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Gucci enters the world of augmented reality

Gucci and Snap Inc

Miami – The fashion brand worked with Snap to create a luxury augmented reality (AR) experience.

The collaboration, which made its debut at Art Basel Miami, elevates the concept of AR spectacles. To show how the boundaries between film and reality can be blurred, director Harmony Korine was appointed to make a surreal short film overlaid with AR elements made visible through the glasses.

Korine and Gucci worked with Snap to create 50 limited-edition spectacles that allow wearers to capture 3D photos and videos before layering AR effects via their phone. 'Right now, we think about computing as something we do on our phone or our computer. In the future, with eyewear and other technologies, we can make computing seamlessly work with us,’ says Steen Strand, director of hardware at Snap.

Three years after the conception of Snap Spectacles, the brand is developing its AR technology to prepare for the rise of Programmable Realities.

Apothem marries CBD and botanical wellness

Apothem, UK

UK – CBD and botanicals are being brought together in the brand’s new range of body and skincare.

Apothem is focused on the tenets of purity and strength, combining ancient plants with the growth in CBD-based beauty products. To ensure it upholds sourcing standards, Apothem harvests from the first EU-registered crop of hemp in southern Spain, void of pesticides and heavy metals. Vegan, organically cultivated and cruelty-free, each of its products – which range from skin oils to bath salts – contain up to 8,000mg of CBD isolate, alongside ingredients such as arnica, white willow and echinacea. Together, the components are said to reduce swelling, relieve pain and stimulate the body’s immune system.

Amelia Baerlein, the brand’s co-founder and CEO, considers the products to be an additional part of consumers’ everyday wellbeing routine, stating: ‘We’re creating a new kind of wellness, one that’s accessible, flexible and practical.’ As people continue to seek holistic wellbeing practices, they’re looking for active ingredients that provide multi-functional benefits. For more, read our Total Beauty Market.

Eurostar entices the no-plane pioneers

UK – The high-speed rail service is reinforcing its position as the most sustainable choice for short-haul European travel.

Adding to the roster of environmental benefits train travel has long offered over air travel, Eurostar’s new commitments include its first ever plastic-free train. The service, which will run between London and Paris, eliminates single-use plastics by using wooden cutlery, recyclable cans of water and alternative paper-based coffee cups.

To further encourage consumers to choose rail over plane travel, from 1 January 2020 Eurostar will be planting a tree for every train service it operates. Working in partnership with several reforestation organisations, 20,000 additional trees will be planted every year in woodlands across the UK, France, Belgium and The Netherlands.

In this way, Eurostar is appealing to the growing number of people choosing to eschew air travel in favour of more sustainable alternatives. For more, read our Conscious Tourism Market.

Eurostar, Europe

Stat: Europeans recognise the importance of family dining

Many Europeans still consider family meal times to be important, according to research by Mintel. More than eight in 10 Spanish (84%), Italian (83%), and French (82%) consumers agree that eating a family meal is important, along with 79% of Polish, 78% of German and 75% of British people.

Despite this common belief, nearly a third of Europeans are eating every meal alone and are increasingly falling into solitary habits. According to the study, 40% of Polish people often dine alone, while a third of Britons (33%) eat every meal alone.

The study also highlights consumers’ reliance on technology as a key driver in the lack of engagement in family meal times. While Spanish people give family meals high priority, they’re also the most likely to use their phones to talk and text at the dinner table – with over half (55%) admitting to doing so. As some lose touch with the togetherness typically associated with meal times, a tribe of Kindred Diners are on a mission to re-establish dining as a pleasurable, community-based activity.