Need to Know
20 : 02 : 23

Portugal – French-Egyptian designer Christian Louboutin, who is best known for his signature scarlet-soled shoes, is opening a luxury hotel in Portugal. Named Vermelho, (meaning red in Portuguese, referencing Louboutin’s shoes), it is located in the coastal village of Melides, where the designer’s home, atelier and compound are.

Vermelho’s interior pairs inlaid wooded floors with extravagant furnishings, including customised mosaics and hand-painted murals. The lavish 13-room hotel is decorated with statement pieces such as a baldachin bed and a monkey-shaped rattan table, North African and European antiques hand-picked by Louboutin, and it also has a suite that pays homage to the designer’s Egyptian heritage.

Hotels are the next retail frontier, offering consumers the opportunity to engage with the essence of a brand and build loyalty through immersive experiences. Although not a space of direct commerce for Louboutin, Vermelho does allow guests to connect to the styles and local culture that inspire the designer and fuel his brand – a strategy we explore in Guilded Luxury. Vermelho will open for visitors on 1 April 2023.

US – The fashion brand and innovation platform Pangaia has joined forces with textile tech trailblazer Evrnu to drop 20 ground-breaking Renu denim jackets made of 100% recycled fabric.

The jacket is the first denim product made entirely from NuCycl, a sustainable fibre developed by Evrnu. Named one of the best inventions of 2022 by Time, NuCycl liquefies discarded textiles like pre-consumer material waste (fabric scraps that have not been used or sold, like production offcuts) and post-consumer material waste (like old clothing) before reforming the original fibre molecules into new fibres. The new fabric can be recycled again into a yarn of the same high quality.

‘Our other denim products have had to be washed or blended with cotton. In terms of our push to find alternatives to traditional cotton as well as reduce waste, [NuCycl] hits both those points and is a breakthrough on the technological front,’ said Dr Amanda Parkes, Pangaia’s chief innovation officer.

The brand’s ground-breaking work shows how the fashion industry of tomorrow will find inspiration and purpose via emerging biotechnologies and experimentation with bio-textiles.

US – A new study by Morning Consult says US Gen Zers are 21 percentage points more likely than the general population to have tried a new beverage in the past month.

Among a panel of more than 3,000 individuals, including 1,000 Gen Zers aged between 13 and 25, the latter said new experiences and novelty drive their tastes. They also claim to spend more on food and drink (packaged goods and restaurants) than apparel, electronics and beauty.

Nearly half (45%) of the Gen Zers surveyed said they tried more than one new beverage in a month, and almost as many (44%) said the same about trying fresh packaged foods.

As we revealed in our report on Adaptive Appetites, the food and drink market has no choice but to embrace frugality, innovation and new indulgence models to navigate this uncertain landscape and pique the interest of novelty-seeking Gen Z consumers. That’s why whisky brands, among others, are coming up with new experiences, designs and marketing strategies targeting younger drinkers.