Long Reads

It started as a kooky soap company with a counterculture ethos. Today, the family-run business is an unlikely juggernaut and one of the most outspoken companies in America. Here’s how Dr. Bronner’s is rewriting the playbook for corporate success by doubling down on its vibey values.

Earlier this year, a North Shore local named Luke Shepardson paddled out during his break and won the most prestigious big-wave competition on the planet, beating some of surfing’s brightest stars. So we went to Hawaii to figure out how Luke pulled off the damn near impossible.

The troubadour of mellow vibes has been one of the biggest acts in music for three decades. Now 56, Matthews has been singing about mortality for a long time, and he’s confronting its specter in new and surprising ways.

Like her famous twin sister, Megan, Rachael Rapinoe was a huge soccer talent—until injuries and an opioid addiction derailed her career. Now she’s offering athletes a new way to manage their pain. 

It’s one of the most grueling races on the planet, a thousand-mile odyssey run every winter across the Alaskan wilderness. But with the return of the famed Iditarod, the exploits of Dallas Seavey, dogsledding’s most dominant figure, continue to raise questions about the fate of an embattled sport.

The $86 billion global sneaker market has a new major player. Here’s how it happened.

Having conquered this world—or at least become one of our most famous and priciest artists—Jeff Koons is pushing his art beyond the limits of boring old earth.

After scaling the 14 meanest mountains on earth in record time, Nepali-born Nims Purja emerged as a powerful champion of the country’s Sherpa guides. He’s also become the first celebrity mountaineer of the social media age—and the most controversial figure in the global climbing community.

My Dutch friend Lars taught me to appreciate the most radical team in World Cup history—and that their tactics could be meaningful far beyond the pitch.  

I grew up gay in Putin’s Russia, a world where homosexuals are condemned by the church, terrorized by gangs, and disenfranchised by the government. While reporting on one unsettlingly popular form of treatment, I wound up investigating my own sexuality. 

The gutting of Roe is a galvanizing moment in American history—and one that urgently requires men to speak up. The Roe Project gathers the diverse perspectives of men united in the belief that access to reproductive health care is essential. We hope that by sharing their experiences and their points of view, we can mobilize more men to fight for abortion access.

What happens when two Hollywood actors who know nothing about soccer buy a middling pro team in Wales? GQ’s Tom Lamont spent a season following football's newest fans to find out.

After a horrific accident took his leg, Mike Schultz invented a high-tech artificial limb that action sport athletes quickly adopted. And now, to win gold at the Beijing Paralympics, he’ll have to beat them.

The world’s most elite helicopter rescue team is more important than ever, as skiers and snowboarders venture further in the backcountry and climate change makes mountain conditions more dangerous.

With only a single breath, Alexey Molchanov, history’s most daring freediver, is reaching improbable depths—and discovering a new kind of enlightenment as he conquers one of the world’s wildest sports.

At the age of 19, Arthur Germain dropped out of school, said goodbye to his famous mother, and devoted himself to a curious quest that no one had ever accomplished, or perhaps even seriously considered: swimming the length of France’s most fabled river.