Hankook Tyre Strengthens Lifestyle Branding with Sneakers and Outdoor Gear
Hankook Tire is expanding its brand presence beyond tyres by collaborating on lifestyle products, including sneakers, camping chairs, and art-gaming projects. The company’s latest move reflects its ambition to engage younger audiences and elevate the tyre brand into broader lifestyle territory. Chosunbiz
The Korean tyre maker has partnered with fashion labels, outdoor brands, and gaming creators to co-create limited-edition items that showcase Hankook’s design ethos and engineering DNA. These collaborations aim to build brand affinity, especially among consumers who value authenticity, performance, and street culture rather than just automotive utility. The campaign also positions Hankook as a mobility-lifestyle brand rather than just a tyre supplier.
Hankook’s strategy signals a recognition that in saturated markets, differentiation comes not only from product performance but from brand experiences. By aligning with sneakers and outdoor gear, the company taps into adjacent cultures, outdoor adventure, esports, and fashion-tech that attract emission-free mobility fans, adventure riders, and active lifestyles. For the tyre industry, this suggests that manufacturers may increasingly adopt brand-expansion strategies, leveraging sub-brands, lifestyle collections, and culture-driven marketing to reinforce relevance in shifting mobility ecosystems.
Editor’s View
Hankook’s move into sneakers and outdoor gear highlights how tyre brands are increasingly thinking like lifestyle companies. This shift matters for the tyre industry because brand perception influences aftermarket sales, premium segment positioning, and consumer loyalty. As tyre makers look to compete on more than just rubber and tread depth, lifestyle partnerships offer a way to build emotional connection and extend brand reach.
For tyre distributors and OEM supply partners in India, watching this trend may uncover new marketing pathways, think tyre-branded apparel, loyalty merchandise, or outdoor-mobility tie-ups. The “tyre brand as lifestyle brand” concept is becoming more real.
