News 22.01.2025

Need to Know

The Gaia Communication System connects architects with Mother Nature, Estée Lauder aims to change the future of olfactive innovation and why wealthy consumers love dupe products.

Architects embrace wearable tech to connect with Mother Nature

Gaia Vest by Inxects, Denmark

Denmark – Danish design studio Inxects has unveiled the Gaia Communication System (GCS), a ground-breaking wearable designed to bridge the gap between humanity and the natural world. The system includes a sensor-equipped vest and wrist sleeves that translate environmental data into haptic feedback, enabling users to physically sense stress signals from plants, animals and eco-systems.

‘The vibrations resembled stress signals, triggering a physical response like an adrenaline rush,’ Inxects founder Pavels Hedström told Dezeen. Inspired by Nature’s sensory systems – such as ants detecting CO2 – GCS offers users an intuitive way to understand pollution, climate change and habitat destruction.

Specifically tailored for architects, Gaia enables professionals to assess site health through tactile sensations rather than data alone. Its sensors measure key environmental indicators like air and water quality, biodiversity and plant stress. Hedström connects Gaia’s purpose to indigenous ‘deep listening’ practices, aiming to nurture empathy for non-human life.

Making its debut at Copenhagen’s Strange Adaptations exhibition, GCS merges biomimicry with technology, providing architects, urban planners and policy-makers with a novel tool to reconnect with Nature. In our Nature Stakeholders microtrend report, we observed how companies, under increasing scrutiny for climate inaction, are adopting innovative approaches – such as recognising Nature as a legal stakeholder – to drive meaningful environmental change.

Strategic opportunity

To move beyond superficial greenwashing, companies must integrate sustainability and eco-guardianship into the core of their business models. Who in your organisation can advocate for and represent Nature, ensuring its interests are considered at every stage – from ideation to production?

Estée Lauder innovates home fragrance with smart technology partnership

US – Estée Lauder Companies, the beauty giant behind brands like Le Labo and Jo Malone London, is transforming the home fragrance market with an innovative partnership. Collaborating with start-up Exuud, the company is addressing the challenge of olfactory fatigue – our natural tendency to stop perceiving continuous scents. 

Exuud’s smart fragrance delivery system uses advanced technology to release aromatic molecules in controlled bursts, inspired by the way flowers emit fragrance. This precision prevents scent desensitisation and preserves the complexity of fine fragrances, including delicate top notes that are often compromised in traditional systems. 

Pam Dalton, an olfactory scholar, explains: ‘Our brains are optimised to detect changes in scent, making this technology a breakthrough in sustained sensory experiences.’

Estée Lauder plans to integrate Exuud’s technology across its portfolio, with products expected to be launched in 2025. Each brand will customise the system to align with its aesthetic, offering personalised, app-controlled fragrance experiences. 

In our Future Forecast 2025: Beauty macrotrend report, we analysed the rise of functional fragrances that enhance and uplift the wearer’s mood.  

Photography by Cottonbro studio

Strategic opportunity

Consider using smart technology to create customised fragrance profiles for consumers based on mood, personality or environment. This could include app-connected devices that adapt scents throughout the day 

Stat: Wealthy consumers most likely to purchase dupe beauty products

Photography by Ketut Subiyanto Photography by Ketut Subiyanto

US – According to Morning Consult’s The State of Beauty and Personal Care report, beauty and personal care consumers in the US are pulling back on volume and trading down on price to combat inflation pressures.  

Dupe products are at the forefront of this shift, with consumers seeking more affordable alternatives to premium and luxury products. Morning Consult’s study of about 2,200 US adults per month between October 2022 and September 2024 revealed that 29% of consumers said they would try a dupe beauty or personal care product. 

Gen Z are most likely to report purchasing dupe products (49%), while Baby Boomers are least likely (14%). Wealthy consumers earning more than £81,444 ($100,000, €96,378) are also most likely to intentionally purchase dupes (41%), compared to 28% of those earning less than £40,720 ($50,000, €48,176). 

In Future Forecast 2025: Luxury we unpack the ‘dupe dilemma’ and how counterpart products run the risk of brand dilution for luxury labels.  

Strategic opportunity

Luxury brands should highlight the exclusivity of premium products by emphasising science-backed innovation and high-quality formulations, using storytelling campaigns to educate consumers on the long-term value of investing in high-end beauty over dupe products

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