Goodwill Gowns and Damp Drinking

touching grass

Paul Mescal to play hot Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet; Blackpink and Adidas Originals tease collaboration; Olipop’s first major campaign stars Camila Cabello; and TikTok's Head of U.S. Trust & Safety is leaving.

MORE THAN HALF OF GEN Z AND MILLENNIAL DRINKERS ARE INTERESTED IN TIKTOK’S ‘DAMP DRINKING’ TREND, morningconsult
On TikTok, “sober curious” gets a rebrand. Enter “damp drinking.”

Younger drinkers were most likely to be aware of the idea, which is not surprising given its TikTok origins. Only 15% of all U.S. adults said they had heard at least something about the term “damp drinking” — i.e., making an effort to drink less and drink in moderation, but not give up alcohol entirely. That share rises to roughly 3 in 10 among TikTok users (27%), as well as among millennials (31%) and Gen Z adults (35%) who drink alcohol. 

IT’S OK TO SPEND $12.50 ON A WEDDING DRESS NOW, wsj
Brides-to-be are cutting budgets, wearing hand-me-downs and even hitting Goodwill for gowns. Just 27% of those getting married in 2023 said they are willing to splurge on attire, compared with 47% of those who got hitched in 2022. In the David’s Bridal bankruptcy filing last month, the CEO wrote that an “increasing number of brides are opting for less traditional wedding attire, including thrift wedding dresses.”

SHEIN, FAST FASHION HIT WITH GEN Z, TRIES CHARM TO COUNTER SCRUTINY, nyt
In 2021, Shein kicked off a $55 million initiative to hire and fund artisans to make clothing for its site. Through Shein X, the company provides independent designers with a budget, pays their production costs, and markets their wares on Shein’s site. Its roughly 3,000 participants have collectively received $5 million in commissions. (As a smart friend — hi, Noah — pointed out, that’s $1,667 per designer. Eesh.)

U.S. LAWMAKERS CALL FOR SEC TO VERIFY SHEIN DOES NOT USE FORCED LABOR, reuters
The key to Shein's success, according to some politicians and analysts, is a little-known trade exemption known as the “de minimis rule” that allows websites selling cheap Chinese goods to evade millions of dollars in taxes and fees, as well as regulations banning forced labor in the consumer product supply chain.

BEREAL UNVEILS ITS LATEST ATTEMPT TO BE RELEVANT AGAIN, mashable
BeReal — which saw its daily users drop from 20 million in October 2022 to 10.4 million in February 2023 — just launched RealPeople, what the app calls "a curated timeline of the most interesting people" to users in the UK. It will be available globally "very soon."

While the new feature sounds opposed to the anti-influencer platform, in a press release BeReal explains, "RealPeople isn't about influencing, amassing likes and comments, or promoting brands. You won't see perfect photoshopped pictures, product recommendations, or ads disguised as posts." The app ensures users that RealPeople will be a combination of people you know and don't and that it's an attempt to show that public figures are real and boring too.

WHAT’S IT LIKE ON BLUESKY RIGHT NOW, ANYWAYS?, theverge
On Thursday, pundit and blogger Matt Yglesias’s posts were under fire, with over a hundred replies ranging from merely hostile to descriptively violent. “WE ARE GOING TO BEAT YOU WITH HAMMERS,” said one user going by “hannah :)” who identified herself as a teen girl. 

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