Digital IDs and Offline BFs
TikTok’s Shein lookalike (that debuted last week) is no more; long live the Offline Boyfriend™; Gen Z fast-fashion fave PrettyLittleThing is launching a Depop-ish resale marketplace; where the cool kids partied during NYFW; Emma Chamberlain fronts PacSun’s spring 2022 campaign; Solange looks so good in Calvin Klein’s latest ad; and I’m trying and failing to understand this “multi-size jean” trend if anyone can explain it to me.
TEEN LIVES, INTERRUPTED BY COVID, newyorker
This is incredibly beautiful and heartbreaking, and just so well done.
The person I was before and after—I am completely different. Before covid, when I would express myself to others, they would kind of demean it, or laugh. I joined group therapy, and we talked about how sensitivity is a strength, rather than a weakness. I think everybody should know that.
FROM INSTAGRAM TO KLARNA, A SUPER APP STRATEGY GAINS TRACTION IN THE U.S., modernretail
With billions of dollars potentially on the line, companies are vying to be the U.S. equivalent of these multi-purpose super apps.
ARE MEGA INFLUENCERS THE NEW MEGA MEDIA PLATFORMS?, adweek
Some 40% of U.S. consumers aged 13 to 54—roughly 65 million people—directly pay creators for this access, and 95% of consumers say they are open to brands participating in the creator economy.
IMAGINARY VENTURES LEADS FUNDING OF DIGITAL ID PLATFORM EON, bof
Wow! Imaginary Ventures, co-founded by Natalie Massenet and Nick Brown, are leading a $10 million Series A in Eon, a platform that enables brands to create digital identities for their physical garments — “a bet that these digital IDs will be crucial to brands as they try to take advantage of the business opportunities offered by Web3, a term technologists use to describe a coming decentralised version of the internet, powered largely by blockchain.”
CREATOR PLATFORM EMCEE ANNOUNCES PHYSICAL METAVERSE HUB IN LA, glossy
“No one’s really gamified the affiliate earnings space yet. We’re giving influencers the incentive that, every time they make a sale, they earn a point. Every time they add an item into their storefront, they earn a coin. They could hit a certain benchmark of sales and then earn something that could then be put back into this amazing virtual space in one way or another.”
WHY IS TIKTOK SO SCARED OF 30?, embedded
“You’re 30” or “you look 30” has become an online insult frequently slung at users for, say, caring about pop culture or learning a TikTok dance — but what I want to know is what’s going to happen when Gen Z turns 30? Then what?! Joke’s on them, because being in your 30s rules.
One last thought:
Speaking of: I’ll be taking a few days off to travel over the next few weeks (no private jet for me; I’m driving down I-95 in search of warmer weather), so emails may be sporadic. I’ll miss you! But I won’t miss TikTok.
My take is that multi sized denim is a way to remarket jeggings to Gen Z? But if that’s the case, you’d think there would be some fit and flare styles? Weird.