The Best Hood is Fatherhood - A Brave New World
“The best Hood is Fatherhood”
The journey to fatherhood is a distinct demand and in today's world—father's taking care care of themselves mentally, spiritually and physically is an new economic shift that's will and is reshaping markets.
It wasn't until fatherhood—and the budding marriage to my wife Christian Warren that made it possible—that I began to find my tribe. Bubbling for some time in the public culture is the spotlight on fathers. My observation of the broader visibility of fatherhood began in New York City public playgrounds and museums, where I witnessed style, love, and cool dads in their natural habitat, love.
I sensed I would be a father early on, but how, I had no clue.
"...but New York Has them ALL."
New York prides itself on hustle and community—and it's an epicenter of fatherhood and family in many forms. As the author of A Beard Like My Dad, it was this place that showed me dads (and us all) can have, at minimum, two things in common; pride in our children and pride in our appearance. When I saw a dad with a nice jacket, I would say, "Hey man, nice jacket." This experience continued and was reciprocal—a subtle nod when pushing my son in the stroller or walking him through Brooklyn. In the business of culture, aesthetics aren't superficial—they're signals. When fathers embrace both expressive parenting gear and personal style, they're expressing the blended choice of identity and responsibility. These choices become visible manifestation of a value system that says you can be fully present as a father without disappearing as an individual.
As I started to look around, other dads, stylish and embracing fatherhood, carried harnesses, strollers, snack packs and all. What did I learn? From Jewish to Muslim, from Caribbean to Latino fathers, we all loved our children and all had a style of our own.
This common thread—the intersection of fatherhood, love, and personal style—showed up in everything from strollers to shoes to diaper bags. It revealed that a new frontier of fatherhood has emerged, one where the well-groomed dad with a Dr. Brown's bottle in hand is the new normal.
The Village It Takes
Maybe one of the first of my group of acquaintances and friends to have a baby, the journey wouldn't have been complete without my wife. Stories like Hair Love and others emerged during this time. Reading time became key bonding time with my little person and then persons. We had our first daughter in 2019 and the in 2020, our last daughter and child. My mother always shared: don't talk to babies with babble, talk to them like people. That's what I did, and all three of them can have inquisitive, thoughtful conversationalist. I'm proud of that.
As both a participant in and observer of this shift—as a father, author, and cultural analyst—I'm watching a market transformation in real time. Fatherhood has always been the universal language that transcended our differences. Whether pushing strollers through Park Slope or Crown Heights, the nod of recognition between stylish, engaged fathers created an informal brotherhood with artifacts that compliment and affirm.
Generation Health and Wellth; A New Standard
I wasn't going to write anything this week, but with a commitment to an article a week seeking to provide thoughtful commentary on style, culture, and business, fatherhood stood out after last week's article. I saw a post about the activeness of fathers in this generation, and it was rather encouraging.
Unique to the progress of culture, wellness continues to emerge, and its influence has trickled over to fathers and husbands, from wives to children. Prime example: My wife's mother (mother-in-love) places something in the microwave for literally a few seconds, and my son says, "Grammy, you can't do that. It's the microplastics." This seven-year-old schooling a 60+ year old, in his colorful collared shirt sitting at the counter with no jokes about it, is hilarious but very true.
Generation Alpha, raised by these active fathers, are becoming culture's gatekeepers. When a seven-year-old schools his grandmother on microplastics, we're witnessing the transmission of new values—wellness, environmental consciousness, critical thinking—that will and is reshaping consumer behavior. This generation is inheriting not just lessons, but a worldview. And with more active dads, blended families, and positive notions from pop culture, men are loving fatherhood—to quote my guy Gucci Mane for the title of this article, we only see the literal tip of the iceberg jewels that has adorned the rappers wrist. Sharing how a new birth, literally feel like the first time for him, culture is elevating fatherhood.
Fatherhood in the Cultural Conversation
Oddly enough, and for good reason in some sense, I typed in "fatherhood" in the search bar of my Google home and Kevin Hart's movie shows up in the algorithm. Maybe I was expecting my book (another plug), but Kevin Hart has sought to provide the seriousness of fatherhood with some levity for some time and I respect that. His comedic take serves an important function: it adds accessibility to a weighty responsibility while still treating it seriously.
Fatherhood is no joke—it's a critical force that can shift two to three generations. The wisdom of Proverbs reminds us of this truth, while actors like Matthew McConaughey, Denzel Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson are open about the influences of their fathers, their own efforts and shortcomings, while uplifting their wives and mothers as well. Writers and filmmakers are grappling with notions of fatherhood in dynamic ways. This is progression, and progression is always the right direction.
The Effects of Modern Fatherhood
My curiosity leads to thoughts of industries soon to be impacted because of fatherhood's activeness, lifestyle choices and broad desire for longevity. One example of a shift taking place in market place is alcohol consumption, for instance.
U.S. alcohol consumption has hit a 90-year low, with only 54% of American adults reporting to Gallup they drink alcohol in 2025, down from 62% in 2023—the lowest rate since Gallup began tracking in 1939. However, non-alcoholic beer grew 23% between 2019-2024, and non-alcoholic beverage sales approached $1 billion, with consumers purchasing 22% more non-alcoholic beer in the 12 months ending November 2024. Dads are trading in the booze for booch' (short for kombucha.)
Adjacent to this trend is an explosion in coffee consumption and daytime social culture. Daytime coffee and brunch parties are surging as traditional nightlife declines. In the UK, nightclubs have plummeted from over 3,000 in the early 2000s to fewer than 800 today. Cities worldwide are embracing high-energy, alcohol-optional events that focus on wellness and community over late-night excess. Coffee day parties represent a cultural shift toward health-conscious, experience-driven socializing.
With the advent of run clubs and endless rabbit holes of information regarding health on all fronts, 21st-century dads and families are having mental pathways cleared to support a robust Generation Alpha. I'm not much of a fan of the Demolition Man future with Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone where Taco Bell is a luxury high-end restaurant and burgers outlawed, but I am pro-health. Healthy families create a healthy culture, allowing for legacies to be established and not uprooted by generational exposure. Your legacy is often what you give and what you create. And the blessing of family is can to continue to serve society well.
Fathers are choosing morning run clubs over happy hours, coffee parties over club nights. This isn't a niche trend—it's a fundamental restructuring of the male consumer. The father demographic represents spending power not spoken to that goes far beyond ties and socks. They're investing in experiences, the stock market, wellness products, family-centric activities, and yes, style that works for content, boardroom and the playground.
The Connecting Thread
Recent stats and trends tell a story that brands can bring to the forefront of their strategy built on the purpose of societal uplift. As fatherhood becomes more active and wellness-focused, consumption patterns are shifting dramatically.
New market are emerging—or rather, already here—for companies and brands to start building intentional frameworks for long-term lifecycle that men to fathers experience. Ties and socks are no longer the go-to for today's dads. Today's fathers value experiences and have dynamic lifestyles. From athleisure that transitions from playground to meeting, to wellness products that support their health goals, to family experience brands that create memories—the dad economy touches all corners of culture.
A Brave New World
The cultural shift is underway. We're not just raising children differently—we're raising children who will demand different things from the marketplace, from media, from culture itself. The fathers leading this change are writing a new playbook, one that honors legacy while embracing evolution.
The best hood, indeed, is fatherhood. And this brave new world? It's looking pretty good.
