Stella- I find this interesting for much the same reason.
I discovered Boden here, about 14 years ago when dd was a toddler, and was one of the many back in the day on here who would wait until midnight on sale day to start filling our baskets. For small children's clothes, (great resaleability on eBay) it's second to none. Dd also has Boden children's Bretons- the quality is a zillion times better than the adults.
I like Boden stuff on the website- I am invariably disappointed in the quality (apart from trousers, which are my staples from there) when it arrives. It's also the brand that I've found the most "faults" with. A wool dress unravelled on the first day I wore it and the jumpsuit I just got for a wedding did the same in the car going there. The hem literally fell. Thankfully they have good CS.
4160 I discovered here on the Perfumista threads.
The Parlux was recommended to me on here when I asked for a hairdryer for dd.
Sam Smith/Converse etc - I imagine everyone came across them from their teenagers because they're teen staples stolen by their mums.
The EL products are both such lauded (no pun intended) icons that they're known by anybody with a passing interest in their face.
The acids I first read about on here.
The Ordinary- here.
I have another theory- threads are SO started by people who work for the smaller companies that suddenly seem to gain a massive MN following. If you look back over S&B over the years, you see clearly that a brand that doesn't advertise at all, or very much, on mainstream media, is suddenly being talked about by a lot of people on S&B. We are being product bombed. That takes off and snowballs.
Mint Velvet, Boden (15 yes ago) the Ordinary (3 yrs ago ish) Hush, Liz Earle, Saltwater, 4160, Seasalt, that sort of thing.
Look at Saltwater sandals, look at sandal threads 5 yrs ago. Nary a mention. Look 2 yrs ago. Every bloody thread is about Saltwaters. That didn't happen because one genuine MNer said they were nice.
I'm immediately suspicious of any thread that says "anybody bought anything from Name Nobody Knows?" which is followed by 20 posts saying it's their favourite product and they'd never use anything else.
I get sucked in too, and I've found my holy grails of many things on here. But I do think we are often misled by threads singing the praises of something which have been started by people from that particular company.