Since launching in 2020, actor Mark Wahlberg’s athletic fashion brand Municipal has grown to be a player in the industry thanks in part to consistent category expansions, product launches and major partnerships.
Municipal, which was cofounded by chief executive officer Harry Arnett and producer Stephen Levinson, experienced significant expansion in 2023 that included opening its first retail store in New York City’s Hudson Yards; releasing its first sneaker, called Origin, and partnering with NFL athlete Myles Garrett.
This growth is continuing in 2024, with the brand entering the beauty world with a line of grooming products, expanding its footwear category with new sneakers and slides and opening a flagship store in southern California.
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“Our mantra is ‘dream, plan, hustle, repeat,’ — have a big dream, put a plan behind it, be purposeful and hustle,” Arnett said. “That’s the part that is really gratifying for us — we’re living the mantra. We’re going up against some very established, scaled incumbents. We’re doing it in a mindful way and a way that I hope people are liking how we’re building this brand. And so far, so good. The growth has been phenomenal.”
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Although the brand is in expansion mode, the cofounders declined to comment on sales growth.
The cofounders weren’t shy to discuss their 2024 launches after experiencing success with their Origin sneaker launch last fall. The shoe was in production for roughly two-and-a-half years, they said, and is designed with a proprietary comfort technology that blends aspects of athletic footwear with luxury designs.
Wahlberg said the launch was special for him personally, as he’s had a lifelong obsession with sneakers.
“To be able to have a shoe that really embodied the most important elements — something that looked cool, was super comfortable, but also something I could do many different things in — I always had one [shoe] for each specific thing,” Wahlberg said. “You have a shoe that looked cool, but you could only wear it for so long until it really started hurting your feet way more than a shoe was supposed to. Or, something that you could work out in and actually perform in athletically, but you wouldn’t want to be seen in. So, that was the most important thing to me. When you’re younger you’ll sacrifice comfort and functionality for cool, but I think at my age, you really want to have everything. I don’t think there was a shoe out there that really captured that.”
Municipal is leveraging its proprietary comfort technology, called M.Float, to expand its footwear collection this year. In March, the brand will launch its first slide style, which comes in several colorways. In the fall, Municipal will debut a line extension for the Origin sneakers as well as launch an all-terrain running shoe.
“We wanted to launch with just the one [sneaker], which was the Origin, so the people would see that we’re serious,” Arnett said. “We’re not just throwing a fashion shoe out there. The other thing that was important to us is we didn’t just want to collaborate our way into the space, which you see a lot of young brands doing — where they partner with someone bigger, do it in a colorway that doesn’t exist, a limited run, call it a day and move on. We want to be serious players in this category because we feel like we have a point of view that matters and we feel like we have the ability to deliver real technology and real quality in a product that’s going to be highly innovative and create a lot of consumer value.”
Municipal’s grooming launch is scheduled for this summer. The brand will introduce a range of products that includes shaving cream, after shave, moisturizer, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and hand lotion. The founders explained the category expansion is a natural next step for the brand to offer a full lifestyle experience to its customers.
“Self care is something that a lot of people don’t put emphasis on — certainly as you get older,” Wahlberg said. “For me, learning more throughout the process of creating these products, I want to share that with every man — putting a little bit more effort into self care.”
On the heels of its sneaker launch last fall, Municipal also made its first foray into retail with a 1,500-square-foot Hudson Yards store, which Arnett said is “doing phenomenally well.” Municipal is continuing that momentum with a larger, 6,000-square-foot flagship opening this summer in San Diego that Arnett said will offer a more immersive experience. Municipal also has a direct-to-consumer business and a retail partnership with sporting goods retailer Scheels, which launched last year.
“From those early stages when we were trying to prove out the concept to now, the business has really exploded,” Arnett said. “So, why it’s really humbling is when you have an idea that you think is going to be well accepted, you don’t really know until you launch it. We’re now both hands on the steering wheel going a million miles an hour.”
One of the reasons Arnett thinks Municipal resonates with customers is because of Wahlberg’s close ties with the brand, especially in a market with many celebrity-founded brands.
“We’re not another celebrity brand attaching a celebrity to it,” he said. “Mark was intimately involved from day minus 300. This was something that Mark has been ruminating and wanting to do for such a long time in a direct way, not just lending his name to something. Having the ability to help steer the business and the products in ways that we think are going to be really cool and exciting for people — that recipe has really worked.”
The cofounders also believe their approach of blending luxury and athletic elements has struck a chord for customers and allows many to access a type of product that may not have been accessible to them before because of the price point. The majority of Municipal’s products retail for under $100 and its Origin sneaker is priced at $180.
Through the brand’s 2024 growth plans, Municipal plans to stay true to its mission and its mantra while delivering products they believe are high quality and are infused with Wahlberg’s values and ethos.
“Everything we do is super aspirational,” Wahlberg said. “Encouraging people that despite where they come from, where they started, that there’s nothing they can’t accomplish if they’re willing to put in the work. A lot of that mirrors the people that we’ve aligned with, whether it be Myles [Garrett] and all of the people who have really worked their way to the highest levels in their business or sports. For us, we just want to keep inspiring people and encouraging people that there are other levels of this and everything that you do, you just have to put in the work.”