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Freitag takes DIY fashion online

Sweat-Yourself-Shop by Freitag, Zurich

Zurich – Swiss brand Freitag is offering its micro-factory concept online, inviting shoppers to make customised bags out of recycled tarpaulins virtually.

Extending its create-your-own offer to Freitag customers around the world, the Sweat-Yourself-Shop offers private bag design sessions via video call. The initiative digitises the brand’s micro-factory concept: a workshop-style storefront that opened in 2019 and invites customers into the production process.

During the sessions, callers can customise their Freitag bag and select from a wide range of upcycled tarpaulins, which are pieced together to create a customised F718 BUH bag. With guidance from staff, customers can pick out a front and back side, a bottom for the bag and a pair of handles. The finished product will then be delivered ready-sewn in a few weeks.

As we explore in the Makers Market, we are entering a new phase of creative consumption as consumers seek alternatives to mass-produced goods.

Highsnobiety’s toolkit for open-source sustainability

Waves of Change by Allbirds and Highsnobiety, US

US – The youth media outlet has worked with sustainable fashion brand Allbirds to launch the six-part toolkit.

Both companies hold a mutual mission to address the role that fashion plays in increasing carbon emissions with Waves of Change, using shareable social media content to spread this message in an urgent manner, hoping to trigger improvements in local communities and other businesses.

The collaborative platform contains resources that readers can share with their wider community, including downloadable cheat sheets, pre-populated email templates to send to businesses and governments, petition shortlists, a local organisation finder and a sustainability directory. A section of the website is also dedicated to telling the stories of smaller, eco-friendly brands.

In our microtrend Open-Source Sustainability we spotlight the accessible platforms that offer materials, insight and education to encourage more eco-friendly outputs.

Visa gamifies financial literacy in Malaysia

Malaysia – The payment service provider has announced the launch of Mind Your Ringgit, a game to educate children on making financial decisions.

Mind Your Ringgit – which takes its name from the acronym for Malaysia’s currency (MYR) – is a simulation game that takes place over the span of a year. Each month, players are presented with scenarios depicting real-life events, and they are able to resolve the situations by making healthy financial decisions. The game incorporates a range of financial themes, from digital payments to investments and financial scams.

According to Visa, the game – which will be launched in 2021 – is designed to challenge young Malaysians in their thought process when managing finances, as well as to teach them financial concepts and grasp the consequences of their decisions. The initiative is in line with the National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2019-–2023, a five-year plan that aims to improve Malaysia’s level of financial literacy.

With Gen Alpha viewing money as a predominantly digital concept, brands such as Visa are helping to gamify financial education without turning such games into a novelty.

Mind Your Ringgit by Visa, Malaysia

Stat: Dependence on hospitality tech grows amid Covid-19

H Beauty by Harrods, UK

As the pandemic continues to hit the hospitality sector, technology is being used to reassure nervous consumers during the inter-Covid period.

According to a recent UK study by agency KAM Media and OrderPay, 92% of consumers want hospitality locations to communicate safety measures and procedures through their website or app. They are particularly keen to know about a venue’s current busyness, which over a third (37%) of respondents would like to be updated on. In addition, the availability of mobile phone ordering in a hospitality venue has become more important to 41% of UK adults over the past six months.

‘Customers want to feel safe,’ explains Katy Moses, managing director at KAM Media. She adds: 'A tech-enhanced customer experience must contribute to their needs and desires, not make their lives more complicated.’

For more on how Covid-19 offers restaurateurs an opportunity to integrate technology into future dining spaces, read our Pandemic Dining Market.