbers, Jack. Store count up 25 % in the last year. Sales up 34 % in the last quarter. Profits more than tripled in just the past three months. Now, Aritzia is a publicly traded company worth$10 billion on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which translates to$7 billion in US dollars. Jack, could you sprinkle on some fashion context for us, please? Aritzia is twice as valuable as Abercrombie Fitch or American Eagle.

6:15And it's the same valuation as Levi's and The Gap. It's twice as valuable as the Maple Leafs. Yeah, those Maple Leafs. If you grabbed a Starbucks double-digit latte with your Kate Spade clutch under your arm on the way to a TEDx talk— Yeah, TED is based in Vancouver, too. Yeah, Jack? Then you were probably wearing Aritzia's effortless pants that you bought for$148. And we know because the Wall Street Journal did an entire article on those specific pants. So, Yetis, Nick and I are really going to flex this liberal arts degree right now. After oil, hockey players, and Justin Bieber, Aritzia is Canada's greatest export.

6:51Get this, the stock of Aritzia, it's up 70 % this year. So, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. And Jack, what are the variety of strategies Aritzia is pulling this off with? The first is that Aritzia is a house of brands. Interestingly, Yetis, Aritzia gives you a false sense of variety. What do we mean by this, man? They're filled with different brands that you can browse through, but they're all owned by Aritzia. For example, Babaton is Aritzia's workwear label. TNA is their sportswear label. And Wilfred is their romantic dress label. They all look different. They all have their own styles, but they're all owned and designed by Aritzia.

7:27Jack, would you say that's why they're a profit puppy? Are you going to push the button? I'm already heading, man. But the bigger strategy that caught our attention is more controversial. Yeah. The mirror strategy. Or should we say the lack of mirrors, right? Because Aritzia has no mirrors in the dressing rooms. Yeah. Just four blank walls in there. For example, if you're trying to try on that Babbitin satin blouse, what's going to happen when you go in the dressing room, Jack? You have to hold your arm way out there for a selfie or step outside and ask an associate how you look. That's exactly the goal of this strategy by Aritzia.

8:01Yeah. Aritzia wants you to come out of the dressing room and show off what you're wearing. Maybe have a conversation with a stylist or with the other shoppers and get their opinion. Now, yes, we know in some Aritzia stores, they have one communal mirror that you can go and look at yourself at. But still, if you go and look at yourself, you're coming out and turning it into a communal experience. Now, we also should point out that a lot of people hate the zero mirror policy. I checked Aritzia on Reddit. All I'm seeing is hate for the lack of mirrors in the dressing rooms. Oh, but clearly that hate is coming from the loud minority, giving the sales a boom over at Aritzia.

8:36So Aritzia says it's about how you feel, not how you look. That's why there's no mirrors. And now they're planning to add 200 more stores across the U.S. on top of the 70 they already got here. They're going to order a bunch of paint, bunch of fabric, but no mirrors. Not a single mirror. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Aritzia. The red sock rule of fashion applies to all businesses. Now, Yetis, little pro tip here from Jack and I, a couple of fashionistas. There is a rule in men's fashion known as the red sock rule. When we worked in banks, it was hard to differentiate how we looked.

9:12Everyone was wearing a suit and tie, but you can differentiate your wardrobe as a man with one standout item, often colored socks. A red sock can be divisive, but for better or worse, it's how you stand out in that world of black suits. And it's the same in business. We think it's worth having one standout differentiator that no one else has. Even if it's hard to legally protect that differentiator, like Robinhood, they were the only trading app for a while that celebrated the trade with confetti. Southwest was the only airline that would not do seat assignments. Chick-fil-A, the only fast food chain not open on Sundays.

9:45Equinox, the only gym without clocks. And Zoolander, The only male model who couldn't turn left. And for Aritzia, it's the mirrorless dressing room. Something completely unique just to them that's talked about and remembered, whether good or bad. The Red Sox rule of fashion, and it applies to all businesses. For our second story, Strava, the running app. They are gearing up for an IPO. You know how we know? They told the Financial Times. We also know because they're lawyering up. Strava just sued Garmin earlier this month in the biggest cardio clash of all time. Oh, you're going to hydrate for this one.

10:25Yeah, it is. The last time we covered Strava, the running app had started looking kind of like a dating app, right, Jack? People would be like, kudos on that hill climb. I could be your next challenge. But the real boom for Strava is as a fitness tracker. The pandemic was a big boost to Strava. Okay, but this year, Jack, Look, Strava's usage has accelerated like a young Carl Lewis. Can we talk numbers here, please? 2025 is their best year for growth yet. They have 13 million new monthly users, bringing the total to 50 million. Bestie Strava founded in 2009, but 15 years in, they are just hitting their growth stride.

