I was watching an unexpected video from content creator Kimberly Nicole Foster when she threw a statement out there that immediately made the wheels in my head start turning. On the topic of Emma Grede and the (very intentional and cunning) controversy around her new (business? self help? some other, secret third thing?) book “Start With Yourself”, Kimberly posed a thought (not written here!!) that led me to ask myself an amazing question:

Are we doing ourselves a disservice by only listening to business content from the coastal elites?

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What is a “Coastal Elite” exactly?

This is one of those things that doesn’t have a universally agreed upon definition. But since I grew up on the coast (NYC to be exact), I think I have a pretty concrete idea of who these people are. They are people who are clustered along the coasts (e.g., NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston) that are essentially today’s poster-children for what was once deemed the ‘yuppie’— which stands for ‘young, urban professional’. Coastal Elites are college educated, have extensive resumes, are worldly, career driven— and have a vastly different reality than the rest of America.

The sentiments around business that we hear almost exclusively these days come from people like this. I don’t think their sentiments are inherently a bad thing, but we end up in a feedback loop of advice regurgitated by the same person in a different font. If for no other reason, listening to slight variations of the same beliefs over and over creates what the kids like to call an “echo chamber”. (It’s me, I’m the kids.) As Kimberly mentioned in her YouTube video, Emma Grede and folks like her are clustered in the same place, espousing the same beliefs. However, when you try to take those beliefs to a broader audience, we are swiftly reminded that this is not the norm for other people. You then further exacerbate the problem when you paint your largely insular advice as the de facto advice for anyone with ambitions. And presuming the coast is your only real experience of America, there are large swaths of people who do not relate to anything you’re saying.

Let me clock myself for a second.

I want to reiterate….I am from the coast. By some definitions maybe I am a coastal elite (thanks college!). I resonate with much of the content from these types of people, but that’s because it quite literally reflects my reality. I couldn’t dream of living in middle America (no shade, but connecting flights to get anywhere, ever would break me). But that said, I know enough to know that you run into a huge roadblock when you try to take coastal elite type advice and peddle it back to the general populous. Case in point: I live in the American South currently and the idea of being a ‘3 hour mum’ resonates very differently here than it would in Manhattan, where women routinely swap advice about hiring nannies. I know enough about the American work landscape to know that it means different things to different people. So, why is the same kind of person being passed the mic over and over?

So…..what are the business sentiments of the rest of us?

I think that all depends on where you look. I also think it depends on where you are culturally. I think if you still are in the Lean In era of things, here’s the good news: there is PLENTY of advice, old and new, for you to binge. But increasingly, more and more people are moving away from that. They leaned in and when they zoomed out, they realized they had a ton of work to look forward to and not much else. They received promotions and moved up the ladder at the expense of other things. And then when COVID hit, it was a wake-up call for many people. Frankly, I think workers’ sentiments are completely different in a post-COVID world and nobody is addressing it. The problem isn’t Emma Grede and the coastal elites per se, it’s the lack of diversity in business stories. I said as much in a TikTok video recently.

I don’t want this to be critique with no construction. So here’s a gift from me to you:

If you’re anything like me, you are at an intersection of ambition and introspection. You want to do good work and build great things, but you also want to make a life that you look back on fondly at the end of it. You might be thinking, “but there’s nothing out there that touches on this intersection”. There is, but there is digging involved to find it. Thankfully, I want to find it for you.

So my first gift to you is a short list of books that have been written for people like you. These are musings on being a human that works, but that still cares about the work of being human. Please let me know how this impacts your life for the better! And consider joining this community because your voice is important.

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Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

Don’t let that title scare you. Believe me, no one is more shocked than I am at my stance on being a public facing person—I didn’t even take a picture for my high school yearbook. But to deny the inevitable is an exercise in futility. The reality is this— the people who are getting ahead are visible. Not hyper-visible necessarily, but visible. They are carving out a lane for themselves so that they stand out from the competition and are top of mind when people who are in charge of doling out new opportunities need to throw out some names.

But here’s the thing—being perceived is top 2 worst feelings in the world, and it’s not number 2. There’s a reason why public speaking has consistently been ranked as one of the worst activities for humans, regardless of cultural differences. That ick is universal and there’s a paradoxical beauty in that. Knowing that only the most egomaniacal of us enjoys being gawked at on a consistent basis means there are people doing it who don’t like it either. So if data suggests that most of us don’t like being perceived, it should stand to reason that there are those of us who push past the discomfort and do it anyway (raises my own hand). And for what reason?

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Let’s name a few upsides to being perceived in the name of progress, shall we?

• People can’t champion you if they don’t know you

  When you show up in high-visibility spaces, you make it easy for the right people to remember your name when opportunities come up — promotions, stretch projects, cool collabs. Out of sight really is out of mind.

• You build credibility faster

  Doing great work in private is solid, but sharing it publicly compounds your reputation. You go from “I think she’s good” to “oh yeah, she’s the one who led that thing” — way quicker than grinding quietly.

• It creates a feedback loop that accelerates your growth

  The more you put yourself out there, the more reactions, connections, and convos you get back. That feedback sharpens you in ways that staying in your lane just doesn’t.

• Your network grows without you having to try so hard

  High-visibility moments attract people to you. Instead of cold networking, you’re fielding inbound interest from people who already know what you’re about. Much less awkward.

• It gives you leverage — inside and outside your company

  A strong personal brand isn’t just about your current job. It’s job security, negotiating power, and optionality. People with visibility have more doors open, full stop.

