Daily Signals 12.04.2024

Signals

Sherwin-Williams introduces The Loneliest Colour, Simar Deol’s Foresight Friday and why UK-based kids want to spend more time in nature.

Sherwin-Williams launches The Loneliest Colour paint campaign

The Loneliest Color by Sherwin-Williams, Global

US – For the last 14 years, Sherwin-Williams has celebrated a Colour of the Year. In 2024, the paint brand is taking a different tack, launching The Loneliest Colour campaign instead.

Kingdom Gold SW 6698 is a luminous golden-yellow colour with green undertones and high saturation. It is also the brand’s least popular and therefore ‘loneliest’ colour.

Sherwin-Williams has teamed up with fashion icon and author Dapper Dan on the campaign, a design visionary who reflects the project’s core values through his dedication to individuality, personality and creativity.

The project will be brought to life through eight one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art in the Kingdom Gold colour. They will be auctioned on eBay, with the proceeds donated to Habitat for Humanity and affiliate organisations in Dapper Dan's hometown of Harlem.

From Ikea’s Life is not a Catalogue campaign to Sherwin-Williams’ Loneliest Colour, it seems the interior design sector is taking a page out of beauty’s book and leaning into Anti-aspirational Aesthetics.

Strategic opportunity

Embrace anti-aspirational and authentic branding and campaign concepts to combat consumer fatigue with overly polished visuals to stand out amid market saturation

Peachy Den unveils heirloom collection celebrating female craftsmanship

Heirloom Collection by Peachy Den, Global Heirloom Collection by Peachy Den, Global
Heirloom Collection by Peachy Den, Global Heirloom Collection by Peachy Den, Global

UK – British fashion brand Peachy Den has unveiled the Peachy Preserve Series 1 Heirloom, a collection that pays homage to female craftsmanship through the revival of vintage handmade doilies. Once symbols of prestige and taste, these intricately stitched pieces have been upcycled with deconstructed men's shirts, breathing new life into forgotten domestic art.

Inspired by artist Rose English's exploration of women's work, Isabella Weatherby, Peachy Den's founder and creative director, said she wanted to dive deep into overlooked craftsmanship. The collection, meticulously crafted in Peachy Den's London atelier, bears the names of elderly relatives from the team, honouring their legacy. 'I’ve been looking at a lot of what my grandmother wore when I was growing up,' Weatherby told WWD. 'There was a lot of polka dots!'

Available exclusively at Peachy Den's Shoreditch pop-up, the collection features 12 garments priced between £80 ($101, €94) and £125 ($157, €146). The pop-up will also showcase works from other London-based female-owned brands, fostering a sense of community within the industry.

In Cultured Waste, we analyse how, as consumers tire of separating authentic sustainability claims from greenwashing, designers are using culture and heritage to cut through the noise.

Strategic opportunity

Craft narratives around your products that evoke nostalgia or celebrate craftsmanship. Highlighting the stories behind your products can deepen customer engagement and create emotional connections

Foresight Friday: Simar Deol, foresight analyst

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, foresight analyst Simar Deol dives into the joylessness of dating apps, the WNBA’s unique brand partnership and the Muslim Met Gala.

: TikTok is abound with users discussing their newfound BoySobriety and the challenges of dating in today’s digital realms. Dating horror stories aside, The Atlantic’s Lorna Kelley reveals how dating apps’ introduction of subscriptions and paid features are what is making these apps less enjoyable to use. This is especially true for younger audiences who got used to swiping for free and enjoyed the more playful side of digital love, as revealed in Video Dating Futures.

: Women might be ditching dating for now, but they’re showing up to support women’s sports teams. Last weekend’s NCAA basketball finals brought in 4.1m more viewers than the men's game. This could explain the number of partnerships the WNBA is closing, including its most recent branded collaboration with Opill, an over-the-counter birth control. WNBA players have been vocal about their struggles with birth control and the possible reality of being Women Without Kids.

: For some, the Met Gala represents the apex of high-fashion. Among the Muslim community of New York City, there is a different event that allows them the opportunity to express their identities through style – morning prayers for Eid al-Fitr. Beautifully captured for The New York Times, the city’s Muslim community gathered in Washington Square Park in a range of attires, paying homage to the multiplicity of their heritage and religion.