11:02And why is this the moment for Strava? Because fitness is booming more than ever, especially among Gen Z, who prefers a PR to a PBR. Get this, a record 1.1 million people applied for the 2026 London Marathon. That's up 31 % from last year. And probably all of those marathoners are paid Strava users. And now the CEO told the Financial Times that they're talking to banks about an IPO. A$2.2 billion valuation. Strava's next challenge, it's an initial public offering. Limber up, eat some pasta. Mm-hmm. Because we're going to New York. You're going to stretch the hammies for when you ring the bell.

11:37But hold the horses for a second, Jack. And first, can we talk about the lawsuit, man? Tell me you're gearing up for an IPO without telling me you're gearing up for an IPO. Vesties, if you had brunch this weekend with a couple of buddies in a run club, yeah, this lawsuit was the topic. Because earlier this month, Strava sued Garmin. Garmin, the longtime friend of Strava, has become a frenemy. You see, here's the deal. Strava claims that they invented the heat map back in 2014. The heat map, which shows what are the most popular routes that I should probably check out next. Strava says that Garmin stole that idea, but Garmin, MapMyRun, and even the New York Times, they've all used heat maps before 2014.

12:19So Strava's patent infringement claim in this lawsuit is unlikely to stand up in court. So I gotta ask Jack, what is this Strava-Garmin drama really about? It's about the fact that Garmin has switched from friend to Strava to frenemy of Strava. You see, Yetis, for over a decade, serious runners and cyclists used Garmin's watches or other devices to track their runs. You would sync your Garmin running data to Strava after you get back online so you can brag, I mean post, about your epic hill climb. No big deal. I did a reservoir run 12 times in a row. Get this. More than half of Strava's paid users track all of their runs on their Garmin devices.

12:59Jack, that is a critical, overlapping customer base, man. It's been kumbaya for 10 or 15 years. They've both been rising at the same time. But now, instead of helping Strava, Garmin is starting to hurt it. Yes, it is. With Garmin Connect, a direct competitor to the Strava app. In fact, get this, according to third-party data, Garmin Connect now has 50 % as many monthly active users as Strava does. So it used to be kumbaya, now it's Strava versus Garmin, both fighting for the same fitness freaks. And that is why Strava is using a lawsuit to slow down their new competition. Basically like throwing thumbtacks behind you in the middle of a race.

13:38I was going to say banana jack, but let's go with thumbtacks. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are runners looking at this wild tech drama? It's Strava's social network versus Garmin's satellite network. Now Yetis, this is a risky lawsuit by Strava. You see, they're messing with a company beloved by their customer base. Runners on TikTok hearing about this lawsuit, they're like, have you seen the news that mom and dad are fighting? Yeah, this isn't fun, but Garmin is threatening to cut out Strava now and take the whole runner relationship. So Strava, based in San Francisco, they've got a great social network focused on fitness.

14:16Yes, they do. Garmin, based in Kansas, has a literal satellite network helping fitness freaks navigate. Yes, they do. So Jack, who will win and what can we learn about this for any other drama conflict like it? The courts will decide the case, but customers will ultimately decide the winner. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Walmart Business. Yetis, we cover business trends on our show, and they move faster than you can spell GPU. One minute, it's vibe coding. The next, it's agentic. Tomorrow, it's probably going to be in-person old school again. Yeah, well, while you're managing this to stay ahead, the last thing you need to worry about is supplies for your company.

14:56Carol, do we have the cogs needed to meet our Q1 sales commitments? Carol outsourced that mental load instead to Walmart Business. Walmart Business lets you buy the bulk supplies your business needs. AI tools are there for your digital work. Walmart Business is there for your physical work. Like restock your office inventory with low prices, reliable shipping, and fulfillment. Walmart Business helps simplify your operations so you can focus on building and selling your product. You see Carol in accounting? She'll be relieved that Walmart Business is all over it. Eligible organizations can take advantage of tax-free shopping, both in-store and online with Walmart Business, saving you more while getting you everything you need.

15:32It's Walmart built for your business. Sign up for a free Walmart business account today at business.walmart.com. Bureau Premium Non-Alcoholic Beer. All right, yeah, he's a little behind the scenes here. Before our New York City live show back in April, Jack and I went sober for two weeks. True story. Couldn't risk getting sick. I didn't want to be groggy. I couldn't afford a hangover. It was New York, baby. Okay, but Jack, celebrating the wins is what we do. And so for our live shows, we crack open something special. So we drank Biro, the premium non-alcoholic beer brand co-founded by Tom Holland.