And if those reasons are still not enough, let me paint another, blunter picture. We spend more time with our coworkers than we do almost anyone else in our lives (good, bad or indifferent to that reality, it is in fact the reality). People and your relationships with them make or break your career experience. Trust me, I learned this the very hard way when I would receive rave reviews for my proficiency but still be told I was somehow missing the mark. Maybe they didn’t say it because they couldn’t say it or they didn’t care enough to spell it out for me— I was just a worker bee. I did my work and I went home. In some faraway land where quality of work is the only thing that matters, that should be enough. But on this planet……it’s not.

And to be blunt yet again……we are in layoff mode right now. Wherever companies think they can save a nickel, they are slashing recklessly (and I do think ultimately they’ll regret that but more on that in some other post). If they have crunched these numbers and met with the undertakers at McKinsey and decided that your team of 10 can perform at the same level of output with only 7 people, someone might think twice about letting you go because they actually know you and can vouch for you. That other person on the team who turns in work on time but is otherwise an enigma? Probably first on the chopping block.

Building a personal brand isn’t inherently icky. Being perceived is what feels icky. You would feel just as nauseated if you had to participate in an improv class (which you probably should honestly, just to get used to the feeling). So, as much as I know you don’t want to, here are small actionable items that go a long way towards your personal brand recognition. You can do at least one of these. I believe in you!

(NOTE: This is intended for people who can leverage physical proximity, i.e. hybrid and in person employees. If you are fully remote, try your best to adapt this to your situation.)

Personal Brand Builder Start Kit for Reluctant People

• Make small talk with someone in your org you don’t normally talk to

  Seriously, it can be the smallest of the small talk. Bonus points if you can tie it into something relevant to that person. Personally? If someone is wearing something I think is cute, I will always say so. That’s not fake—I spent a good chunk of my corporate career in fashion; noticing what people have on is something I do by nature. Another example: I noticed someone with a Buccees cup in the elevator of my office the other day and flashed my keychain (which has a tiny Buccee beaver on it). No idea what they do…..but it’s about building familiarity. Maybe we’ll run into each other again. Maybe not. Either way, it made the elevator ride a little less dull.

• Volunteer to present in meetings you’re already in

  Next time there’s a recap, update, or project readout— offer to be the one who walks the room through it. You’re doing the work anyway, so you might as well be the face of it. Start small, even a 5-minute update counts.

• Find a cross-functional project to plug into

  Raise your hand for something that gets you working with a different team. It’s one of the fastest ways to get known outside your immediate circle without it feeling forced or self-promotional.

• Make your wins visible to your manager (and their manager)

  Don’t just do good work; narrate it. Send a quick recap email after a project wraps, drop a note in Teams, or bring it up in your 1:1. Frame it as “here’s what we accomplished and what I learned” — not bragging, just communicating.

But why do I have to do all these things just to go to work?

You don’t. For years, all I wanted was to just do my work and go home. I was content with that. Until I wasn’t. Eventually, there was a point where I wanted more— more exciting projects, more room for advancement and frankly, more money. I know that I can talk to strangers— before I ever worked in corporate, I worked in retail. If you can upsell a complete stranger who practically screamed at you that they are JUST LOOKING, you can do anything. You can certainly have a lighthearted conversation with someone in your org 4 minutes before the meeting starts. If I was willing to put myself out there for strangers for a commission check, why can’t I do it at work to advance my own career?

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other branding aficionados you know!

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• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hello@thoughtfulthreads.co

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

The $14 Billion Implosion: What Chegg’s Collapse is Actually About

In February 2021, Chegg’s market cap sat at roughly $14 billion. It was the crown jewel of EdTech: a subscription-based homework help platform with a content moat built from years of expert answers and a virtuous loop with Google that funneled students directly into a paid product.

Today, it is a sub-$200 million company on the brink of being delisted. It has shed over 67% of its workforce in eighteen months.

The press is filing this away as an “AI story.” That is not wrong, but it is incomplete—and the incompleteness is exactly where the lesson lives for anyone running a business right now.

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The Foundational Crack: May 2, 2023

Five months after ChatGPT’s launch, Chegg’s then-CEO acknowledged that the chatbot was impacting new subscriber growth. The stock fell 48% in a single day.

The market wasn’t just reacting to a revenue dip; it was repricing the probability that Chegg’s business model could survive a free, accessible substitute. The market sensed the end before the company did.

The Three Lessons of the Collapse

Chegg’s attempt to pivot with AI tools (CheggMate) failed because the technology was never the problem. The problem was that Chegg’s pricing power relied on the scarcity of expert answers. Once LLMs made those answers free, the category lost its right to charge.

Here are the three mechanisms that dismantled Chegg’s moat:

• 1. The category collapsed, not just the competition: Generative AI didn’t just compete with Chegg’s product; it competed with the reason the product existed. Operators often mistake their product for their moat. In reality, the moat is the market structure. AI dissolved that structure entirely.

• 2. Your distributor is your biggest competitor: Chegg was essentially a subsidiary of Google. When Google pivoted to AI Overviews—answering questions itself rather than routing traffic to Chegg—the funnel wasn’t just pinched; it was inverted. Any business dependent on Google, Meta, or Apple App Store traffic inherits this risk.

• 3. Defensive AI cannot fix broken unit economics: Chegg tried to integrate AI to stay relevant, but you cannot fix a business model whose unit economics required a “non-AI world.” If your substitute is good enough to compress your prices to zero, the most sophisticated UX layer won’t bring them back.

