LSN : News : Need to know 24 : 08 :17

1. Frilly offers fully customisable luxury wardrobe

Herron autumn/winter 2017 by Frilly, Los Angeles

Los Angeles – New e-commerce site Frilly offers a vast range of made-to-order clothing from four luxury brands. Supplying an assortment of items, including skirts, dresses, jackets and trousers, Frilly provides the building blocks for an entire wardrobe of personalised garments.

After selecting a baseline style, customers can choose a fabric and customise features, such as the neckline or trouser length. These specifications are incorporated into the manufacture of the product at Frilly’s privately owned factory.

As e-commerce makes fashion more accessible to all, there is a growing interest in personalised items tailored to the individual. Brands such as adidas have already used technology to facilitate this growing interest in customised made-to-order fashion, but what sets Frilly apart is the breadth of its collection, which goes far beyond the idea of a single one-off item. For more, see our Print Me microtrend.

2. Waso takes novel approach to natural beauty

Waso by Shiseido and Wieden + Kennedy, Japan. Photography by Viviane Sassen

Japan – The campaign for Shiseido’s new skincare range, Waso, has been designed to appeal to a younger audience of digital natives. According to Shiseido, the images captured by photographer by Viviane Sassen depict ‘new faces in the Japanese wilderness’ to celebrate ‘beauty from the inside out’.

Designed to ‘treat the needs of Millennial skin’, Waso includes whole botanical cells from ingredients including carrot and honey to combat problems such as dryness, oiliness and visible pores.

By producing a series of photographs that resemble a high-end fashion campaign more closely than traditional skincare marketing, Waso demonstrates a more nuanced and sophisticated approach to the natural beauty aesthetic. For more on the next iteration of natural beauty, buy our Beauty Futures Report 2017.

3. Tesla plans to store driver profiles in the Cloud

US – Electric car brand Tesla has announced that it will begin storing its driver profiles, which detail preferences such as seat and steering wheel positions, in the Cloud. By allowing for personalisation without ownership, the move marks the next stage in the trend towards a post-ownership society.

Tesla’s CEO and founder Elon Musk announced the plan on Twitter, stating that ‘we are going to move all info and settings to the Cloud (aka server) so any Tesla you drive in the world automatically adjusts to you.’

As consumers move beyond the idea of car ownership, a data-rich user profile that develops with the individual, recording the evolution of his or her preferences, will become integral to ensuring brand loyalty. For more, see our Post-ownership Products microtrend.

Tesla X

4. Virtual reality music video attracts dancing fans

Dance Tonite by LCD Soundsystem

Global – LCD Soundsystem has collaborated with Google’s Data Art Team to launch Dance Tonite, a web-based virtual reality (VR) music video experience soundtracked by the band’s single Tonite.

Wearing a VR headset, the viewer enters a minimalist, virtual dance party, which extends across several virtual rooms. Dancing cylinders and cones, which represent real fans of the band who were captured dancing to the song, inhabit the virtual spaces.

The experience differs depending on the type of VR headset used. With a Daydream View device, participants can view performances around themselves, as if they were in the room with the dancers. Other VR systems, such as the Oculus Rift, enable users to add their own choreography. As seen in our Transmedia Music Videos microtrend, bands are looking beyond the traditional music video to keep their audiences engaged.

5. Chinese luxury consumers fuel sector growth

Spending by Chinese luxurians is predicted to give China the largest number of affluent households by 2021. A new report by McKinsey indicates that Chinese luxury consumers account for £5.8bn ($7.4bn, €6.3bn) in the sector’s annual spending, equivalent to almost a third of the global luxury market. For more on the changing face of luxury, see our Luxury Futures Report 2017.

6. Thought-starter: Could wellness be bad for the workplace?

Employee wellbeing is an increasing consideration for global businesses. But can it be bad for the office? The Future Laboratory’s senior writer Kathryn Bishop discusses the negative impacts of wellness in the workplace.

A recent CBRE workplace wellness report says 80% of employees say wellness programmes will be crucial to attracting and retaining them over the next 10 years. And by 2040, it is anticipated that European workplaces will often provide in-office medical facilities for employees.

According to the Global Wellness Institute, the corporate wellness industry is now worth more than £31bn ($40bn, €34bn) worldwide, highlighting the cost of workplace wellness pursuits. Yet, as meditation, rock climbing, life coaching and health checks enter the workplace, are they healthy distractions or negative disruptions? And what impact could they have on costs for businesses as workers become increasingly aware of their health?

In time, businesses will have to gauge their return on investment with regard to wellness programmes to ensure they are doing them as much good as they should their workers.

For more, read the full op-ed here.