Black Nail Theory and Voice Memo Leo
after school weekend edition
Welcome back to After School Weekend Edition. Think of the Monday-Thursday letters as the CliffsNotes; this is the extended version for paid subscribers. Thanks for reading — your support makes this possible! 💫
TODAY WE’RE TALKING ABOUT:
Flip and the future of live commerce
Emma Chamberlain’s PR blitz for Levi’s
Alo Yoga and Vuori and Lululemon, oh my!
Equinox’s luxury athleisure collab
eBay’s streetwear retail shop on Canal Street
AEO’s 15,000-square-foot SoHo pop-up
Gen Z hates Vans :(
Panic Panties
Dior Beauty for Gen Alpha
Meredith Blake bob
Black nail theory
A24-ified Gossip Girl
Charli D’Amelio’s Walmart controversy
Justice for Cheesecake Factory
New West Elm Caleb just dropped
Scooped bagel cinematic universe
Gen Z has discovered The Beatles
Ghostface masks are trending and it’s not because of Halloween
The 504 plan meme
And everything else that happened this week in youth culture. This email is so very long, so you may need to click “view entire message” to read the whole thing.
Before we jump in, my favorite TikTok of the week:
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Happy Starbucks holiday menu season to those who celebrate (which, according to my FYP, is everyone).
FLIP AND THE FUTURE OF LIVE COMMERCE
For the last few years, I’ve been fascinated by and closely following the livestream shopping world. There have been many, many “QVC for Gen Z” contenders vying for market share, from Whatnot to NTWRK to Popshop Live to Shop Shops to Supergreat…and that’s just off the top of my head. In 2021, McKinsey published an article optimistically titled, “How Live Commerce Is Transforming the Shopping Experience.” McKinsey’s usually pretty good at this stuff — that’s why people pay them the big bucks — but two years later, our shopping experience has not been meaningfully transformed by live commerce.
Last week, news broke that NTWRK was in talks to buy Complex from BuzzFeed for $140 million (hard to say which industry is worse off right now: live commerce or media) and Supergreat announced it was being acquired by competitor Whatnot (the actual language used was “Livestream Beauty Shopping App Supergreat To Shutter, Fold Team Members Into Whatnot” — unclear whether it’s an acquihire or what, but it’s certainly not the outcome the investors were hoping for).