LSN : News : Need to know 19 : 10 : 17

1. Le Labo branches out into simple-to-use skincare

Body, Hair, Face by Le Labo, New York

New York – Luxury perfumery Le Labo has launched a slimline collection of skin, body and haircare products. Unlike other perfume brands that simply translate their scents into cream form, Le Labo has developed its range around three base scents – hinoki, basil and mandarin – over five years.

The gender-neutral line was created to offer an element of simplicity to people’s bathtime regimes, and includes an all-purpose shampoo, conditioner and body lotion rather than a variety of products aimed at different skin and hair types.

The campaign imagery displays the bottles in an unidealised bathroom setting, with rusty plugholes and marked walls, giving the luxury brand a sense of the everyday. Overwhelmed by choice, consumers are looking for brands to endorse good quality essentials. For more, see our Anti-choice Architecture microtrend.

2. Jigsaw campaign brings immigration issue to the fore

Autumn/winter 2017 campaign by The Corner for Jigsaw, UK

UK – Fashion brand Jigsaw has released its new autumn/winter 2017 campaign, which focuses on the contributions of immigrants to the fashion industry. Designed by creative agency The Corner, the campaign highlights the cultural diversity that has contributed to the Jigsaw brand throughout the years, from the inaugural Afghan Coat to the 45 nationalities employed across the business. Jigsaw, whose tagline is Beautifully British since 1970, begins the campaign manifesto with the assertion that ‘British style is not 100% British’.

At a time when immigration is proving divisive in the political arena, Jigsaw has taken a stand for what it believes in at the risk of alienating some consumer demographics. For more, see our Backlash Brands macrotrend.

3. Dubai endorses cryptocurrency with plan to launch emCash

Dubai – The first official state cryptocurrency will be issued by Emcredit, a subsidiary of Dubai Economy, in partnership with UK-based blockchain start-up ObjectTech. The currency, emCash, will be available to UAE residents through an emPay wallet app.

Anyone with the smartphone app will be able to make a variety of everyday transactions, from buying coffee and paying utility bills to transferring money to another user. The nature of the decentralised blockchain technology allows faster processing and lower transaction costs because payments are settled directly between the user and the merchant.

The introduction of emCash follows an announcement by the Dubai government that all official documents will be transferred onto the blockchain by 2020. For more on why countries are adopting the blockchain ledger, read our Opinion article here.

EmCash, Dubai

4. An exploration of memory enhancement in the digital age

Grandmaster Mind by Amaury Hamon, Switzerland

Switzerland – Amaury Hamon, a graphic design student from École Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (ECAL), has considered the importance of mnemonic techniques in an age when memory is often outsourced to digital devices such as smartphones and computers. The project, Grandmaster Mind, takes the form of a book that teaches the reader how to re-encode mundane data such as lists and numbers into more memorable visual narratives.

The volume has been designed to illustrate the duality between how data is recorded by machines and the way it is interpreted by people as visuals. In the age of The Learning Economy in which people are continually striving for self-improvement, they are looking for ways to extend their learning potential beyond their childhood such as through brain training exercises.

5. Wellness housing of interest to high-income buyers

The Global Wellness Institute estimates that in the US about 1.3m potential buyers each year express an interest in wellness communities, demonstrating the value of wellness placemaking. As our recent statistic shows, urban centres are the ideal location for creating such communities. For more, see our Placemaking Market report.

6. Thought-starter: Is the West unfairly biased on sustainability?

As a new report challenges the belief that India and China are the main culprits of overconsumption,The Future Laboratory researcher Amy Nicholson examines the sustainability blame game.

The State of Fashion Report 2017 report has found that more than three-quarters (78%) of Indians and almost two-thirds (65%) of Chinese look for sustainable fashion compared with just 32% of shoppers in more developed countries. The results suggest that the Western-spun rhetoric that these markets are the main polluters of the world is false.

While countries such as the UK and the US hide behind sustainable capsule collections and eco-fashion awards and initiatives, the startlingly low percentage of consumers seeking such products is a worrying sign for the environment as the grip of fast fashion shows no sign of slowing. In contrast, consumers in the world’s second- and seventh-largest economies are indicating that making purchasing decisions based on sustainable fashion is far more to the fore.

As the report suggests, the practice of conscious consumerism will have to become even more widespread as fast fashion increases its grip further, with devastating social and environmental consequences worldwide.

Read the full opinion piece here.