Need to Know
12 : 07 : 18

London – Designer Dilara Findikoglu has entered the bridalwear market with a collection that breaks away from traditional gendered garments.

Entitled Die for Love, the bridal range is designed with gay men, lesbians and non-binary couples in mind, but shies away from the typical white wedding dress, creating red, pink and black alternatives. Findikoglu has also created an option for the single woman; an all-black dress for women to demonstrate self-love.

‘There haven’t been any other brands that consider same-sex marriages when designing wedding lines,’ she tells Dazed magazine. ‘I wanted to change how limited wedding traditions have been in the past and be more inclusive.’

To support the collection, Findikoglu partnered with Nowness to create a film featuring real couples discussing their views on love and marriage. With the bridal industry slow to embrace shifting attitudes around gender and identity, the collection emphasises how it should change to fit with the Post-family mindset.

New York – After branching into various industries, from fitness to education, WeWork has entered the retail sector with WeMRKT. Based in the brand’s Tribeca co-working space, the store only sells items created by members from its database – from healthy snacks and stationery to branded apparel.

The concept, which is set to roll-out across WeWork’s US locations, is a reimagined version of the brand’s original Honesty Market, offering a rotating selection of products. Members who wish to have their products featured and bypass the expensive overheads of bricks-and-mortar retail will have the option to compete with other brands in a quarterly pitch night held by WeWork.

Companies such as WeWork and Bodega are creating a new category of retail space that infiltrates the place consumers spend much of their day – the workplace.

US – Electronics brand Bose has launched its wireless Sleepbuds – its first product designed to mask noise and improve sleep.

The earbuds are Bose’s smallest-ever product and come with ‘sleeptracks’ that mimic the frequencies of noises such as snoring, dogs and traffic, concealing them beneath a layer of sleep-inducing audio. With these features, the Sleepbuds can optimise the wearer’s sleep for up to 16 hours.

‘Noise-masking is a science,’ says Daniel Lee, systems engineer for Bose Sleepbuds. ‘It’s more than ambient sound or white noise. You can’t achieve it by simply turning up the volume on calming songs.’

With sleep deprivation costing the US economy $411 billion a year, the market for products that optimise sleep is booming and motivating companies such as Bose to reconsider how they design audio technology.

According to a recent study by analytics software firm Calabrio, customers are placing greater importance on human service than the digital tools companies have been investing in, such as chatbots and self-service machines.

However, customers appreciate the choice that both types of service offer. Of those surveyed, 74% said they would be more loyal to a business that gives them the option to speak to a human rather than businesses that rely solely on digital channels.

As more retailers roll out digital services to automate their stores, the future is undoubtedly heading towards ultra-convenience. However, with human touch still key to any business, there lies an opportunity to reposition this level of service as a luxury.