Corporate-forced trend. New Stanley executive is the former Crocs CEO, who found out you can manufacture a trend with limited editions/FOMO marketing, paying off influencers, and making people feel kitsch for buying objectively ugly products.
Well, you have to be a really good hockey team to win one…
They’re decent to high quality insulated cups that are made popular by a cycle of induced scarcity. The CEO imported Sneaker Culture, producing only limited supplies and limiting releases of sponsored partnership-products, so that the fact that they can be hard to find makes more people feel like it’s important to try to find and buy them.
It’s simple; people are stupid.
It’s been the top prize for North American ice hockey teams since the 19th century.