In this issue:

PRESENT
-The demise of the sneaker economy-
-The prettiest french/japanese home-

PAST
-Chickens wearing glasses-
-Snow White’s innovation-

“Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.”
― Oscar Wilde

✦Top Trends✦

Consumer Trends

The sneaker industry is busted.

Last fall giants of European sneaker resale suddenly collapsed; Restocks and Kikikickz had gone bust.

On the outside looking in on sneaker culture, this might come as a shock. After all, Jordans and Yeezys are seemingly flooding TikTok and Instagram.

But for avid users of Restocks and Kikikickz, their bankruptcy felt obvious. Both sites had a bad rep from struggling with delivering orders and paying back refunds.

There's even a Facebook group called “Anti Restocks.net” with 3,000 members sharing bad experiences with Restocks.

✦Why? Rare sneakers are not so rare anymore✦

Consumers are pulling back the sneaker sector in its entirety, mostly because the brands have turned rare collectibles into common commodities.

Both Nike and Adidas are making more of the most in-demand shoes, which is resulting in a sort of “sneaker inflation”. The days of small-quantity, limited-edition releases are a thing of the past.

✦Struggling with fatigued consumers✦

There’s a chain effect of consequences from this that is swelling onto other suppliers, such as retailers:

According to BoF, the market has peaked. These consumers are image-sensitive, and seeing Dunks and Sambas even on the most image-ignorant consumers doesn’t serve well for the brand perception. Basically, the sneakers are getting lame.

✦Survival of the Fittest✦

Adapting to the market is key here. Big players like StockX and GOAT are trying to adjust by selling more than just sneakers.

Nowadays you can find everything from Pokémon cards to Playstations on StockX. GOAT’s diversification comes by way of acquiring high-end streetwear platform Grailed in 2022.

Also, perhaps consumers still like sneakers, just not normie sneakers. With legacy brands losing appeal, new sneaker brands are making a new splash.

Brands like On and Salomon are bringing fresh styles and collaborations catching sneakerheads' attention. They’re also catching investor's attention with Amer Sports, entering the stock market and raising $1.3 billion.

As always, time will tell.

✦✦✦

King says:
“Good. Hopefully people will also catch onto the cheap glue-y mess that is Nike and Adidas footwear.”

✦Mini Stories✦

-OpenAI, Japanese economy, Meta, “loud budgeting”, Bitcoin-

🤖 OpenAI showed off its text-to-video AI model, Sora. There are a couple of these out there already, but the few videos out there of Sora’s work blow the competition out of the water.

They claim that Sora’s strength is in the details – think of characters with emotions, busy backgrounds, and action-packed scenes. Sora can even turn your still images into animations. OpenAI showed off videos like California's gold rush from the sky and a peek inside a Tokyo train, and they were very, very nice.

🗾 Japan is no longer the 3rd biggest economy in the world. Last week it slipped into 4th place behind Germany. This news came after it reported an economic slowdown during the end of 2023. The economy shrank a little (0.1%) in the last three months of 2023, surprising folks who expected it to grow (0.2%). Despite a rough ending, Japan's economy grew 1.9% over the whole year, which is better than the 1.0% growth in 2022.

In money terms, Japan made about $3.93 trillion, while Germany, now third, made about $4.42 trillion. Still, with the economy shrinking two quarters in a row, some say Japan might be in a recession, but it's a close call.

🤫 Meta’s Instagram and Threads won’t show you political content from accounts you don’t follow anymore - which is nice. But it's a bit tricky… anything is political these days, and Meta hasn't defined what they mean by "political".

Also, while Meta is cutting down on free political content, they're still cool with paid political ads. Yepp, they've made over $4 billion from them since 2018. From journalists to the public, many are wondering how Meta will decide what's political and what's not. Even Mark Cuban is scratching his head over this.

🗣️ Want to save money? Snitch on yourself, loud. TikTok's got a new trend called "loud budgeting" - it's all about saving money by self-snitching. Yes, simply letting everybody know that you’re broke af. 

Lukas Battle, comedian and writer, went viral for coining the term. For him, it’s a natural pendulum swing from last year’s “quiet luxury”. Being open about trying to save money can help you find others who feel the same way. Together, you can share tips and avoid those impulse buys.

A SoFi study says 56% of people admit to half of their purchases being of the impulse sort, much thanks to post-COVID shopping habits. Consequently, terms like “loud budgeting,” "boujee broke," and "de-influencing" are creating a reactionary wave across social media.

