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The Future Laboratory unveils Home Eatertainment

London – The Future Laboratory hosted its Food & Drink Futures Forum yesterday at our Elder Street HQ, where we presented the trends that will shape the sector in the coming year.

From New-wave Aperitifs to Next-generation Protein, we discussed how health and sustainability are investing the food and drink industry with a new sense of purpose. We also launched our latest food and drink macrotrend, Home Eatertainment, which explores how the home is set to play a renewed role in the way we eat, drink and entertain.

We also premiered our latest tribe, Kindred Diners, which profiles consumers on a quest to once again make eating pleasurable, convivial and thoughtful. To bring this to life, The Future Laboratory partnered with Blanch & Shock to create four desserts that each embody the different values of one of four of our different food and drink Tribes.

Due to high demand, we have organised a second date for our Food & Drink Futures Forum at the Corinthia London on 27 November. Tickets are now available in The Future Laboratory Shop.

Patagonia makes unwearable clothing wearable again

Patagonia ReCrafted, US

US – ReCrafted is a new fashion line made from garments that would otherwise have gone to landfill.

Patagonia is transforming damaged goods into entirely new products at its Reno Repair Center in Los Angeles. In 2017, the brand launched Worn Wear, an initiative that invites customers to bring items they no longer want, which are refurbished and sold on an online marketplace.

The ReCrafted service, meanwhile, focuses on items that are beyond repair, turning them into a new collection that includes down jackets, sweaters, T-shirts and bags. The items, which retail for up to £250 ($327, €292), are part of Patagonia’s strategy to extend the lifetime of its garments and lower each item’s environmental footprint.

Patagonia is one brand leading the way in championing a Whole-system Thinking mindset, as well as being part of a bigger movement to reconsider the end of its products.

A news-first social network empowering its users

UK – Created by founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales, WT.Social is taking a stand against data-driven business models.

The new social network will not sell user data and relies on the generosity of individual donors instead of advertising. The platform is focused on news and will allow members to edit misleading headlines in an effort to combat fake news. Furthermore, articles will be shared chronologically, rather than appearing algorithmically.

To subscribe to the platform, members must pay £10 ($12.65, €11.45) a month or £80 ($101.20, €91.60) a year. According to Wales, WT.Social has amassed more than 200,000 users just days after its launch. ‘People won’t use it because it is WT.Social,’ the news site says. ‘Facebook, Twitter and other social networks make revenue based on how long you stay on their site looking at and clicking on advertising,’ said Wales in a blog post. ‘Our goal is not clicks but actually being meaningful to your life.’

As explored in our macrotrend Liberation Luxury, a new wave of Privacy Platforms are forming online as a way for consumers to regain control over digital media.

WT.Social

Stat: The text commerce opportunity for brands

Email is no longer the optimal way to reach consumers, according to the 2020 Mobile Consumer Engagement Study by Sinch. The global study found that 40% of consumers admit to having at least 50 unread emails in their inbox, while nearly one in 10 admit to having over 1,000. In addition, young consumers are savvy when it comes to spam – 40% of Millennials and Generation Z maintain a unique email address just for spam emails.

However, the report reveals an opportunity for brands to experiment with mobile messaging, as consumers are considerably less likely to leave unread text messages. Sinch found that just 4% of respondents have 50 or more unread messages on their mobile device.

Text Commerce has evolved since its conception in 2015, as brands turn to messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook to reach customers on a more personal level.