Meet 8 long-lasting brands proving that old doesn’t mean old-fashioned

Aging gracefully is a tall order for any company, but the 2025 Brands That Matter heritage brands honorees have stuck around in style for decades—and in one case, even centuries. Along the way, they’ve adapted to the times and grown even stronger in the process, whether that means embracing design overhauls, creating innovative new technologies, or staying on the pulse of Gen Z trends.

Here are the brands proving that age doesn’t necessarily make a brand old-fashioned in 2025.

Bath & Body Works

Bath & Body Works began as a mall staple in 1990, and 35 years later, it could easily have fallen by the wayside like so many of its peers. But instead, it is Gen Z’s number-one fragrance brand (per Piper Sandler’s Spring 2025 Teens survey), hopping on olfactory trends—hello, tomato-scented candles and Netflix collaborations—and rapidly responding to customer desires, like expanding its Everyday Luxuries collection of fragrances to include cleansers and moisturizers in just three months. The brand’s secret weapon isn’t just marketing, though: Its predominantly U.S.-based supply chain enables Bath & Body Works to manufacture new products quickly to be the first to big trends.

Canada Goose

In 2024, Canada Goose took a fashion-forward step. It named designer Haider Ackermann as its first ever creative director, and he quickly brought the nearly 70-year-old outerwear brand into the high-fashion world. Last fall, Ackermann released his first capsule collection under Canada Goose’s Snow Goose label, a sleek aesthetic combination of the brand’s past and future: extreme-weather outwear blended with bold colors and silhouettes. The collection garnered attention from the fashion world, with outlets including Vogue, GQ, and Elle covering the launch and helping drive a 240% increase in earned media impressions; from Canada Goose’s existing customer base, with two thirds of purchases coming from brand loyalists; and from curious newcomers, with U.S. brand search interest reaching a three-year high by December. Ackermann has since launched two more Snow Goose capsule collections, the latest starring singer-songwriter Willie Nelson, who paired one of his signature headbands with a tee touting Canada Goose’s tenet of environmental preservation.

Clover Sonoma

Brand impact isn’t dependent on the size of a company. Even small players can make a big difference, and California-based dairy company Clover Sonoma proves it. The beloved brand has been operating out of Sonoma County since 1916, and in 2024, it leveraged its power as a brand like never before to make a concrete impact on its local community. When Sonoma County voters considered Ballot Measure J in 2024—which the brand saw as potentially shutting down family farms—Clover Sonoma stepped in and urged its customers to oppose the measure via some prime advertising real estate: its milk cartons. The packaging educated its consumers on the impact Measure J would have on the local dairy industry, a move that paid off when the measure was struck down on election day. Meanwhile, Clover Sonoma is making sustainability a priority behind the scenes, from making a commitment to reduce its methane emissions by 10% over three years to switching its yogurt packaging from plastic to paper, saving 34,000 pounds of plastic annually.

L’Oréal Paris

L’Oréal Paris is on the cutting edge of the beauty industry, leveraging new innovations to set itself apart and give consumers a wholly new at-home salon experience. In 2024, the brand introduced Colorsonic, a novel at-home hair color device that had been in development for 10 years. The device’s more than 29 patents were put to good use: In its first six months, Colorsonic made major waves for L’Oréal Paris, earning the brand 25,000 new customers and 7 billion press impressions. The company’s tech-forward thinking continued with the launch of Beauty Genius, an AI-power assistant built on proprietary L’Oréal Paris knowledge, offering customers 24/7 support on everything from skincare to beauty tips to virtual try-ons. 

Lloyds Bank

Even a 260-year-old company can reinvent itself, and over the past year, Lloyds Bank did exactly that. The British brand changed its philosophy from the outside in: First, it got a streamlined new design (one that pays homage to its classic black horse logo while incorporating modern pops of green) and moved to a new operating system. Second, it ensured that its operations matched the new image that Lloyds aimed to project: emotionally connected to its consumers, and wholly committed to helping them move forward through their banking. Customers started seeing Lloyds in a new light, while new members flocked to its redesigned app, which received 512,000 new downloads in Q4 of 2024 alone. Even as its peers dealt with declines, Lloyds saw a massive 450% year-over-year increase in net switching, proving the power of a well-timed rebrand.

Sesame Workshop

The U.S.’s biggest children’s media brand found a way to get even bigger: As of 2025, Elmo and friends have a new home on Netflix, thanks to a deal between the streamer and the nonprofit behind Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop. Now in its 56th season, Sesame Street has access to its largest-ever audience at more than 300 million worldwide—but rest assured, Elmo won’t live solely behind a paywall. New episodes will continue airing on PBS as well, maintaining the unbroken 57-year relationship the series has with the public broadcaster. Amid the changes, Sesame Street is still delivering the unparalleled entertainment and education for children that has made it an undeniably iconic part of pop culture: In the U.S., Sesame Workshop has achieved a staggering 96% brand awareness, and one in three children age five and under actively engage with Sesame Street.

Topo Chico

As 2025 marks Topo Chico’s 130th anniversary, the sparkling water brand is celebrating in style. Last year, the company expanded into the flavored sparkling water category with the launch of Topo Chico Sabores, then it supported the new drinks with an original variety show called Sabores TV, which featured taste tests, interviews, live performances, and more. The new products caused sales to soar by 42%, making Topo Chico among the top 15 growing beverage brands in the U.S. Earlier this year, Topo Chico launched a new campaign, “The Source of Legend,” that pulls back the curtain on more than a century of brand lore, secrets, and history, all while emphasizing the brand’s Mexican heritage and connection to fans. 

William Stout Architectural Books

For William Stout Architectural Books, a visual overhaul didn’t mean sacrificing the San Francisco bookshop’s soul. Instead, the independent retailer’s 2025 renovation, a collaboration with design collective LoveFrom, unlocked Stout’s full potential. Its expanded retail offerings, which added items like exclusive editions and out-of-print acquisitions to the store’s existing catalog of books for architects and designers, doubled the store’s average transaction value. Its renewed focus on events, including lectures, workshops, and exhibitions with prominent figures from the design world, saw attendance triple to more than 3,500. And its redesigned digital storefront captured a new audience’s attention, with a 40% increase in engagement even before its full launch. Overall, in-store revenue rose by 18% year over year, demonstrating that even 50 years after first opening its doors, Stout’s legacy is only growing stronger.

This story is part of Fast Company’s 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brand’s purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.

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