Palantir Technologies, which moved from Silicon Valley to Denver in 2020, sells software that immigration authorities use to identify and arrest people, militaries use to organize drone strikes, and corporations use to manage their supply chains. Now, it also sells tote bags.
Last year, Palantir relaunched an online merchandise store, and its website was recently redesigned with a swanky interface and new payment system. A mock terminal in the lower left corner displays “code” documenting each item you view. A page titled “Core Capsule” displays an assortment of sold out items, like athletic shorts with text reading "PLTR—TECH" running down the right butt cheek, which sold for $99. It also shows a puffy “ergonomic" nylon tote bag that was priced at $119, and a Palantir baseball cap that ran for $55. The site is relaunching on Thursday evening with a new merch drop.
Many companies produce branded swag for their employees and clients, including the legacy defense contractors that Palantir is trying to disrupt. Lockheed Martin sells a skunk stuffed animal, a nod to its R&D team that started secret operations under the name “Skunk Works” during World War II. Boeing sells T-shirts and keychains depicting various military aircraft, like its B-52 bomber jets and AH-64 attack helicopters. They’re products that may appeal to current or former employees, or their friends and family.
But what Palantir is doing feels far more ambitious: The company seemingly wants to be a lifestyle brand. Eliano Younes—the company's head of strategic engagement, who runs the merch store and posts about it frequently on X—has been explicit about this in multiple posts.
“Palantir is THE lifestyle brand,” Younes posted on X in March. “The most pro-west, meritocratic, winning obsessed, and based brand on the face of the earth.”
But what does it mean for Palantir—a company that, in the words of one former employee, essentially sells digital “filing cabinets” to customers like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US Department of Defense, Heineken beer, and General Mills—to be a lifestyle brand?
The Cult of Palantir
Lifestyle brands sell products that people buy to express their identities, whether they’re Tesla super fans, Zyn bros, or Hydroflask water bottle girlies. These brands aren’t necessarily successful because they have a superior product, but rather because they’re skilled at “proposing an original point of view” and “influencing a social context,” argues the book Lifestyle Brands, cowritten by management professor Stefania Saviolo and brand consultant Antonio Marazza. Using the products they sell is a symbolic act, a way to “to signal status” or demonstrate “a sense of belonging to a group.”
Generally, lifestyle brands are known for products they sell to the public. People recognize Tesla as a company that sells cars, and Zyn as a company that sells nicotine pouches. To state the obvious, Palantir is not a clothing company. And the software it does sell is not consumer-facing. Its price tag is so large that, often, giant government agencies and corporations are the only ones that can afford it. Palantir is not exactly an obvious candidate for a lifestyle brand. And yet, despite the odds, Palantir has a fan base that includes many potential merch customers.