Here’s An Explanation On Stanley Cups, Their Growing Popularity, And Why Everyone Loves Them So Much

Stanley Cups are blowing up right now — and no, we’re not talking about the Stanley Cup. Though, that would make slightly more sense. We’re talking about those big 40 oz. tumblers that keep your beverages cool or warm. People are lining up outside of Target in the middle of the night to get their hands on the latest drop, people are flipping Stanley Cups on the aftermarket for grossly inflated prices, and grown-ass adults are getting into fights over limited edition colors and collaborations. We haven’t seen a trend like this since — well, I guess sneakerheads are just as bad as Stanley Cupheads? And don’t even get us started on allocated whiskey release days at liquor stores. What are we calling this community? Stanley Cupheads? Stanley Stans? We like Stanley Stans.

Anyway, an ultra-hyped hydration flask isn’t anything new, we’ve all known someone who has gone through a Nalgene or Yeti phase or can’t go anywhere without their portable tumbler. But we haven’t seen fandom this rabid (and seemingly instant) before, so what’s behind it? We’re here to break it all down for you.

What Is A Stanley Cup?

The Stanley Cup is a double-wall vacuum-insulated tumbler. It comes in all sorts of sizes, form factors, and colorways, but the one that is trending is specifically the Stanley Quencher H2.0 FlowState — the big 40-ouncer. They retail for about $45-$50 but certain collaborations and colorways are made in limited quantities and can resell on aftermarket sites like StockX and eBay for as high as $250.

That’s a lot for a tumbler.

How Did The Hype Start?

The Stanley Cup phenomenon is aimed squarely at Zoomer and Millenial women in the lifestyle space. The hype first began on the e-commerce platform, The Buy Guide, a site started by three women (think of TBG as a sort of curated version of Amazon). According to TBG, the Stanley Cup was one of the first products it sold as the owners of the site were all fans, and through word of mouth, the product was a hit. This was all unbeknownst to the Stanley brand, who discontinued the cup in 2019. As TBG began to grow, it eventually sent one of its remaining Stanley Cups to The Bachelor star Emily Maynard Johnson, who then posted the cup to Instagram. Someone at Stanley saw the popularity and linked up with TBG to wholesale 10,000 Quenchers. According to Retail Dive, The Buy Guide — which has a userbase that is 97.7% of women — sold 5,000 cups in four days. After the hype started to snowball, the remaining 5,000 were gone in an hour.

After Stanley saw how big the cups were becoming amongst women in the 25-35 demographic, the brand started actively marketing towards them. That marketing push led to the brand linking up with TikTok and Instagram influencers, and stars like Lainey Wilson for limited-run collaborations and now the Quencher is the hottest hydration flask. You’d assume one durable hydro-flask would be enough for people. But because this is a collector’s item now, people who are into Stanley Cups often buy multiple tumblers.

How Big Is The Fandom?

Big, and you can see it all over social media.

This TikTok, which as of this article being published has been viewed over 19 million times, alleges that a shelf of limited edition Quenchers from Target sold out in four minutes. The customers attack the shelf like a pack of hyenas on the savanna and it’s a mix of men, women, and children. It seems the Stanley Cup hype has gone fully mainstream at this point.

Another TikTok, posted just yesterday that has already been viewed 3.2 million times, shows a family arriving at Target and lining up outside around 3:00 am to score a cup. The Target in question was only holding 40 cups in total and selling one per family.

You may have seen this wholesome video that went viral over the Christmas weekend that shows a young girl receiving a pink Stanley Cup for Christmas and breaking down into tears. It’s adorable but just for a second imagine how you would’ve reacted if when you were a child someone gave you a thermos for Christmas. A thermos is the sort of gift your aunt’s weird boyfriend gives you. I know, because I received one this Christmas (it wasn’t a Stanley) followed by these words, “You drink water, right? You can take this with you and put your water in it.” Yes, Tom, I know how a thermos works.

Part of the reason the Stanley Cup fandom is so big is because it intersects with another big fandom — Starbucks drinkers. Starbucks is one of Stanley’s most frequent collaborators. Couple that with people who follow lifestyle influencers, Target shoppers (where most of the drops happen), and Bachelor fans, and you have a full-blown cultural sensation. The Stanley trend is here to stay until, of course, people move on to something else.