Ana Andjelic: How Everlane, Outlier, and Patagonia are tapping into the ‘social activewear’ phenomenon.
Brands are proposing new ideas to society through fabric, and answering the new consumer desire to signal a shared belief system through luxury goods and clothing. Rather than being about logos and individual status signaling, social activewear is about identifying with the collective.
A $200M valuation, TV commercials, and billboards: A closer (critical) look at how Hims is fast-tracking the modern luxury playbook.
The men’s wellness upstart is (wisely) fast-tracking the DNVB playbook, but we’re worried whether a $200M valuation is justified for a consumer-facing brand that’s only four months into business.
Warby Parker’s Neil Blumenthal articulates modern luxury thinking perfectly in this panel talk.
Warby’s cofounder echos a major point we’ve been making over texts, calls, emails, and dinners with friends and readers for some time now: When thinking about modern luxury today, product alone isn’t enough. It’s the package that really matters.
The takeaway from PSFK’s Future of Retail Conference: “There’s panic in the C-suites. Everyone’s focusing on DTC. The obsession is real.”
Big shocker: Shoppers don’t think in terms of digital and physical anymore––they simply want to shop in a way that’s most convenient for them. The answer for existing retailers, then, is crystal clear: If they hope to capitalize on this new consumer behavior, they better start making moves to adjust their infrastructure accordingly.
Ana Andjelic: Off-White, Vetements, and the rise of the fashion trolls.
We live in a socio-political climate of anxiety. But what fends it off is having a clear identity of your own. IKEA does IKEA just fine. So does DHL. And so does the inner label on my jacket – without clever quotes.
Lumi announced a $9M Series A this month. Here’s how they’re cornering the market in DNVB packaging.
Lumi’s responsible for much of the sleek packaging for many of today’s DNVBs. If, for instance, you’ve gotten a package from the likes of a Parachute, Proper Cloth, MM.LaFleur, or MeUndies recently, that sharply-branded cardboard box or poly mailer (and that positive first impression you got) was most likely Lumi’s doing.
Harry’s is pulling the plug on their NYC Corner Shop on March 2. Here’s what we’ve gathered.
No matter how you look at it, Harry’s has great momentum. But not all facets of the business are set to enjoy this next stage of Harry’s rapid rise. Here’s what we know about why they’re shutting down their NYC shop next week.
Solly Garber: ‘How is it that in 2018, e-commerce STILL only accounts for just nine percent of all US retail?’
Believe it or not, e-commerce represents a tiny sliver of total sales in the US. In the last two years, it’s increased from just seven percent to nine percent — and half of that is Amazon. In order for e-commerce to grow, brands must start solving shoppers’ problems by thinking laterally.
🚨 New Brand Alert: Year and Day. How does this brand stack up against the Snowes and Parachutes of the world?
Big players Parachute and Snowe are already several years ahead in the home category at this point, but Year and Day makes a case that they too deserve a place at the table — and fine place settings to match.
Big Money: Burrow’s $4.3M seed points to a larger trend – VCs are warming up to emerging furniture brands.
With a couple of recent VC-backed furniture busts, no one would’ve blamed VCs for rejecting the furniture space this year. And yet here we are, close to Christmas, and two rising furniture companies — Floyd and Burrow — have both managed to raise two $4M+ rounds. We spoke to Burrow to find out how investors are looking at new furniture brands like theirs in a different light.
