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Gucci just opened the chicest hangout in London, Lyft now lets you pay for your Tinder date’s ride, Snapchat usage spiked when Facebook was down, and Crocs is forecasted to double sales by 2026 (Can they really maintain that kind of growth though? A trend can only remain a trend for so long…).
WELCOME TO THE TIKTOK ECONOMY
TikTok has created something much bigger than the platform itself: “It has supercharged the so-called creator economy, a broad swath of entrepreneurs, influencers, and side hustlers trying to convert their looks, humor, wisdom, connections, inhibitions, insights, and dance moves into riches and stardom.” fortune (paywall, technically, but if you open in Safari and hit “reader view” you can read it)
↳ Meet Tejas Hullur, the Tony Robbins for the budding creator set. This sentence killed me: “As an entrepreneurship and corporate innovation major at Indiana University, Hullur, now 21, had always dreamed of being a content creator.” Can you imagine having “always dreamed of being” a…content creator? (To be fair, I always dreamed of being an EIC of a teen print magazine, and that job doesn’t even exist anymore). fortune
Hullur’s insights aren’t especially profound, but they do seem to resonate. One recent missive, titled “Apple targets our d*cks,” argues that the company’s success stems from the fact that it’s embarrassing to pull out a Samsung Galaxy phone when asking a girl for her number. The video racked up 365,000 views in three days and generated fawning comments like, “Bro your content is so fire,” and “Mind BLOWN.”
THE LEGACY OF ROOKIE MAG, TEN YEARS LATER
“In many ways Rookie was a harbinger for the main character energy that has taken over TikTok today. It encouraged readers to go out and do things on their own, to aestheticize their lives.” It’s fun to imagine Rookie and TikTok existing in the same era. Rookiecore > cottagecore. teenvogue
FROM THE APPLE WATCH AND RAY-BAN STORIES TO OURA: HOW WEARABLE TECH GOT STYLISH
I don’t know if I’d use the word “stylish,” but wearable tech certainly has cache — and not just among data junkies. It’s worth noting that in this week’s Piper Sandler report (covered in yesterday’s letter, but will be going even deeper tomorrow!), Apple was Gen Z’s number one watch brand. wsj
INSIDE THE SECRET LIVES OF INDIA’S GEN Z SNEAKER RESELLERS
A fascinating read, especially if you’re interested in sneaker culture and/or drop models. “The actual probability of any end user getting a [limited edition] shoe is like 0.1 percent, even if you spend two days in a queue or five hours in front of your computer.” vice
SPAIN WANTS TO PAY YOUNG PEOPLE €250 A MONTH TO LEAVE THEIR PARENTS’ HOMES
In Spain, “many young people forced to live with parents due to high rents, low wages, and high unemployment.” Kids in Spain leave their parents' homes aged 30, compared to the EU average of 26.4 years old. (In the U.S. it’s around 27.) Could a monthly housing subsidy change things? vice
One last thought:
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