The Pivot: From Answers to Skilling

Chegg is now reorienting toward the $40 billion corporate skilling market. Whether this pivot works depends on one question: What is the durable value of an external platform when corporate L&D buyers are building their own in-house AI tutors?

Chegg is betting that institutional buyers will pay for a vetted vendor. It’s a logical bet, but it is not the kind of bet a company gets to lose twice.

The Takeaway for Operators

If your business depends on the scarcity of a resource, the generosity of a platform you don’t own, or a market structure that requires a pre-AI world, you are vulnerable.

The question is not if you are at risk. It’s whether you can identify your dependencies before the market identifies them for you. That is the most expensive question a founder can fail to ask.

Are you working through how generative AI is reshaping your business model?

If you want a sharper outside read on where your structural risks actually sit, this is the work I do with founders and operating teams.

[Schedule a foundational call at the link here.]

I take on a small number of clients each quarter.

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• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

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Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

The Signal in the Front Row

When Mark Zuckerberg appeared at the Prada Fall 2026 show, the internet saw a highly unexpected celebrity sighting. Strategists saw a corporate white flag. After the $90 billion capital erosion of the “Metaverse” project—a venture that cost more than the resources required to solve world hunger—Meta is coming off a humiliating loss. The Metaverse failed because it lacked a human-centric value proposition; it was also severely lacking in aesthetics and lacked all the core tenets of good design.

But Zuckerberg’s presence at Prada signals a massive shift in Meta’s go-to-market strategy: If you can’t build taste, you must buy it.

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The $3 Billion “Tasteful Hardware” Strategy

Meta’s rumored minority stake in EssilorLuxottica is the most significant strategic move in the wearables sector since the launch of the Apple Watch.

For the uninitiated, EssilorLuxottica is the premier gatekeeper of the global eyewear market. They don’t just manufacture; they control the licenses for most of the world’s most powerful ‘aesthetic’ hardware components for Meta AI to utilize—from mid range staple brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley to luxury pillars like Prada and Chanel.

Meta’s strategy here is a three-pronged vertical integration:

1. Software Strengths, Hardware Weaknesses: Tech companies are historically poor at hardware aesthetics (see: the immediate 2014 backlash to Google Glass). By partnering with Luxottica, Meta is outsourcing the “cool factor” to the professionals.

2. Total Addressable Market (TAM) Expansion: VR headsets (Vision Pro, Quest) are niche, bulky, and gender-skewed toward male early adopters. By integrating tech into a standard Prada frame, Meta captures the “invisible” market—people who would never wear a headset but would gladly wear luxury eyewear.

3. The “Propaganda” of Convenience: The current PR blitz is “warming up” society to surveillance. By framing smart glasses as a tool for “hands-free jogging” or “lifestyle simplification,” they are attempting to outweigh the social friction of being recorded in public.

The Generational Divide: From Millennial Skepticism to Gen Alpha Normalcy

In 2014, Google Glass failed because Millennials still maintained a wall between “online” and “offline.” Using your real name on the internet was once a faux pas. Today, that wall has crumbled.

For Gen Z and Gen Alpha, living virtually is mundane. Their “Aesthetic Threshold” is different. Meta is betting $3 billion that the cultural apprehension toward being “unsuspectingly surveilled” will eventually be eclipsed by the desire for luxury status symbols that happen to have a CPU.

The Bottom Line

Meta is waving a white flag to the fashion industry, admitting that Silicon Valley cannot solve the problem of aesthetics. To achieve mass adoption, technology must first become either a “Staple” or a “Luxury.”

The question for us as strategists: Will the “Aesthetic Trojan Horse” be enough to make us forget we are being watched? Or is this just another $90 billion lesson in the limits of social engineering?

The $3B Question: Does a Prada logo make you more likely to wear a camera on your face, or is the privacy trade-off still too high?

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• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hello@thoughtfulthreads.co

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

For decades, the headline for American retail has been a slow-motion obituary: The Death of the Department Store. It hasn’t just been a shift in consumer habits; it’s been a systematic dismantling of the regional retail landscape. We’ve watched the “Macy-fication” of local legends like Marshall Field’s and Montgomery Ward, and for the fashion vanguard, the 2019 shuttering of Barneys New York remains an unhealed wound.

But the most high-profile casualty arrived in 2026 with the bankruptcy of Saks Global. The ill-fated merger of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus was a “disaster in waiting”—a debt-saddled behemoth attempting to solve emotional retail problems with logistical tech-bro solutions.

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While the giants stumbled over disconnected digital strategies and crushing interest rates, one fashion dynasty was quietly plotting a “Back to the Future” move. In May 2025, the Nordstrom family, alongside the Mexican retail powerhouse El Puerto de Liverpool, took their namesake company private in a $6.25 billion deal. This wasn’t just a buyout; it was a strategic divorce from the commodity trap of Wall Street.

The Wall Street vs. Luxury Paradox

The fundamental problem with public markets in the luxury space is that Wall Street’s demands are in direct opposition to a luxury client’s desires. Wall Street craves aggressive, quarterly, replicable growth. Luxury, however, is built on heritage—a word that implies something rooted, anchored, and resistant to the frantic ebbs and flows of a ticker tape.

When a 100-year-old entity is forced into a Private Equity (PE) model, the result is almost always “margin-squeezing.” To hit quarterly targets, management cuts floor staff, reduces inventory depth, and sharply increases prices without increasing value. We saw this with Hudson’s Bay—North America’s oldest company, a 400-year-old institution that faced bankruptcy after only a few decades of PE-style aggression.

