News 19.07.2022

Need to Know

A Vagina Academy celebrating vulva diversity, an art gallery restoring soil health, and India braces for extreme population growth.

Canesten develops a vulva education platform

The Truth, Undressed by Canesten, UK
The Truth, Undressed by Canesten, UK
The Truth, Undressed by Canesten, UK

UK – While idealised images of women’s bodies abound online, anatomically accurate depictions of vulvas are scarce. Tackling this issue, intimate health brand Canesten has launched the The Truth, Undressed, an educational platform intended to dispel common misconceptions and empower women and girls aged 11–18 to learn more about their genitalia.

The platform is part of the company’s Vagina Academy, an ongoing initiative to educate consumers about vulval and vaginal anatomy and health. To dispel the harmful notion that all vulvas look the same, the platform includes a library of images celebrating the anatomical diversity that can exist among women. The platform also focuses on vaginal health and offers educational resources about infections. 'We live in a world where porn is readily available on the internet, yet many young people don’t know the first thing about what kinds of infections there are or even what the vulva is supposed to look like,’ explains Daria Costantini, brand lead for Canesten.

Encouraging people to control of their sexual health and wellbeing, the initiative is part of the Sex Re-Education movement in which young people are seeking more realistic and inclusive perspectives.

Strategic opportunity

How can companies prompt conversations about vulval health? Consider using the word ‘vulva’ openly and directly on packaging or in a campaign to remove stigma and sexual connotations

ISTO promotes slow fashion through tourism

Factourism by ISTO Factourism by ISTO
Factourism by ISTO Factourism by ISTO

Portugal – The sustainable fashion brand is taking inspiration from food and wine tours to promote its eco-conscious practices. Through its Factourism concept, the brand is positioning its factories as tourist destinations, where people can learn about the process of how organic clothes are made. The first tour is set to follow the journey of a white cotton T-shirt, starting with the weaving of the fabric and ending with the sewing-in of the label, and the brand plans to eventually offer hosted visits and guided tours across its factories.

While the brand is known for its ethical production and product transparency – with each price tag including a full price breakdown of the item’s cost – ISTO’s Factourism concept aims to solidify its claims in an accessible and tangible way. ‘We want to demonstrate that everything we tell [you] is true,’ says Pedro Palha, partner at ISTO. ‘That it really is made [sustainably] in Portugal.’

The launch of the new initiative heralds the brand showcasing an approach to open-source sustainability that provides material insight and education for its customers.

Strategic opportunity

Beyond fashion, brands across sectors should invite customers to discover their sustainable processes as a way of building trust and loyalty in a confusing landscape

Regenerative eating arrives at the Serpentine gallery

London – As part of the museum’s Back to Earth programme, the Serpentine Gallery has enlisted culinary art collective Cooking Sections to re-imagine the menu of its restaurant, The Magazine. The menu now includes three dishes that showcase the potential for adaptive and ecologically conscious food systems to target the climate crisis.

The three dishes – designed in collaboration with chef Tomas Kolkus and British catering company Benugo – are prepared with ingredients grown using regenerative practices, such as vegetables that enhance soil quality. British chickpea and spinach hummus on YQ bread and bonfire potatoes with seaweed butter are among the new menu offerings. ‘YQ’ stands for Yield Quality flour, which is flour that has been cultivated from fields with individual plants that are genetically unique instead of more common, industrial monocultures.

With plans to introduce its Climate-Positive approach to cultural institutions across the UK, Cooking Sections is aiming to transform the restaurant into a site for regenerative eating and healing. ‘It’s about setting the framework under which chefs, cooks, anyone, can develop to their own needs and scale,’ explains Alon Schwabe, co-founder of Cooking Sections.

The Magazine restaurant at Serpentine North Gallery, London

Strategic opportunity

Food companies should consider collaborating with collectives like Cooking Sections to create products that have been made using regenerative principles

Stat: India is on track to being the most populous country

Photography by Yogendra Singh, India Photography by Yogendra Singh, India

While China has led the way in recent years with its vast population of 1.4bn, India is set to take over as the world’s most populous country in 2023, according to research by the UN. These figures come as China experiences one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, at 1.15 children per woman.

More generally, the UN also notes that, by November 2022, the planet will be home to 8bn people. But this growth is happening unevenly, with more than half of the world’s population increase in the next 30 years set to happen in just eight countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.

With the world’s population in a state of flux, young people are set to drastically redefine the state of society. Already in India, the influx of Generation Zalpha is leading to new models of progress.

Strategic opportunity

With eight countries on track to experience significant population growth in the next 30 years, there is an opportunity for brands and organisations to create youth-focused programmes that nurture these new generations

Previous News Articles
Spktrl’s AI diamond ring aims to cut screen time

News

Spktrl’s AI diamond ring aims to cut screen time

Parisian start-up Spktrl is reimagining wearable technology with the launch of its AI-powered Light Ring, a piece of high jewellery designed to cur...
Wellness : Augmented Human : The Synthocene Era
Represent launches in-person fitness competition 247 Mission Rivington

News

Represent launches in-person fitness competition 247 Mission Rivington

British fashion brand Represent has held its first-ever fitness event, 247 Mission Rivington, with 100 athletes competing in a 12‑hour endurance ch...
Sport : Fashion : Fitness
Stat: Technological innovation is driving the future of beauty

News

Stat: Technological innovation is driving the future of beauty

Wealth divides, digital tools and regional identity are reshaping the international beauty market, according to The State of Fashion: Beauty Volume...
Statistic : Stat : Beauty
AI-generated images of animals in plastic help WWF-Korea raise awareness about pollution

News

AI-generated images of animals in plastic help WWF-Korea raise awareness about pollution

WWF-Korea has launched Animal Trash Fashion, a powerful out-of-home campaign using AI to starkly illustrate the devastating impact of plastic pollu...
Sustainability : Design : Advertising
Rixo launches pre-loved resale platform

News

Rixo launches pre-loved resale platform

British fashion brand Rixo is expanding its circular ambitions with the launch of Rixo Pre-Loved, a resale platform where customers buy and sell it...
Retail : Fashion : Sutainability
Stat: Global business travel spending hits historic high

News

Stat: Global business travel spending hits historic high

Business travel is set to reach a record £1.18 trillion ($1.57 trillion, €1.36 trillion) by the end of 2025, according to ...
Stat : Statistic : Global Travel Market
Axe gamifies fragrance sampling with arcade-inspired bus stop activation

News

Axe gamifies fragrance sampling with arcade-inspired bus stop activation

Axe is making fragrance sampling fun again with a new campaign for its Cherry Fizz body spray.
Advertising : Fragrance : Retail
New wearable tracks hydration levels in real time

News

New wearable tracks hydration levels in real time

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a non-invasive wearable that continuously monitors hydration levels in real time.
Wearable Technology : Healthcare : Hydration
Stat: Online resale is booming in Britain

News

Stat: Online resale is booming in Britain

Online resale is booming in Britain, with pre-owned shopping now worth £4.3bn ($5.8bn, €5bn) annually and is set to rise to £4.8bn ($6.4bn, €5.5bn)...
Retail : Fashion : Technology
Prada’s 2025 Qixi campaign turns Shanghai’s bridges into a stage for love

News

Prada’s 2025 Qixi campaign turns Shanghai’s bridges into a stage for love

Prada’s campaign for the 2025 Qixi Festival – often referred to as Chinese Valentine’s Day – reimagines China’s legendary love tale through an...
Luxury : Fashion : Chinese Folklore
You have 2 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles.
BECOME A MEMBER
SIGN IN