Even though I live under the biggest rock known to man, I have still been able to be blessed with witnessing the uptrend of Stanley Cups. And oh boy, do I have some thoughts about this water bottle.
When I first saw Stanley water bottles being hyped up on my Instagram Reels page, I immediately thought, "Didn’t we just do this whole water bottle thing already with Hydro Flasks?" Well apparently, Hydro Flasks are out, and Stanleys are in. Advocates of the Stanley Cup will say it’s the greatest water bottle known to man, but I haven’t seen a single feature the Stanley Cup has that another water bottle doesn’t already have and does better.
First of all, I hate when Stanley Cup users say it’s the best water bottle ever because of the insulation. Hydro Flask beat y’all to that YEARS ago. I witnessed the rise of Hydro Flasks back in the 7th grade and they were definitely the first water bottle to put vacuum insulation on the map. I’m pretty sure every kid pre-Hydro Flask just chugged lukewarm water straight from the school water fountain, so the HydroFlask was a real innovation, unlike Stanley.
Second, it truly peeves me when people mention the damn straw. I don’t care that your Stanley has a straw because I can just put a straw in ANY water bottle and turn your Stanley Cup obsolete. The straw in the Stanley isn’t even leak-proof! If you drop your Stanley, which you will, because it will not fit in your backpack water bottle holder, you can say goodbye to all your "ice-cold" insulated water. You know whose straw is leak-proof? The Hydro Flask. Also if you want to use a water bottle with real straw innovation, try using a Contigo! The spring-loaded pop-up straw is super convenient and doesn’t spill your water everywhere.
Thirdly, this cup has zero value. There is no feature this cup has that a $20 HydroFlask knockoff doesn’t already do. Holds your water? Check. Keeps it cold? Check. Has a straw? Check. The decision to purchase a $45 CUP is completely illogical (never mind the fact you might get lead poisoning.) Unless you are trying to get into the resale game and sell Stanley cups for $280, please never buy one.
Even though Stanley Cups are the hottest commodity on TikTok these days, I don’t think they will ever overtake HydroFlasks in terms of popularity. I mean just look around Westridge campus, they’re everywhere. Walk around for 5 minutes and you can probably find a Hydro Flask lying on the ground unclaimed, free for the taking! (Now THAT'S value.) Anyways my prediction is that Stanleys are on the way out already and those Owala bottles are about to be the next embodiment of American consumerism.