By taking Nordstrom private, Co-CEOs Erik and Pete Nordstrom bought themselves the “Right to Linger.” They no longer have to justify to an analyst why they have a ‘Shoe Bar’ in the middle of the sales floor instead of three more rows of high-margin racks.

Atmosphere as the New “Anchor Tenant”

If you want to save the department store, you have to give people a reason to stay. This is where Nordstrom is outperforming its rivals. While other stores are essentially becoming “order pickup hubs,” Nordstrom is harkening back to the service-first model of the 1950s—but with a 2026 edge.

The NYC Flagship is the exemplary model of this “New Heritage” approach. It isn’t just a store; it’s a social activation hub.

• F&B Integration: With multiple food and beverage concepts integrated across every floor, Nordstrom has transformed from a retail space into a dining destination.

• The “Experience-to-Transaction” Pipeline: Maybe a customer can’t justify a full-price designer bag today, but they can afford a drink at the Shoe Bar. That “aspirational entry point” builds emotional stability between the brand and the buyer. When that customer reaches their next professional milestone, Nordstrom is the destination already etched in their mind.

• The Human Moat: Nordstrom is doubling down on stylist-led service. Unlike the “skeleton crews” found in struggling luxury stores, Nordstrom is spotlighting its team members as the “faces” of the brand. They recognize that in an AI-driven, digital-first landscape, a human relationship is the only thing e-commerce cannot replicate.

The Rack: An Acquisition Machine, Not a “Dumping Ground”

The strategic divergence between Nordstrom and the Saks/Neiman model is most visible in their off-price banners. For Neiman Marcus, Last Call was seen as a distraction that “diluted” their ultra-luxury positioning. For Saks, Off 5th was relegated to a selling channel for “residual inventory”—often unloved, crumpled merchandise that soured the customer’s perception of the full-price brand.

Nordstrom Rack, however, is a Feeder System. It is a standalone, profitable business that acts as the ultimate customer acquisition tool.

• The 40% Rule: Roughly 40% of new Nordstrom customers start at the Rack before migrating to full-price stores.

• Inventory Integrity: While rivals used outlets as dumping grounds, the Rack maintains a “treasure hunt” appeal with a mix of flagship clearance and strategic, premium “made-for-outlet” buys.

• Omnichannel Synergy: By accepting full-price returns at Rack locations, Nordstrom drives high-intent, luxury shoppers into their off-price stores. It turns a return into a social discovery moment.

The Verdict for 2026

As Saks Global winds down its off-price operations and struggles with the weight of its own debt, Nordstrom is poised to be the next American luxury power player. They have proven that the way to save retail is not to become more like Amazon—it is to become less like it. It is about the thrill of a trunk show, the expert advice of a stylist who knows your “book,” and the 90 minutes spent over a coffee and a croissant.

In the rest of the 2020s and beyond, the premier luxury destination won’t just be a place to buy a product. It will be a place to spend your life. And for the Nordstroms, being private was the only way to keep that experience personal.

Is the “Quiet Comeback” the blueprint for the rest of American heritage retail? I’m watching the numbers closely. Let’s discuss the shift from transactional to emotional commerce.

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other branding aficionados you know!

• Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

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• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

In the early 2000s, Coach was a brand in a quiet free-fall. It had lost its seat at the “cool table,” relegated to a polarized demographic: the very young (learning the value of a “first” quality bag) and the very old (prioritizing utilitarian function over form).

It was the quintessential suburban outlet brand—accessible, functional, but culturally invisible.

But as a strategist, you know that a “loss of cache” is actually the perfect springboard. When you have no good faith left to lose, you have the freedom to experiment. Today, the results are in: Tapestry Inc. (Coach’s parent) reported a record $7 billion in revenue for FY 2025, fueled by double-digit growth at Coach. According to Piper Sandler, Coach is now a top-three favorite handbag brand for the most elusive demographic: Gen Z.

How did a brand founded in 1941 hack the 2026 algorithm? Here are the three power plays that saved the house. (Btw this newsletter was inspired by the latest podcast episode.)

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1. The “IRL” Inversion: Experiential Design as Lead Gen

In a world dominated by the convenience of Amazon, Coach realized that ease of use is a commodity, but immersion is a luxury. They invested heavily in Coach Play concept stores—hyper-localized, interactive spaces in cities like Tokyo, Singapore, and Chicago.

• The Goal: Move the needle from “Transaction” to “Destination.”

• The “7-Dollar Coffee” Strategy: By opening cafes and restaurants (like those in Jakarta and Austin), Coach lowered the barrier to entry. A 21-year-old might not drop $450 on a Tabby bag today, but they will spend $7 on a brand-aesthetic coffee and share it with their followers.

• The Result: This lowers the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by building an emotional “social contract” with the consumer long before they make a high-ticket purchase.

2. Profit in the “Trash”: The Circularity Pivot

Gen Z is a walking paradox: they are the most sustainability-conscious generation in history, yet they crave “newness” and “drops.” Coach bridged this gap with Coachtopia—a sub-brand designed for circularity.

• Waste as Raw Material: Coachtopia uses leather scraps (essentially industrial “trash”) to create limited-edition pieces.

• P&L Impact: This isn’t just PR; it’s margin recapture. These materials were already paid for in the production cycle. By turning waste into “scarcity-driven” drops, Coach is converting potential losses into high-demand revenue.

