Need to Know
12 : 08 : 19

New York – Body positivity activist Charli Howard has created a beauty line aimed at young women.

Squish Beauty is founded on the principle of celebrating diversity and beauty quirks. The brand, launched by Howard, an author, model and activist, features a range of playful beauty products including a cherry-shaped eye and cheek mask, floral acne patches and jelly lip gloss.

The eye and cheek mask contains collagen, hyaluronic acid, lavender oil and aloe vera to de-puff the under-eye and cheek areas. In the shape of a cherry, the mask offers a kitsch take on typically clinical-looking skincare products. The acne patches are disguised as flowers, designed to be worn overnight to gently absorb the fluid. The campaign features a diverse range of models including those with acne to encourage girls to make light of their blemishes.

Young people and brands such as Squish are leading a movement towards the acceptance of acne, a skin condition that has long been steeped in stigma.

Sardinia – Miniwiz, a circular economy engineering company, has opened a concept store that accepts plastic waste as a form of currency.

Located in Porto Cervo in Sardinia, Exchange by Miniwiz stocks a range of products made from upcycled, single-use plastic and packaging waste. Instead of cash, the pop-up accepts post-consumer waste in exchange for products such as colourful tiles and lampshades, which are made on-site from recycled materials.

The store is equipped with Miniwiz’s Trashpresso machine and its Robin smart rubbish bin that tracks and sorts waste into types. This information is then converted into points that the consumer can save within the proprietary Robin app and use to buy items in the store. In addition to displaying the types of waste that Miniwiz is transforming, the store features a range of furniture made from discarded materials and will host various workshops on upcycling.

Other innovators such as Plastic Bank are also looking to turn waste into currency. For more, read our round-up of the 2018 edition of Stockholm’s Me Convention.

New York – The fashion software company has launched a new e-commerce platform that re-invents product discovery online.

Shop Obsess comprises a collection of virtual stores, which collectively provide a unique, immersive and contextual 360-degree shopping experience. Rendered in CGI, the stores contain a range of products spanning fitness, travel and wellness, with each designed to move online shopping beyond the traditional grid of thumbnails.

Previously, Obsess used augmented and virtual reality to create engaging e-commerce experiences for brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Levi’s, but Shop Obsess is the company’s first own e-commerce destination. ‘We aim to be a shopping destination bringing together the values important to the new generation of consumers and new generation of brands, all in the context of beautiful, inspiring, visual discovery experiences,’ says founder Neha Singh.

As the lines between e-commerce, entertainment and socialising continue to blur, retailers need to continue exploring ways to make online shopping more engaging.

About 60% of American shoppers have said they would adjust which retailers they shop with if the Trump administration’s proposed 10% tariff on Chinese imports comes into effect on 1 September, according to a study by Shopkick.

As many as 44% said they would cut back on shopping, while a further 25% would switch to buying products made in America. This demonstrates the potential opportunities for locally made products, something that we explored in our report The American Middle. With toys, fashion and electronics most affected by the tariffs, a significant 29% of consumers are stockpiling their favourite items already. According to the study, retailers such as Walmart, Target and Costco, which sell low-cost items, could be the most vulnerable if prices increase.

As political and environmental uncertainty drives consumers to stock up on goods, we question whether this fetishisation of disaster is damaging for society. Read more here.