How Bombas Engages Active Consumers Through Strava

Founded in 2013, Bombas is a comfort-focused apparel brand that quickly gained recognition for its high-quality socks, slippers, underwear, and T-shirts. With a mission to give back, the company operates on a ‘One Purchased = One Donated’ model, donating an item to those facing housing insecurity for every purchase made. To date, Bombas has donated over 150 million items, establishing a unique identity in the competitive apparel market.

To understand how Bombas attracts new customers and drives sales, we spoke with Michael McTighe, Director of Acquisition, and Colleen Powers, Manager of Affiliate Marketing. They shared insights on how Bombas uses affiliate partnerships in their marketing strategy, and how Strava plays a key role in their growth.

In this case, in May 2024, Bombas launched the Bombas Spring Movement Challenge, encouraging participants to log 200 minutes of activity in two weeks, whether running, skiing, golfing, or more. Completing the Challenge earned participants a digital badge along with a 25% discount on Bombas' performance socks.

Michael explains, “We thought the Challenge would be a good opportunity to push our performance sock collection. This campaign made sense for us because it tapped into new audiences while focusing on a product we were doubling down on.”

The campaign proved successful, drawing over 116,000 participants, with 97% of those who engaged in the Challenge purchasing from the promoted collection. This marked a huge success for Bombas, both in terms of engagement and conversions. Michael adds, “The Strava challenge allowed us to reach active consumers who align with our target audience. The ability to track engagement and directly measure sales impact made this an incredibly valuable partnership.”

Affiliate partnerships in Bombas’ marketing strategy

Affiliate partnerships have become a key driver of the brand’s marketing strategy and growth. Michael explains, “Over the past year, we have continued to scale our affiliate program, and it’s now a huge opportunity. We began thinking about partners who could help introduce people to our brand, drive conversions, and help expand into audiences we're not reaching.”

This led Bombas to Strava, with its unique position as a fitness-focused social platform. “Strava crosses multiple channels for us,” Michael says. “It’s an ideal way for us to expand into a highly engaged audience while simultaneously delivering strong performance.”

Bombas sees Strava’s fitness-driven community as an excellent fit for their brand. “It just seems like a symbiotic relationship,” Colleen adds, recognizing the platform's alignment with Bombas’ activewear products.

To tap into this engaged and active community and boost brand awareness, as well as drive conversion, Bombas used Strava’s Sponsored Challenges. These Challenges encourage users to engage in fitness activities like running or cycling, unlocking brand rewards.

Future focus

Looking ahead, Bombas sees more opportunities with Strava. Colleen explains that “there’s been a strong push for affiliate partnerships over the past few years. That’s what got us really excited about working with Strava. We can get creative with tracking, and there's more flexibility when it comes to testing.”

Beyond Challenges, Bombas is also exploring its Strava Club, an evergreen page that could integrate other teams, like Brand or PR. “We’re having great success on the acquisition performance side running the Challenges,” Colleen says, “But in terms of expansion, we see opportunities with the Bombas Club on Strava as an always-on lever.”

Bombas’ collaboration with Strava shows how smart partnerships, tailored campaigns, and data-driven insights can create powerful results in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing. As they continue to engage active consumers, the brand remains committed to leveraging new and innovative ways to expand their reach, drive growth, and keep giving back through their ‘One Purchased = One Donated’ model.