• Secondary Market Capture: Through their (Re)Loved program, Coach is now competing directly with platforms like Depop and The RealReal. By refurbishing and reselling their own heritage pieces, they prove product quality and keep 100% of the resale profit in-house.

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The “Internal Influencer” P&L: Why Your Best Marketing is on the Sales Floor

The following section is available to paid subscribers. We’re breaking down the specific ROI of the “Employee-to-Influencer” pipeline and how Coach leveraged internal talent like Brandon Nguyen to generate over $21M in Earned Media Value (EMV) in a single year—outperforming traditional celebrity partnerships by 5x.

[Upgrade to Paid to read the full internal strategy]

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Direct-to-consumer (D2C) history will remember 2014–2021 as the Age of the Unicorn. Leading that charge was Glossier—the $1.8B “People’s Princess” of beauty. Born from the digital community of Into The Gloss, Emily Weiss didn’t just sell Boy Brow; she sold a world-building masterclass.

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But as we sit in 2026, the headlines have shifted. Multiple waves of layoffs (most recently cutting one-third of staff in February 2026), product reformulation backlash, and a “rescue mission” pivot to Sephora have left the industry asking: Can a brand survive if it refuses to grow up with its customer?

Today, we’re doing a “Black and White” breakdown of the Glossier vs. Merit playbook. No ideologies—just P&L, retention metrics, and the reality of customer acquisition in 2026.

1. The Pioneer’s Tax: Glossier’s “Evergreen” Trap

Glossier’s meteoric rise was fueled by a specific demographic: the 2016 Millennial. They pioneered the “Skin First, Makeup Second” mantra at a time when heavy, “Instagram Face” was the norm.

The Strategic Error: Glossier mistook a demographic moment for an evergreen aesthetic. * The “Sister” Personification: If Glossier were a person today, she’s the older sister who still parties a little too hard, trying to recapture the magic of 2014.

• The Shift to Gen Z: As the original Millennial fans moved into their late 30s and 40s, looking for high-performance ingredients to tackle collagen loss and sun damage, Glossier doubled down on Gen Z with hoodies and stickers.

• The Result: They entered a war they couldn’t win. Gen Z already has Rare Beauty and Rhode. By chasing a new, elusive customer, Glossier sacrificed the retention of the loyalists who built them.

2. The Anti-Glossier: How Merit Won the “Adult” Wallet

While Glossier was chasing virality, Katherine Power’s Merit Beauty (launched in 2021) was chasing retention. Merit is the “Anti-Unicorn.” They didn’t aim for the loudest footprint; they aimed for the highest Average Order Value (AOV) and the most disciplined funnel.

• Retention as a North Star: Reports show over 40% of Merit’s customers are repeat buyers. In an era where Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is skyrocketing—especially in a crowded retail footprint like Sephora—a 40% retention rate is the “Holy Grail” of ecommerce.

• Psychographic vs. Demographic: Merit doesn’t market to an age; they market to a lifestyle. Their “5-Minute Morning” speaks to the busy professional who wants to look elevated without the “hoopla.”

• The AOV Gap: By leaning into sophisticated, weighted packaging and luxury-tier pricing, Merit justifies a higher AOV that Glossier—stuck in its youthful “Cloud Paint” aesthetic—simply cannot reach without a total rebrand.

3. The 2026 Forecast: Renegotiating the “Lifestyle Contract”

If you are an executive in the CPG or Beauty space, the takeaway is clear: branding is a lifestyle contract. If you sign that contract with a 22-year-old, you must be prepared to renegotiate when she turns 32. Otherwise, she will find someone like Merit who speaks to her current concerns (gravity, time-poverty, sophistication) rather than her past aesthetic.

The “Merchant’s Defense” for Glossier: To survive, Glossier needs a “Grand Refresh.” They are the pioneers of the “Clean Girl” look; they shouldn’t be chasing the trend—they should be owning the heritage. * Move from “Playfulness” to “High-Performance Minimalism.”

Leverage Authority: Remind the market that they set the path everyone else is currently walking.

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Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

From a 34% wholesale drop to the Tom Ford reprisal—as a former buyer and current analyst, I’m looking past the Kate Moss cameo to the brutal math of Kering’s biggest gamble yet.

Fashion is emotional. We buy luxury because of how it makes us feel, not because we need another black mesh T-shirt. But today, I’m putting my emotions in a box. I want to talk about the only thing that matters when you’re a multi-billion dollar conglomerate: Are we doing everything we can to make money?

After watching Demna’s first full collection for Gucci, La Primavera, walk in Milan, my professional opinion is: No.

In fact, I think Kering is currently making a series of desperate bets that ignore the very women who keep the lights on. Let’s look at the numbers.

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The Math: Why Gucci is a “Must-Win”

To understand why this collection matters, we have to look at the “Gucci-dependence” of the Kering Group.

• The Revenue Engine: In 2025, Gucci generated approximately 41% of Kering’s total revenue. Simply put: There is no Kering Group without a profitable Gucci.

• The Red Flag: 2025 was a bloodbath. Annual revenue dropped 22%. Sales from direct boutiques dropped 18%.

• The “No Confidence” Vote: Wholesale revenue plummeted 34%.

As a former buyer, that 34% number is the one that keeps me up at night. It means retailers across the globe have lost faith. They don’t believe Gucci can sell at full price, so they aren’t writing the orders.

The Alessandro Sized Hole in the Strategy

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Letting Alessandro Michele go was the worst business decision Kering could have made. He and his team built the “Cinderella Story” of the 2010s.