16:06Yeah, I actually first saw it at my grocery store. Delicious tastes like a celebration, feels fantastic, and looks legit. More on the looks in a sec. And if it's good enough for the actor who played Spider-Man, it's good enough for us. You see, it pairs well with a pickleball game, a profitable earnings report, or with the best podcast. So, Yetis, if you want to celebrate the wins with all the taste of a premium lager or IPA, but none of the alcohol, there's no better choice than Bureau. Okay, pause the pod. Did we mention the can is straight up gold? This thing will stand out at every one of your next parties.

16:37Trust us, we've done it. Only beer we know that actually upgrades the scene like a promotion. So, Bastis, if there's a win you're celebrating every day, Bureau is the non-alcoholic brew brand you got to bring. So use code T-Boy for 20 % off your first order at BureauBrewing.com. For our third and final story, the Nobel Prize awarded to this, but no, not this podcast, but to three economists who sing the gospel of creative destruction. Jack, what is creative destruction? Well, the takeaway is that you can't take innovation for granted. Yeah, that's right. But Yetis, let's start with some historical context.

17:16For most of humankind's history, living standards didn't really change from one generation to the next, right, Jack? From King Tut to Leonardo da Vinci, it was pretty much the same way to live. Like, you did some farming, you tried to find some food, and you tried to survive, frankly. Inventing the wheel, harnessing fire, those were like the iPhones of a couple millennium. Those were nice one-off inventions, but economic progress was still pretty much flat for an entire millennium, until the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution, which led to a never-ending cycle of innovation and progress.

17:49Hello, locomotive! The result? The last 200 years, we've had incredible quality of life improvements. We've had longer lives to live, and we'd have way more leisure time, which has been great for, like, the arts. Now, you may look back fondly on the 1950s, by chance, but Laundry Day in the 1950s was an all-day event. So you'd be giving up a lot of innovations and quality of life improvements. So this year's Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to three men who are split in the 11 million Swedish kroner prize of$1.2 million. Yoel Moker got half of the award and Philip Aguillon and Peter Howitt split the other half.

18:29So it was basically a fractional Nobel Prize. Because this trio brought a scientific framework to understand innovation. More importantly, they're making sure it doesn't stop. And the key buzzword that these guys figured out is creative destruction. Okay, but Jack, first, these professors want to stress how good we actually have it today, right? Because for the last couple hundred years, actually, the economy, the stock market, real estate, growth in those economic markets has been as reliable as gravity. I mean, just look at the charts you grew up with. Everything was arrows up and to the right with a couple of hockey sticks in there.

19:06But there was a time that that wasn't the case at all. In fact, these economists look at data from 1300 to 1700. In that 400-year stretch, there was no economic growth. Like zero. Like, yeah, okay, Gutenberg gave us the printing press, which was cool. That was cool. But like, that was it. It was cool. But people's quality of lives did not improve from inventions during that 400-year stretch. But then, starting in Great Britain with the birth of the Industrial Revolution, we get the steam engine. which enabled transportation that drove people and commerce and ideas across the country and the world, which led to light bulbs, telephones, and cars, which led to airplanes, computers, and the internet, which led to biomedicine, robotics, and now artificial intelligence.

19:50An absolute explosion in innovation, technology, and inventions. And here is the key variable. It was one innovation building on the last innovation. And that resulted in a never-ending cycle of innovation and progress for us all. The result? Everyone's living longer and better, albeit with big inequality. These professors don't want us to forget why growth is the new normal in our economies. And their term for this is creative destruction. Yes, climate change is a problem and AI could be different, but they urge us not to take innovation for granted if we want economic growth to continue. But still, besties, Jack and I got more curious about creative destruction, so we whipped up this takeaway.

20:34Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who just won the Nobel Prize? If a society is not willing to destroy, it will never create or innovate. Now, yes, while the economic growth in the world has been stable for 200 years, the economy itself has been the opposite. Because every couple decades, our economy completely transforms, it seems, with new winners replacing the old winners. And that is creative destruction. It is the driving heart of sustained economic growth. For example, a massive horse industry getting replaced by Honda car production? That's creative destruction. Oh, Jack, what about this?

21:12A massive pile of DVD players in your living room getting replaced by digital streaming? That is creative destruction. And when hordes of Hondas eventually become worthless because of self-driving cars, that will be creative destruction too. Now, Jack, what I found particularly interesting was how the Enlightenment era was a crucial part of this era of innovative growth that we've been in. Never thought about it before, but the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution happened at the same time. Not a coincidence. With the Enlightenment, societies were more open to change and saw the benefits and quality of life from innovations.

21:45Now, the economists also cautioned that policy must have safety nets for the short-term losers of innovation. Yeah, you also need policy to prevent monopolies and encourage freedom of trade and thought to still happen. But unless a society is willing to destroy what's already there, it will never create or innovate. It's creative destruction, and it just won the Nobel Prize. Actually, three fractional Nobel Prizes. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? day. Canada's Aritzia plans to open 200 new locations in the U.S. with no mirrors. No mirrors is their bright red socks, and any business can have their own version of the red socks rule.