Quote of the week

'Paying for a dating-app subscription can feel like entering a lottery: exciting but potentially a waste of money (with an added dose of worry that you look desperate)'

Lora Kelley, associate editor, The Atlantic

Stat: British children want better access to nature and green space

Faces of Travel by Delta Air Lines and Adobe, US Faces of Travel by Delta Air Lines and Adobe, US

UK – A study from conservation charity The National Trust and children’s newspaper First News has revealed that 76% of children want to spend more time in nature, but nearly two-thirds (63%) of parents only take them once a week or less, citing accessibility as the main barrier.

Surveying 1,000 children aged seven to 14 and 1,000 parents in the UK, the report also identified that 31% of parents from lower-income households say the main barrier to accessing nature is cost and that more than half of children (56%) want better access to nature and green spaces.

In the leisure section of our Generation Alpha: From the Sandbox to Roblox macrotrend report, we dispelled the notion that Alphas are solely interested in digital experiences and showed that they have an appetite for outdoor play and in-person socialisation. Innovative AI Edu-play-tion brands are consequently tapping into technologies that augment the outdoors, appealing to the duality of Gen Alpha’s online-offline needs.

Strategic opportunity

How can your brand make outdoor spaces more accessible? Consider subsidising activities through vouchers included with your products or by sponsoring events in community green spaces such as parks or urban farms

Previous Daily Signals Articles
Niod’s anti-facial disrupts beauty’s clean narrative

Daily Signals

Niod’s anti-facial disrupts beauty’s clean narrative

Deciem’s science-led skincare brand Niod has launched a new campaign video subverting the polished conventions of beauty marketing by replacing ser...
Beauty : Advertising : Environment
Singapore moves to regulate blind boxes over gambling risks

Daily Signals

Singapore moves to regulate blind boxes over gambling risks

Singapore is set to become the first market to require blind box products to disclose the probability of obtaining specific items, as authorities a...
Retail : Toys : Blind Boxes
Stat: ‘My employer’ emerges as the most trusted institution

Daily Signals

Stat: ‘My employer’ emerges as the most trusted institution

The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, based on a survey of nearly 34,000 respondents across 28 countries, shows insularity reshaping how people re...
Work : Trust : Employers
The Salvation Army launches world’s first digital thrift store on Roblox

Daily Signals

The Salvation Army launches world’s first digital thrift store on Roblox

The Salvation Army is extending its resale model into gaming with the launch of Thrift Score, translating the charity’s bricks-and-mortar thrift fo...
Fashion : Retail : Digital
Lyma builds an integrated operating system for skincare

Daily Signals

Lyma builds an integrated operating system for skincare

British medtech company Lyma has launched an AI-powered wellness app that extends its skincare proposition into a fully connected digital ecosystem.
Beauty : Wellness : Medtech
Stat: How Chinese and Indian travellers are driving Asia-Pacific outbound travel

Daily Signals

Stat: How Chinese and Indian travellers are driving Asia-Pacific outbound travel

Outbound travel from Asia-Pacific is accelerating, but not all markets are growing at the same pace, according to new research from MMGY.
Travel : Hospitality : Tourism
Nothing turns retail into a community engine in Bengaluru

Daily Signals

Nothing turns retail into a community engine in Bengaluru

Consumer electronics brand Nothing has opened its first Indian retail space in Bengaluru, drawing more than 2,000 people to queue on 14 February 2026.
Retail : Technology : Design
OpenAI retires GPT-4o, prompting digital grief among users

Daily Signals

OpenAI retires GPT-4o, prompting digital grief among users

OpenAI has removed access to GPT-4o, sparking backlash from users who say the model was more than just a productivity tool.
Technology : AI : Connection
Stat: Vinted becomes the UK’s third-largest fashion retailer amid second-hand boom

Daily Signals

Stat: Vinted becomes the UK’s third-largest fashion retailer amid second-hand boom

New data from SpendMapper shows Vinted is now the third-largest fashion retailer in the UK, behind Primark and Next.
Fashion : Sustainability : Vinted
Depop taps Kelis to spotlight resale’s everyday returns

Daily Signals

Depop taps Kelis to spotlight resale’s everyday returns

Depop is doubling down on the everyday value of secondhand fashion with the launch of Depoponomics, a new US campaign championing resale as a means...
Sustainability : Depop : Resale
You have 2 free Daily Signals remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles.
BECOME A MEMBER
SIGN IN