Yes, there was a dip during the pandemic—but that was an unprecedented global event, not a creative failure. Instead of watching the KPIs like a hawk and staying the course, Kering panicked. They did a complete about-face, ousted the man who brought them back to stardom, and they have been in a financial free-fall ever since.

Enter Demna: Hype, Mania, and 90s Replays

After the Sabato De Sarno era failed to resonate (mostly because “ultra-minimalism” at an aggressive price hike is a hard sell in a recession), Kering reached for the most “hyped” person in their portfolio: Demna.

Demna is a genius at Hype and Mania. He proved that at Vetements and Balenciaga. But Gucci is a different beast. Gucci is the house that lives and dies by its performance.

The Strategy: Demna and his team are clearly “chronically online.” They see the TikTok obsession with Tom Ford’s Gucci era. So, they served up internet discourse on a platter. They gave us the greatest hits: the 90s minimalism, the Kate Moss closer, the reprisal of the Gucci thong (now diamond encrusted!).

The Problem: Reprising the greatest hits might get you clicks, but does it make up 40% of a conglomerate’s revenue? I don’t think so.

“Desperation is not aspirational. When a luxury brand does an immediate about-face every two years, it looks like they’re throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. To a luxury customer, that is a repellent.”

Who is this for? (Hint: Not the woman with the money)

The biggest issue with La Primavera is the demographic shift. The collection skewed incredibly young. We’re talking “Lady of the Night” silhouettes, hip cutouts, and club-kid aesthetic.

• The Alienated Customer: Where is the 45-year-old woman with deep pockets and high discretionary income? She isn’t wearing a mesh T-shirt to the boardroom.

• The Cultural Blindspot: Most of what walked the runway is culturally inappropriate for the Middle Eastern market—a key region for luxury today.

• The “Cost Per Wear” Crisis: Young people today don’t have the discretionary income to spend thousands on a “mesh shirt” they can only wear to a club.

The Bottom Line

Kering is playing it safe by pulling from the archives and putting a “hype-man” at the front. But even for a “safe” move, it misses the mark.

When you make things that are easily replicated (like unbranded 90s basics) and sell them for 10x the price of a contemporary brand, you have to give the customer a reason to believe. Right now, Gucci feels like it’s grasping at straws.

I’d love to be proven wrong. I’d love to see a massive surge in transactions. But if I were a betting woman? I’d be looking for a time machine to bring back the maximalist magic of the 2010s.

Kering vs. LVMH: One is building a Fortress, the other is building a Stage.

Is Gucci’s reliance on "Hype and Mania" a sustainable business model or a multi-billion dollar volatility trap?

By 2028, the "Thought Daughter" demographic—the women with the actual discretionary income—will have completed their pivot away from "Vibes" and back toward "Value." My latest forecast analyzes the "Post-Logo Correction" and explains why Demna’s youth-centric strategy for Gucci might be alienating the only market that matters right now: the high-net-worth individual.

📊 The 5-Year Forecast: Diversification vs. Dependence

The “Post-Logo” Correction Era (2026–2030)

1. Kering: The Volatility Trap (2026–2028)

For Kering, the next 24 months are a “restructuring” phase. Because the group is 40%+ dependent on Gucci, their stock performance will remain highly sensitive to Demna’s retail sell-through.

• The Wholesale Reckoning: Following the 34% drop you noted in 2025, expect Kering to aggressively pull back from multi-brand retailers to protect brand equity. This “scorched earth” strategy on wholesale will lead to short-term revenue pain (est. -5% to -8% CAGR through 2027) in hopes of long-term “exclusivity” gains.

• The Demna Risk: If La Primavera doesn’t hit a 60% full-price sell-through rate by Q4 2026, internal pressure for a third Creative Director shift in five years will become deafening.

• Source Insight: Bernstein Research has noted that Kering’s “turnaround” cycles are getting shorter, which historically dilutes brand heritage.

Read more

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down the comeback plan of a spiraling luxury group and a big merger for sustainable fashion.

Also inside: the landmark social media case you should be paying attention to.

Let’s go.

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👜 Kering’s Three-Year Slump: The 2026 Reckoning

The Situation: Kering Group—the parent company of Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga—has officially reported a decline in sales for the third consecutive year. After a net loss that has investors clutching their portfolios, the group is positioning 2026 as their "comeback year." The reality is that Kering relied too heavily on the logo-heavy, maximalist "hype" cycle of the last decade, and they are now suffering from a severe "logomania hangover." A hard pivot into quiet luxury with an abrupt firing of Alessandro Michele proved to be for the worst, with maximalists feeling alienated and minimalists feeling like it is very easy to replicate the Gucci look or less. With a cooling Chinese market and a rocky transition into the Sabato De Sarno era at Gucci, the house is struggling to find a new identity that resonates with a consumer who seats on both sides of the fence.

The Comeback Tour: From the perspective of a merchant, 2026 isn't just a goal; it’s a deadline. And even though other brands saw positive year over year gains, Gucci is the one brand that has to succeed for the ship to remain afloat. The strategy of "quality over quantity" sounds great in a press release, but on the buying floor, it means they have to prove that Gucci can be aspirational and wearable again. They are currently fighting a loss of cultural momentum that is much harder to fix than a balance sheet. To succeed, they have to move away from the "costume" aesthetic and convince a cynical market that their high-heritage prices are justified by more than just a brand name that has felt a bit diluted lately. This will be challenging with the appointment of Demna (synonymous with hype mania at this point), while also signaling heritage and prestige to more mature customers. It’s a high-stakes pivot where the margin for error is nonexistent.

