Published: September 3, 2026
Every week we talk to brands about getting started and growing within PR, affiliate marketing and GEO visibility. Through Great Scott’s work in the e-commerce landscape, we’ve pulled together a few stories worth sharing.
The Challenge
The P.F. Flyers and Story mfg. collaboration involved an American heritage footwear brand and a UK-based slow fashion brand, quietly working together for over a year. The resulting limited-edition sneakers featured naturally dyed, hand-woven fabrics crafted in Thailand and a unique story rooted in sustainable practices. Great Scott was then tasked with making sure they made it to the right publications and consumers.
The Execution
Great Scott looked at the rollout in two stages:
- Stage 1: An exclusive with GQ ahead of launch, giving the collaboration a premier home with a full standalone article by contributing writer Tres Dean, who specializes in the sneaker world for the publication.
- Stage 2: Targeted pitching to sneaker and menswear press including Hypebeast, Hypebae, Inside Hook for stories after the collaboration was live. We also offered samples for editors who expressed interest in seeing and wearing the shoes. This helped the team land additional coverage weeks after launch.
The Results
- 17 top-tier placements
- 365,297,281 total UVPM
- $3,452,059.30 AVE
- AI visibility boost in key terms
With Incredible Quotes In:
GQ: This New P.F. Flyers Collab Is Wrapped in Hand-Woven Denim
Hypebeast: Story mfg and PF Flyers Rebuild the All-American High-Top Around Handwoven, Naturally Dyed Cloth
Gear Patrol: Today in Gear
Hypebae: Story mfg. and P.F Flyers Give the High-Top an Artisanal Makeover
Inside hook: How a Retro High-Top Became the Sneaker of the Summer. Exploring P.F. Flyer’s unexpectedly brilliant collab
Why Press Matters Beyond the Numbers
In this new world of AI visibility, GEO or AEO coverage like this does more than drive traffic to the site the days and weeks that the story runs. These top-tier media publishers — GQ, Hypebeast, Gear Patrol, and Inside Hook and others — feed into the LLMs for production recommendations and questions.
Coverage is now discoverable across a range of relevant queries — from the Story mfg. collaboration itself to broader searches around sustainable sneakers, heritage footwear, craftsmanship and emerging sneaker collaborations. The campaign helped change the context in which P.F. Flyers can be discovered. A consumer searching for a specific collaboration can now encounter P.F. Flyers. But so can someone asking about American sneaker brands, best canvas sneakers, or heritage sneaker brands.
The Takeaway
GREAT SCOTT has worked with P.F. Flyers since 2023, and this collaboration is one of our favorite examples of what a long-term PR partnership can do. We’ve helped boost awareness of the rejuvenated sneaker brand among editors and writers, who have been happy to include new P.F. Flyer drops in listicles. The pairing with Story mfg. and its artisan fabrics gave us a unique hook that warranted multiple features in coveted publications.