LSN : News : Gentle Monster unites brands in a retail experiment

The Future Laboratory unveils its Inter-Covid Roadmap Webinar

Inter-Covid Roadmap Webinar

Global – The Future Laboratory’s Inter-Covid Roadmap Webinar showcases new inter-Covid opportunities in six key sectors for global brands and businesses.

With the Covid-19 vaccine rollout offering a chance to rebuild our societies and economies, our on-demand webinar explores the innovations and opportunities available to businesses one year into the global pandemic.

In the webinar we examine how Covid-19 has rapidly accelerated disruption across sectors such as retail, travel and hospitality, food and drink, beauty and wellness, media and technology, and luxury and fashion. In addition, a practical set of Lab Notes help businesses plan for the now and the next of this global reset.

Members of LS:N Global can stream the Inter-Covid Roadmap Webinar here, with a report version of the webinar available to read here. To uncover extra strategic foresight to navigate the impact of the pandemic or if you would like to discuss our inter-Covid research in more detail, please get in touch via thefuturelaboratory.com.

Gentle Monster unites brands in a retail experiment

Haus Dosan by Gentle Monster, South Korea

South Korea – Eyewear brand Gentle Monster has created an avant-garde multi-brand retail space, pointing to a new direction for department store design.

Haus Dosan spans five floors, each with a unique creative direction. The external brand spaces include cosmetics brand Tamburins and eatery Nudake. Tamburins make-up is showcased among kinetic sculptures, while Nudake’s floor seeks to bring on a mediative state using mood lighting so visitors can focus on the taste of its desserts.

With this retail endeavour, Gentle Monster has extended its unique in-store experience to other brands in a way that subverts traditional department stores. The luxury brand has plans to mirror the Haus concept on a larger scale in Shanghai.

In Inspiration Per Square Foot, we explore the immersive retail locations that invoke consumers' curiosity in physical stores.

Arches closes the loop on fashion’s carbon cycle

Arches, US

New York and Lisbon – Arches is a new clothing brand promoting a circular system of consumption by addressing multiple aspects of the carbon cycle.

The brand, which offers high-quality fashion basics, is re-inventing wasteful clothing lifecycles by introducing a buy-back programme as well as a deadstock collection. To enable a more transparent garment journey, each product will be encoded with a ‘birth certificate’ in the form of a QR code label. Through the label, wearers can gain access to information about the garment’s origins – as well as return their items to the brand at any point and in any condition.

Alan Shikverg, founder and CEO of Arches, explains: ‘We’re breaking down the barriers of high fashion factories in Portugal and producing B2B basics that are designed for long lifecycles, while still at a price point that is accessible to smaller designers, organisations and brands.’

In this way, Arches is taking a holistic approach to circularity and going beyond innovations for deadstock design.

Stat: Luxurians are seeking second passports

Garden Home, Airbnb

Affluent consumers are looking to expand their residential status, with many looking to other countries for long-term properties.

Research by real estate consultancy Knight Frank indicates this in its Wealth Report 2021, which finds that nearly a quarter of UHNWIs are planning to apply for a second passport or citizenship – a rise of 50% in a year. And with some 84% expecting to travel less this year, desire for increased global mobility suggests an increase in long-term international stays or permanent residencies.

Meanwhile, some countries have also experienced significant growth in house prices in the past 12 months – with the biggest rise in Auckland, New Zealand, with an 18% increase in average property prices. This growth reflects the nation’s effective handling of the pandemic and people’s growing desire for countries that prioritise health and wellbeing.

As we identify in Liberation Luxury, affluent consumers are seeking to untether themselves from traditional citizenships and embark on a life of footloose living.