LSN : News : This chocolate brand is pro-GMO

Soho House re-imagines the roadside motel

Mollie’s Motel & Diner, UK

Mollie's Motel & Diner, UK

Oxfordshire – Mollie’s Motel & Diner is the first in a series of affordable hospitality spaces coming to motorways across the UK.

Inspired by Americana, Mollie’s is a motel, diner and drive-through, located close to members’ club Soho Farmhouse. Its 79 bedrooms, including interconnected family and bunk rooms, have been curated by Soho House Design and feature the brand’s signature luxuries such as rainforest showers and Cowshed toiletries.

The motel also offers a general store, spaces for co-working and an app that can be used for seamless check-in and check-out, keyless entry and ordering room service.

‘It’s been a long-standing passion project of mine to have a go at re-inventing the British roadside experience,’ says Nick Jones, founder of Soho House. ‘My aim with the first Mollie’s Motel & Diner is to offer affordable style for everyone to eat, drink and sleep over.’

Long considered elitist spaces, private members’ clubs are diversifying and becoming more accessible for all.

PWDR is a new take on water-free beauty

PWDR, US

US – The emerging beauty brand’s powdered products are designed to be mixed with water just before application.

By formulating products without water, the brand says it can remove preservatives, emulsifiers and stabilisers, which some consumers are sensitive to. The three-product range comprises a powder-to-crème face wash, a powdered serum that includes hyaluronic acid, vitamins B5 and B3, and silk peptides, as well as a treatment oil to lock in moisture.

PWDR’s purist philosophy is also underscored by environmental consciousness, and this new generation of dry but water-soluble skincare aims to reduce excess packaging and shipping emissions. ‘Our powdered products are packaged and shipped in smaller, lighter, water-free form, cutting down on both packaging and shipping weight,’ founder Carrington Snyder told Well + Good. The brand also plans to launch a subscription service allowing its customers to order refills in compostable packets. As such, PWDR demonstrates the evolution of Waterless Beauty at a time when beauty consumers are considering their impact on the environment.

Amazon lockers are heading to Coachella

California – The e-commerce giant will allow festival-goers to order essential items such as sunscreen, phone chargers and camping gear online for pick-up on site.

Customers are able to order items in advance or for same-day collection at the festival, with no extra charge to use the on-site lockers. When an order is placed, shoppers simply change their shipping address to the lockers at check-out, with a barcode sent to their phone when their items are ready to collect.

Amazon already operates lockers in apartment blocks and stores in more than 900 cities across the US, offering an alternative for customers who are not able to take deliveries at home or work.

This new offering aims to translate this ease of collection to a festival setting, allowing convenience-driven Millennial and Generation Z customers to maximise their festival experience without the worry of forgotten items.

For more on the growth of the festival sector, read our Festival Market.

Amazon locker at Coachella

This chocolate brand is pro-GMO

Ethos Chocolate

Washington – Ethos Chocolate is a new line of limited-edition chocolate sourced from cacao crops that have been saved, improved or protected by biotechnology.

The range has been launched as part of an initiative to demystify genetically modified (GMO) farming, led by a non-profit-making coalition of 1,600 farmers. Each of the four Ethos Chocolate bars contain sustainably grown cacao and are symbolic of the ways in which GMO is playing a role in solving real-world food challenges.

The Optimist bar, for example, reflects how genetic engineering is protecting cacao trees in the Dominican Republic, while The Survivor is a tribute to how GMO has saved Hawaii’s papaya industry from the papaya ring spot virus.

With reports suggesting that cacao is heading for extinction as soon as 2050, Ethos Chocolate aims to reframe genetic engineering in a positive light. ‘We want to help educate the public on the value of GMO farming and the positive impact biotechnology can have on a local and global scale,’ says Rebecca Larson, the project’s lead scientist. For more on the future of food supply chains, read our Uprooted Diets macrotrend.

Stat: Americans are opting out of romantic activities

Valentine’s Day is becoming progressively less popular in the US, according to the National Retail Federation. While 63% of Americans celebrated the holiday in 2008, this number dropped to just over half (51%) in 2019. However, those who are engaging with Valentine’s Day are spending more money than ever – Americans this year are expected to spend 6% more than in 2018.

This year, the average Valentine’s Day spend per person is expected to be £126 ($162, €144), with men far outspending women. Men are expected to spend £179 ($229.54, €204) on average, more than double the £78 ($99.77, €89) women plan to spend.

Increasingly, consumers are identifying with an anti-romantic sentiment that does not prioritise amorous love. Get in touch to be the first to know about our forthcoming macrotrend and consumer tribe, which will explore the brand implications of uncoupledom.

Thought-starter: Is sunscreen doing more harm than good?

SPF product sales are rising, but so are cases of skin cancer. Sylvie Giret, founder of Skinergies, explains why the narrative around sunscreen and skincare needs to evolve.

According to Skinergies founder Sylvie Giret, sunscreen may not be the cure-all experts have claimed. ‘I began to question the science that claimed that sunscreen is the only protection against skin cancer and that the sun is really bad,’ she says. ‘Research now shows that we need the sun to synthesise vitamin D, serotonin and a lot of good things for our health.’

Through research, Giret discovered the concept of photo-adaptation, ‘which is a natural processs that our skin uses to generate its own sun protection. That’s what inspired me to start Skinergies. I wanted to show that our bodies could naturally generate a first level of sun protection,’ she explains.

'For me, suncare is about three things – prevention, protection and repair. If you look at how the market is structured today in terms of products, there is nothing about prevention. It will be a big part of the future of suncare.'

Read the full Q&A here.