Need to Know
12 : 12 : 18

UK – Youth travel collective Trippin has collaborated with sustainable wellness brand Mimo Cha to release a playfully branded travel oil for plane journeys.

The Lucid Sweet Dreams – or LSD – oil roller is part of a wider collection of merchandise, which includes a travel utility bag, t-shirt and eye mask. The oil is designed to help users fall asleep on longer flights and is comprised of organic ingredients known for their calming properties including chia seed oil, lavender, rose and patchouli.

The company is on a mission to inject the contemporary voice of Generation Z into the travel industry, which has a history of relying on an outdated view of young travellers. Alongside running an editorial site, Trippin has an app that treats travel recommendations like playlists, allowing users to follow likeminded tastemakers around the world.

With its irreverent, youth-focused marketing, Trippin is demonstrating how brands can creatively target emerging youth travellers.

Bali – Ijen, a new restaurant at Potato Head Beach Club, is the first eatery in Indonesia to embrace a circular concept in both its menu and interior design.

As its owner, Potato Head has a history of sustainable practices, but Ijen demonstrates further commitment to environmentally friendly business. According to the Ijen site, all food remnants are sent to its own nearby composting site or local farms, while its menus are printed on sustainably-harvested paper and bound to boards made from recycled truck tyres.

The restaurant's open-air dining area features a terrazzo-style floor made from a mix of concrete, broken plates and chipped drinking glasses, while its furniture is made with foam offcuts from motorcycle upholstering and ethically-sourced mersawa wood. The kitchen also practices responsible sourcing with hand-reeling fishing and low-impact cooking techniques.

Zero-waste restaurants are changing how and where consumers eat. Earlier this year, the Finnish cultural institute commissioned the temporary Zero Waste Bistro at NYCxDesign, which was similarly built using upcycled food packaging and industrial waste, allowing it to be easily composted after the fair.

London – Shoppers are required to travel to a selected Craigslist seller’s house in London in order to purchase the collection from Nike.

The sports brand's highly anticipated collaboration with menswear designer Martine Rose went live on 8 December, with Rose posting on Instagram that buyers would not be able to purchase the covetable pieces online or in stores, but only via classified ads on Craigslist.

The classified ads were posted by three real Londoners – a 60-year-old painter and decorator, a teenage Nike enthusiast and a photography student who raises ferrets. Consumers are then required to get in contact with them personally in order to purchase the collection and arrange a pick-up time.

With this approach, Rose is challenging customers to seek out her products in a nontraditional space, and is purposefully creating friction in the path to purchase. For more on how far brands are willing to go to create hype, read our Market.

While the adoption rate of electric vehicles (EVs) is still relatively low, half of respondents in a new McKinsey & Company study say they would consider buying a battery electric or hybrid vehicle for their next car. However, the study found that cost remains a major concern for consumers, with more than 60% saying that they would not pay a premium for an EV.

McKinsey & Company also explored consumer sentiment towards autonomous vehicles (AVs), finding that 46% of respondents are open to this technology – a figure that jumps to 58% for those living in large cities. The study was based on responses from consumers in the US, Germany and China, which remain significant markets for automotive companies.

With the market for EVs spearheaded by luxury car manufacturers, the study shows there is potential for cost-effective models, especially for urban dwellers. Last month, Danish company Biomega released an affordable EV made with minimal modular components.