♻️ The $1.2B Sustainability Empire: eBay x Depop

The Situation: eBay has officially bought Depop for $1.2 billion, a move that consolidates the power of the resale market. While Etsy previously owned Depop, eBay’s acquisition suggests a desire to build a "resale powerhouse" that can compete with the likes of StockX and RealReal. For eBay, this is a "buy-not-build" strategy to capture the Gen Z audience that finds the traditional eBay interface too clunky or "boomer."Depop has become the cultural home for the next generation of fashion enthusiasts, and eBay is betting $1.2 billion that they can integrate that "cool factor" into their corporate machine.

The Power Play: This move signals that resale is no longer a niche side-hustle—it is becoming a primary pillar of the global retail landscape. However, the integration risk here is massive. As an analyst, I worry that eBay’s corporate red tape might choke the life out of Depop’s street-style community. For this to work, eBay needs to stay hands-off enough to let the culture thrive while providing the logistical muscle to scale. If they "corporate-ify" the Depop experience too quickly, they’ll find that they paid a billion dollars for an app that the "cool kids" have already moved on from. It’s a gamble on whether legacy scale can actually coexist with niche relevance.

📱 Meta’s “Tobacco Moment”: The Social Media Trial

The Situation: Mark Zuckerberg is currently back on the stand in a landmark trial that legal experts are comparing to the Big Tobacco trials of the 90s. The core of the case focuses on social media addiction and whether platforms were designed with specific, addictive features that prioritize engagement over the mental health of younger users. This marks a massive cultural shift: we are moving away from seeing social media as a "neutral tool" and toward seeing it as a curated, potentially harmful product that requires strict federal oversight. It’s a reckoning for the "Move Fast and Break Things" era of Silicon Valley.

The Human Impact: The implications for industry professionals are staggering. If the court decides that these platforms are inherently addictive, the entire business model of "attention-seeking" marketing will have to be rebuilt from the ground up. We are heading into a season where "time spent on app" could become a legal liability rather than a success metric. For brands, this confirms that the "analog" trend isn’t just a phase; it’s a survival mechanism. We may be entering an era where being "unreachable" is the ultimate status symbol, and brands will have to find new, less invasive ways to reach an increasingly guarded consumer.

🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

The girls are trying to revive Italian luxury, sustainability just got a major stamp of approval that’s here to stay, and Big Tech’s ethics are being questioned once again. You? You’re watching it all and probably figuring out how to DM resellers.

xx Jenn,
Thoughtful Threads
Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

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Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

The word on the street is that New York Fashion Week is dead. And as a native New Yorker who once was a buyer, I can see where that sentiment is born from. The last few seasons haven’t done much to keep America’s only industry recognized Fashion Week in an esteemed light. The perfect mix of everything that can taint your perceived prestige has been happening to this country post-pandemic and it has had a ripple effect across multiple facets of this nation, including the world’s regard for our taste. As far as fashion goes, here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the changes I’ve noticed in the last few years that have led the industry to take NYFW less seriously, for better or worse….

• Celebrity and Influencer Overreach

  • Not to sound like a purist or someone who refuses to get with the times, but I cannot stress enough how differently the industry moved pre-and post- influencer. Yes, celebrities came first but the celebrity machine is a more battle tested system that has played well with the fashion industry more often than not. Then came the influencers who (for better or worse- often for both) completely upended the status quo and ways of doing business. They ushered in a different type of demographic; previously, buyers and editors would have sat front row at fashion week looking at collections to determine what people would buy in store that season. It was a far more serious gig than anything an influencer has been invited to do, respectfully— and with the loss of that serious business came the loss of respect. And celebrities? They’ve transcended their primary purpose as brand ambassadors and now some of them even take up space at fashion weeks to show their own collections, vanity projects that most turn their backs on after a few seasons. These types typically show at NYFW, which doesn’t help the credibility.

• Global Disdain for the U.S.

  • This is pretty cut and dry. Sentiments about this country, outside of this country, are not great. A lot of people feel that the U.S. is a powder keg and they don’t feel safe traveling here. Then on the flipside, designers who can afford to move their shows across the globe are more than happy to do so. They themselves share a lot of those sentiments and coupled with the fact that they can still conduct business and have an excuse to get out of town is a no brainer.

• The Rise of Showing ‘Off Calendar’

  • A few brave designers chose to show their collections outside of the typical window of NYFW and now it’s catching on. Once upon a time that was generally considered a bad business move, but increasingly it’s just the norm. There are a number of good reasons for it— famously, Marc Jacobs has shown off calendar for years now, citing burnout from trying to keep up with the hamster wheel of the normal fashion calendar. And after taking the leap and being just fine, his brand made other people feel empowered to do the same. This year for F/W ‘26, both Ralph Lauren and Marc Jacobs showed off calendar slightly ahead of fashion week— and since these are anchor brands in a sense, other smaller brands benefitted from being in their orbit. But if the most lucrative brands of the week show off calendar, do you really need to stay around in the hopes that you might see something from a smaller brand? It makes the case for staying around a lot harder— and the chances for discovery a lot smaller.

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  All of this has led us to where we are today. As of this article being written, the official NYFW website has not been updated at all to show the calendar for this past season. (The official Instagram page is still being updated however.) This definitely lends itself to the idea that the luxury fashion industry in America, which is for the most part exclusively rooted in NYC, is not worth the effort to keep alive.