🚀 Bitcoin returns to the trillion club. Bitcoin's price jumped to over $51,789, its highest point since December 2021. With this surge, the market cap returns to $1 trillion. Actually, everything is looking pretty swell for Bitcoin right now. Its 1-year gain of 157% is mostly thanks to the excitement around the U.S. Bitcoin ETFs, which have been a sign of the mainstream-ification of BTC.

Not just Bitcoin, but Ether and some Bitcoin-related stocks are also enjoying the ride, with companies like Coinbase and MicroStrategy seeing big gains; both are seeing a 1-year growth of 190% and 159% respectively.

Real Estate

The Kenzo House

Do you know what an arrondissement is? It’s the French word that describes the 20 sections in which Paris is divided.

In the 11th arrondissement, you can find the courtyard of an 18th-century building, which once was the home of legendary Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada.

Simply calling it a building is an understatement, think sanctuary instead.

Created by Kenzo in 1993 and revamped by star architect Kengo Kuma in 2018, this place is where Eastern serenity meets Western sensibility.

The 1280 square meter house wraps around a calm koi pond, in the heart of Paris.

Kuma, the mind behind the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium, gave the house a 21st-century facelift, whilst preserving Kenzo's original 1993 vision.

Kuma's redesign brings the outdoors in. Think cedar, teak, bamboo, and big windows that look out onto the lush garden.

Inside you meet French oak finishes, designer furniture, and a view of the garden in every room.

Want it? It’s up for sale for an undisclosed amount - pocket change probably.

The house features:

• Four bedrooms

• Six bathrooms

• A Japanese suite

• Two reception rooms

• Two dining + kitchen areas

• Studios for staff

• A music room, gym, wine cellar, and private parking.

✦✦✦

King says:
“No Kaws statues. No Herman Miller. No Keith Haring merchandise. Real swag.”

✦Quick hits✦

• 3D Printed Glock Switches that turn semi-automatic Glocks into full-fledged machine guns are becoming a huge problem in the US. They’re cheap to make ($50-$100) and easy to hide, making them hard to regulate for authorities.

• Stay alert! If your partner randomly asks you to peel an orange for them, just do it. It might be “the Orange-Peel Test”. People all over TikTok are testing their partners’ loyalty by handing them seemingly arbitrary tasks and uploading their efforts.

• Donald Trump went straight from court (where he was fined $450 million) to SneakerCon to show off his new $399 sneaker that he’ll be releasing.

• Google is going to help map out methane gas emissions using space satellites.

• Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg pulled an obvious move and launched a read-to-drink ‘Gin & Juice’.

• Greece just legalized same-sex marriage, making it the first Orthodox Christian country to do so.

• Aleksei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, died while serving a 19-year prison sentence in the Russian Arctic.

• Maggots started raining from the overhead compartment onto an unsuspecting passenger.

• Japan is seeing a big retro revival; cassette tapes are coming back. Stores in Tokyo have been expanding their dedicated cassette tape section. As usual, the Western consumer is expected to imitate.

PAST

/Product Design

Somebody in the 1900s patented glasses for chickens.

Call it specs-for-pecks. And no, they’re not for night reading in the chicken pen. They’re more hardcore than that - they’re meant to prevent chickens from pecking out each other’s eyes. These pickguards were mass-produced and sold throughout the US at the beginning of the 20th century.

These days they have a rose-colored tint, which is supposed to prevent a chicken from recognizing blood on other chickens. They look more like sunglasses, which is very funny.

✦✦✦

King says:
“A grazing flock of glasses-wearing chickens would appear very scholarly.”

/Film

How Snow White changed the game forever.

Walt Disney took one of the most historic risks in film history when he made Snow White in 1937. Not only did he sink $1.5 million ($32 million in today’s money) out of his own pocket into the film, but nobody had ever made a full-length animated feature film before. It was a technical marvel in the making.

When the film came out it was so ahead of its time animation-wise that filmgoers were applauding scenes where nothing happened. Even he stillest scenes were straight-up pretty and enchanting. That’s how ahead of its time it was.

The risk Disney had taken with Snow White paid off, and the film grossed $8 million ($171 million) at the box office - a gargantuan amount to make during the Great Depression.

Here’s the concept art that helped Walt Disney Studios establish the style of the film:

✦✦✦

King says:
“The prototypical black hair pale-skin goth babe.”