LSN : Daily Signals : 23 : 03 : 23

Half of US employees would accept a pay cut if employers share the same values

The Future Laboratory

Global – A recent Qualtrics survey states that more than half of US employees would be willing to take a pay cut to work at a company that shares their values. There have been rapid changes in workplaces in the past two years, with workers re-evaluating their priorities and feeling newly empowered to seek flexibility and fulfilment in employment. Is this a sign that workers cannot focus only on their work but on the state of work and what makes it meaningful?

Join us on 28 March from 2:00pm to 2:40pm BST for an exclusive free webinar in which we will investigate the emergence of a new state-focused future of work.

We will look at the spaces built in response to workers’ burgeoning ideals and explore how businesses can create inspiring, creative and productive workplaces. The webinar will include a live Q&A with our experts and unveil Work States Futures, our first 2023 macrotrend.

RSVP Now

RSVP to this webinar for free here. As a member of LS:N Global, you get free access to all events via The Future Laboratory Community. Find out more and sign up here.

Meal delivery brand Entrée invites consumers to put on the big spread

Entrée. Identity by Saint-Urbain, US

US – Chef-made meal delivery service Entrée has enlisted Saint Urbain for a branding and packaging refresh, aiming to make the food start-up stand out in an increasingly saturated market.

Lockdowns have redefined many people’s relationship with takeaway food and helped propel meal kits into the mainstream. Established in 2016, Entrée, a food box start-up offering heat at-home fine dining meals, joined forces with Saint-Urbain studio to revisit its branding.

Rather than focusing on convenience, as many meal delivery services do, the updated Entrée is centred around setting the table, putting on a big spread and sitting down together to enjoy a meal – without the fuss of cooking. Entrée’s chef-created meals are delivered with heating and plating instructions and wine and music pairing recommendations. Laying the table also inspired the branding, with shapes and frames echoing the shapes of tablecloths, napkins, plates and dinner mats.

The new direction taken by Entrée taps into what we call Home Eatertainment, and the rising popularity of dinner parties and elevated tableware.

Strategic opportunity

Take cues from Entrée’s new image with table settings as core elements and invest in a subtle but substantial branding shift to stand out in a crowded market

Ganni repurposes fabric waste in new recycling scheme

Copenhagen – Danish fashion brand Ganni has unveiled an in-house recycling initiative to upcycle production waste into new garments. The scheme is being introduced to combat textile excess, particularly in T-shirts, where 20% of the brand’s leftover fabric is wasted, producing 12 tonnes of cotton scraps annually. Those scraps are being re-introduced to the production line through the new in–house recycling service.

Collaborating with its supply chain over 12 months to perfect the material, Ganni has successfully developed a new recycled yarn that contains 50% recycled cotton and 50% Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)-certified cotton.

‘Fashion supply chains are immensely complex and opaque, so things like waste streams are often ignored,’ says Ganni founder Nicolaj Reffstrup. The band’s innovation platform Fabrics of the Future continues to forge partnerships with innovators to build on their commitments to becoming more circular.

In our report on The Global Fashion Summit, we highlighted the innovators trying to build a net-positive fashion industry.

Ganni flagship store, London

Strategic opportunity

Overseeing every aspect of your supply chain will help identify swathes of production waste waiting to be upcycled

Stat: China’s HNWIs to spend more on personal luxuries

Ms MIN, China

China – A report released on 1 March by The Hurun Research Institute based on its Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2023 has found that 56% of China’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) plan to increase spending on personal luxuries over the next three years, a three percentage point rise over 2022.

The survey questioned 750 HNWIs: defined as those with average family assets of £5.3m ($6.5m, €6m) and investable wealth of £1.5m ($1.9m, €1.7m). Some 73% of those surveyed said they would increase spending on jewellery, with 67% saying they would spend more on watches and 64% on fashion. Favourite brands for men and women across gifting, jewellery, watches and fashion include Chanel, Gucci, Bulgari, Rolex, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Cartier.

The research also revealed that respondents thought the pursuit of fashion, satisfying daily demands and gifting were the three most important motivations to buy luxury goods. China’s domestic luxury sales boomed during the pandemic and a surge in post-lockdown shopping is expected to lead to a recovery in the luxury market, as discussed in our State of Luxury: Post-lockdown China report.

Strategic opportunity

Post-pandemic, luxury consumers in China will be on the lookout for unique in-store shopping experiences that brands should focus on enhancing to capture their attention and wallets