22:27For our second story, Strava is growing faster than ever and prepping to IPO. But first, they're suing Garmin. It's Strava's social network versus Garmin's satellite network. And our third and final story, three economists just won the Nobel Prize for their work on creative destruction. Sounds scary, but here's the deal. If a society is not willing to destroy what's already there, it'll never innovate. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, stocks rose huge on Monday and a rebound that honestly, we actually could all kind of expect it. Because on Friday, stocks fell 2.7%, the fourth biggest loss of 2025.

23:05Now that drop was on news of a major escalation in the trade war, a new 100 % tariff on Chinese goods. But then on Sunday, the president downplayed that tariff threat he made two days earlier and implied that the relationship with China would be just fine. And second, President Trump declared yesterday that the war is over in his address to Israel's parliament. Because the remaining 20 hostages were released by Hamas and returned to Israel on Monday. Now, Israel will release 1 ,700 Palestinians who were detained by the IDF in Gaza after October 7th. And the president extended his Mideast victory trip to Egypt for a signing ceremony yesterday.

23:44And finally, Lego's hottest new toy may be their kindest. It's an MRI scanner that helps kids at the hospital. Lego knows that kids get nervous if they have to do an MRI. So Lego built an MRR machine as a toy Lego set. And new research from Lego shows that 96 % of healthcare professionals said that these Lego MRI machines help reduce children's anxiety before they have to enter the scanners themselves. You play with it first, it's less scary when you see it in person. Now time for the best fact yet, this one an answer to our T-boy trivia. Yesterday we asked you about bug bounties. When a tech company pays you if you find a flaw in their code.

24:29Specifically, Jack and I asked about Apple's bug bounty. How much will Apple pay you? You left some comments, some of you wagered a million dollars. The highest guess was$2 million. Okay, but Jack, the answer to Apple's bug bounty prize, they'll pay you up to$5 million if you find a bug in one of their products. We repeat, Apple will give you a 5 million bucks for a bug. Not a typo. Up to 5 million. Yeah. If you find like a T that should be a P that doesn't count, you're not going to get 5 million bucks for that. And I got to say, the whole idea of bug bounties is amazing ROI. Yes. Like I'd so much rather give$5 million to a friendly hacking 13 year old in a basement in California, then be vulnerable for like$500 million of damages to an unfriendly hacker in North Korea.

25:12The bug bounty, big techs, big ROI. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And the best thing you can do is drop down and not give us one star, even though it's National Failure Day. Give us five stars to grow the pot. This is where you don't want to fail at something. We'd prefer five star ratings and reviews. That would be a joke Nick and I don't find ironic. That would not be a fun one for us over here. So enjoy National Failure Day. Fail at something today, but don't fail at a five-star review. And Jack and I will see you Wednesday.

25:47And a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Vivian Pham from San Ramon, who's feeling it today because they're the best anesthesiologist out there, baby. And happy birthday to Ana Ocean in Abuja, Nigeria, who also just launched a newsletter on AI. There you go on a happy birthday. And Travis Schrow is celebrating the birthday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Congratulations, Travis. And happy four-year anniversary to Julian and Anoushe in Zurich, Switzerland. Four years ago, they met at work in advertising. And just a second shout out to Dave Law and his fiance, Alexis, who ended up sending us the pictures from their engagement on Yosemite that we asked for on the pod.

26:23Those are the most wild landscape photography. Amazing day. I don't know how you even do a wedding after that. The engagement took the show. Congrats, guys. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Robinhood, and I own stock in Reddit. Walmart business. Yetis, we cover business trends on our show, and they move faster than you can spell GPU. One minute it's vibe coding, the next it's agentic. Tomorrow it's probably gonna be in-person old school again. Yeah, well, while you're managing this to stay ahead, the last thing you need to worry about is supplies for your company. Carol, do we have the cogs needed to meet our Q1 sales commitments?

26:59Carol! Outsource that mental load instead to Walmart Business. Walmart Business lets you buy the bulk supplies your business needs. AI tools are there for your digital work. Walmart Business is there for your physical work. Like restock your office inventory with low prices, reliable shipping, and fulfillment. Walmart Business helps simplify your operations so you can focus on building and selling your product. You see Carol in accounting? She'll be relieved that Walmart Business is all over it. Eligible organizations can take advantage of tax-free shopping, both in-store and online with Walmart Business, saving you more while getting you everything you need.

27:33It's Walmart built for your business. Sign up for a free Walmart business account today at business.walmart.com.