LSN : Daily Signals : Flings gives the toaster pastry a grown-up makeover

Luxury hotel group Aman launches Aman Interiors

Aman Interiors, US

US – Luxury hospitality and lifestyle brand Aman is bringing its hotels’ coveted design aesthetic into the home with the launch of an interior division.

The brand’s first collection, Migumi, was designed in collaboration with Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and made its debut at Design Miami in December 2023. Renowned for celebrating the natural world in his work, Kuma’s first designs for the brand include the Migumi Chair and Table, made using white oak and Calacatta marble.

In early 2024, Aman Interiors will also release the Foundations Collection – bespoke furniture designs brought to life by international artisans and specialist suppliers and designed in Aman’s London studio. The new division will also launch an interior design and antique sourcing service for owners of Aman Branded Residences.

As unpacked in our Home States Futures macrotrend report, the in flux state of the home has created new opportunities for brands to forge more intimate connections with customers. By taking the Aman experience out of hotels and into the home, the brand is cementing its acclaimed cultural reputation and reaching new homebody audiences.

Strategic opportunity

Take inspiration from Aman and consider how your brand can apply elasticity and adapt beyond industry parameters to move into the home and diversify revenue streams

Flings gives the toaster pastry a grown-up makeover

Flings brand identity by Blurr Bureau

US – Remember toaster pastries, those childhood breakfast delights that you could enjoy without adult supervision? Flings, a new brand, seeks to capture the essence of those classic treats while meeting the nutritional demands of adults and health-conscious consumers.

Flings turned to the Blurr Bureau, a New York- and Melbourne-based brand design and venture studio, for a makeover that blends nostalgia with modern dietary needs. The result is a high-protein, low-carb, low-sugar and keto-friendly version of the beloved toaster pastry.

After more than two years of development and extensive market research, the brand identity and packaging evoke a 1980s vibe with a playful logo and retro colour palette. The brand’s name, Fling, not only pays homage to the snack’s ease and portability, but also adds a hint of naughtiness, referencing a short, non-committal rendezvous.

Flings is also kid-friendly. In our Kids’ Snack Market analysis we found that during lockdown parents turned to snacks in order to entertain their bored children. While the habit of snacking remained, alarm over child obesity rates also called for healthier, more nutritional alternatives.

Strategic opportunity

How can you ensure you customers can ‘have their cake and eat it’? Healthier takes on retro snacking tap into the guilt-free pleasure mindset consumers will continue to crave in 2024

LVMH and Chanel partner to supercharge sustainability initiatives

LVMH at VivaTech. Photography by Carolina Arantes, France

France – Luxury conglomerate LVMH and megabrand Chanel have put rivalries aside, revealing plans to work together on synchronising ESG efforts, corporate and social responsibility reporting and supplier audits.

Announced during the Life 360 Summit, the symbiosis strategy between the two luxury groups aims to improve and accelerate sustainability efforts. The alliance will help tackle Scope 3 emissions by engaging suppliers and implementing solutions on a greater scale. LVMH will also introduce a knowledge-sharing portal in 2024 dedicated to facilitating the exchange of solutions, expertise, regulatory updates and environmental training programmes.

The move shows that the luxury sector is acknowledging that sustainability challenges require the sector to cooperate and set competition aside, an idea the chairman and CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, put forward at the Summit. ‘I believe it is our duty to know how to rise above the usual patterns. This is why we have chosen to invite certain competitors today,’ he explained. ‘Progress of any kind is crucial. We must join forces.’

Read more on luxury cleaning up its act and taking the lead on environmental action in our Luxury Recrafted macrotrend.

Strategic opportunity

LVMH and Chanel are proving that the radical environmental challenges we are facing require radical action – if making strides in sustainability demands partnering with your competitors, luxury pioneers suggest that this is the way forward

Stat: Bodycare is outselling skincare in China

Kind to Biome, Sweden

China – Seeking self-care and ritual from products such as moisturiser and shower lotion, Chinese beauty consumers are shifting their attention – and wallets – to bodycare.

From May 2022 to April 2023, sales of bodycare products on e-commerce sites Tmall and Taobao exceeded £5.8bn ($7.3bn, €6.7bn), outperforming the beauty and skincare category. Meanwhile, Jing Daily reports that on the lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu searches for ‘body care’ rose by 750% year on year in March 2023, compared to a 56% increase in searches for ‘facial skincare’ over the same period.

C-beauty (Chinese beauty) bodycare brands are emerging to meet demand. Chillmore, for instance, is a popular new scented bodycare brand offering shower gels, body lotions, oils and deodorants designed for sensitive skin.

According to data from our Chinese Beauty Consumer Myths report with Hot Pot China, beauty ingredient knowledge is uniquely high in China, with more than 80% of women beauty buyers making purchases based on specific ingredients. The spike in demand for bodycare is thought to be driven by these ingredient-savvy consumers too, as they expect the same functional ingredients contained in their facial skincare items in their bodycare products.

Strategic opportunity

Bodycare is set to be big business in 2024. Skincare brands should diversify their product offerings by venturing into bodycare, tapping into the growing market demand for holistic beauty solutions driven by functional ingredients