For Some Brands, Pride Month Is Sexy Again

At Animal, a late-night hotspot for gay New Yorkers in Brooklyn, the main appeal is the dimly lit dance floor booming with house music. But one Friday last month, the club had a different draw — luggage.

On May 29, the travel label Away hosted an event at the queer bar to celebrate its Pride month collection — a line of travel bags and accessories created with Brooklyn-based designer and queer activist Willie Norris. Rainbows and adages like “Love Is Love” were absent; in their place, were sleek, cheeky travel products like a black tote bag that read “My Baggage” in big, red font. Another suitcase described what’s inside as “6-9 Looks.” At the event, drag queen West Dakota performed and the guest list included queer New York socialites like Hunter Abrams and Blythe Marks.

It’s a sign of a noticeable shift from even just a year ago. Since 2023, when Bud Light and Target faced major backlash due to Pride-related marketing and products, there’s been a steady pullback. In 2025, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Pride marketing was particularly bland as brands skirted obvious associations with the LGBTQ+ community — like Target’s beige Pride collection titled “New Neutrals.”

Cut to this year, and several brands, like Away, are investing in bold, unexpected Pride campaigns. Levi’s Pride collection includes pieces inspired by queer motorcycle culture that look straight out of a drawing by Tom of Finland, a Finnish artist known for erotic cartoons of leather-clad men. Diesel partnered with the dating app Tinder on a Pride collection featuring partially sheer underwear and jeans that are nearly not safe for work.

It’s a reflection of the zeitgeist at large. Even in just the past year, the LGBTQ+ community has gained a greater level of mainstream recognition, thanks in large part to the surprise smash hit “Heated Rivalry,” which brought explicit gay intimacy to millions of viewers.

But trepidation around gay marketing hasn’t disappeared. Brands can face conservative backlash for championing the LGBTQ+ community. Bud Light’s sales, for example, still haven’t recovered after its partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked massive boycotts. At the same time, the generic rainbow motifs of Pride months past feel more like a performative gesture than an authentic effort to connect with the queer community.

After a period of subdued participation, these new campaigns signal a turning point. For some brands, potential backlash is worth it to tap the power of modern queer culture, with playful, hyper-niche and unabashedly gay marketing moments.

“We’re looking to create product for the the dolls, the gays and the theys,” said Zach Weal, president of the queer-led fragrance brand Boy Smells.

Bold Takes on Pride Month

It’s the brands taking more daring approaches to Pride month that are catching attention — and seeing a larger ROI, said Bob Witeck, president of Witeck Communications, a public relations firm that specialises in the gay and lesbian consumer market.

“We wanted to create pieces that were intentionally celebratory and unapologetically sexy,” said Levi’s designer Cristobal Aleman. The Levi’s Pride collection includes a studded belt, chaps and a biker vest. They may look more at home in a fetish bar than in a suburban mall, but those products are the ones that are already sold out online.

Because Away, similarly, doesn’t have LGBTQ+ culture baked into its brand ethos, consistency is key to their take on Pride. Its collaboration with Norris is in its third year, and the brand has consistently supported nonprofits like the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association. According to Quynh Dang, Away’s vice president of brand marketing, Norris’s guidance helped ensure the product felt community-driven and elegant.

“The brands generating the most credibility right now are the ones with a documented history of LGBTQ+ support, whether through long-term partnerships, authentic representation or queer leadership behind the brand,” said Cate Khan, chief executive of Trendalytics.

The demand for authenticity has also sparked a trend of hyper-niche queer products across fashion, beyond Pride month. Italian fashion brand Magliano makes a T-shirt with “I Heart Gay Porn” emblazoned across the front. A Barragán hoodie reads “J’Adore Ur Hole.” Connor Ives’ “Protect the Dolls” T-shirt, a reference to trans women, sold thousands of units across multiple drops.

Even those with a more obvious connection to LGBTQ+ culture are doubling down on how they display it. Boy Smells, for instance, has tapped popular queer personalities like Terrence O’Connor to promote its newest scents. In one Instagram Reel, Berlin-based gay influencers @fr00dle and @donjackoghue, known by the chronically online, make out according to how the fragrances smell.

“Celebrating gay sex through a mainstream lens feels novel, but provocative and sexual marketing will always consistently do well,” said Zoe Cohen, brand strategist and creative director for Boy Smells.

Why Pride Month Still Matters

Kevin Wong, chief communications officer at LGBTQ+ youth organisation The Trevor Project said that while support and advocacy should exist year round, Pride month remains an important moment when it comes to representation.

“It’s very meaningful to the LGBTQ+ community to see and know that there are real people who can go on living and thriving in their authentic truth,” said Wong.

It’s also a way to prove allyship at a time when past controversies have led many larger companies — including Deloitte, Mastercard and Visa — to transition to silent partnerships or back away from Pride marketing entirely. Among American consumers, support for legal same-sex marriage decreased six percentage points since 2022, and the percent of people who view gender transitions as morally acceptable is down to 38 percent from 46 percent in 2021, according to a Gallup poll.

But while the era of the sterile, corporate rainbow may be in the rearviews, it’s arguably given way to something more impactful. Today, the brands finding traction during Pride month are the ones willing to trade mass-market clichés for an uncompromised point of view.

“For us to take the piss out of it, to be irreverent, sexy, funny, camp and gay, is really what it’s all about,” said Weal.