So for the folks that are choosing to tough it out and are America based designers, the smartest option on the table is this: make boring clothes. To be clear, “boring” for me in this context is facetious— I think wearable clothes will always have a place in society but I can also acknowledge that very little walked the NYFW runways that would end up in a costume exhibit in 20 years. But I saw a lot of pieces that walked the runway that considered cost per wear, which is very important to consider in this current economic climate. For as much as the enthusiasts love haute couture type clothing, the reality is that haute couture is a money pit; it will never generate a profit. In my time in the industry, I often joked that “perfume pays for couture”. In so many words, the utilitarian items and the aspirational items are what fund those breath taking pieces that eventually end up in a museum exhibition. But the American designers of 2026 can’t think about what will end up in an exhibit 20 years from now; they have to be concerned about what people will buy today. And to that effect, they can’t be concerned about a presentation or show that will get a ton of ‘clicks and impressions’ if it doesn’t return back to them in the form of cold, hard cash.

Then, there’s the elephant in the room about who is even buying the collections now. Here’s the reality: one of the biggest wholesalers of luxury fashion in the U.S. is broke. The uncertain future of Sak’s Fifth, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman means that the financial future of a lot of American designers is uncertain right now, especially if a big part of their business model is wholesale. That means that mass appeal is crucial for American designers right now because if something is too niche, there are (seemingly) infinitely less doors to sell it in— or at least, infinitely less doors that sell at the same scale of Saks Global. So a black pencil skirt might not be very exciting but somehow we all have one in our closet…… and that’s kind of the point.

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• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

• Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

One of America’s most viewed cultural events just confirmed: luxury as we know it is on life support. On the surface, the world saw its first-ever Super Bowl performance delivered entirely in Spanish—a monumental cultural milestone for Bad Bunny and the Latino community. But while the world was vibrating to the music, the fashion industry was having a collective identity crisis. Why? Because the most-watched artist on the planet didn’t wear a stitch of LVMH or Kering brands.

He wore custom Zara.

🧵 The “Custom Zara” Oxymoron

Typically, “custom” and “high street” don’t live in the same sentence. But by choosing Zara for the biggest stage in the continental U.S., Bad Bunny’s team performed a masterstroke of business strategy.

• The Power Play: It elevated the perception of a mass-market retailer to “world-stage worthy.”

• The Window of Opportunity: Zara saw that the veil between the High Street and the Atelier is thinner than ever. They stepped into a prestigious space while consumers were already feeling “luxury fatigue.”

• The Conflict: Of course, the naysayers are loud—and they have a point. Fast fashion’s supply chain issues and labor practices are a foregone conclusion. If it’s cheap, someone, somewhere, is paying the price.

📉 The Great Luxury Slowdown

However, the critique of Zara feels a bit hollow when the “White Glove” prestige of luxury fashion is being dismantled in real-time. We’ve spent years believing the high price tag on a designer bag was a direct result of “artisans in white lab coats.”

The Reality Check:

• The Dior Scandal: It was recently revealed that a Dior tote retailing for 2,800 Euro costs roughly 200 Euro to produce. The math isn’t mathing for the garment workers.

• The Loro Piana Allegations: Reports of underpaid wool farmers in Peru have chipped away at the “ultra-premium” facade.

• The Quality Slide: Brands like Miu Miu and Chanel have doubled their prices in less than a decade while arguably undercutting the quality of their materials.

“The only incentive to pay for worse quality for more money is because I’m a slave to the name on the tag. And frankly? We aren’t in an environment where people feel that’s a good enough reason to spend their hard-earned money.”

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🌊 The Pandemic Hangover & The “Free Fall”

Luxury fashion is currently in a monster slump of its own making. Post-pandemic, rather than inviting new wealth to raise their taste levels, luxury houses chose to cater to people with disposable income but little discernment.

By meeting the “least discerning customer on the lowest level,” these brands have effectively erased the distinction between themselves and Zara. When a luxury brand produces a “lazy” cotton polo and slaps a logo on it for thousands of dollars, they’ve invited the customer to go buy the dupe.

🚤 What’s Next: From “Stuff” to “Experiences”

If “stuff” isn’t special anymore, what is? We are entering the era of Experiential Luxury. Since luxury brands can no longer justify the price of their physical goods, they are pivoting to the one thing you can’t buy at Zara: Vibe.

Expect to see a massive uptick in:

• Branded Resorts & Cafes: Dior beaches and Gucci bistros.

• Yacht Collections: High-end travel partnerships for those who can make their money stretch.

• Exclusive Destinations: Partnering with vacation spots to create “you had to be there” moments.

The “stuff” is in free-fall, but the lifestyle is just getting started. Stay tuned—it’s going to be a bumpy, albeit very well-catered, ride.

So…..who is still making real luxury?

If we’re going to talk about the “Free Fall” of luxury, we have to look at the conglomerates that started the fire. If you’re looking to invest your hard-earned money in a piece that won’t become a Zara dupe in six months, you probably have to look outside the LVMH portfolio.

Here is the deep dive into the 5 houses that are still prioritizing the “Art” in Artisan, while staying safely away from the LVMH machine:

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🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down the untimely demise of a luxury beauty brand, the rise of gas station pizza and so much more.

Also inside: the shoe that China’s Gen Z can’t get enough of and a juicy book rec about the messy uncoupling of a young married couple.

Let’s go.

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💄 Pat McGrath Labs: A Restructuring of Royalty

The Situation: The Pat McGrath bankruptcy filing on Jan 22, 2026, is a shocking development for a brand that appeared to be the industry leader in “High Glamour.” The filing reveals a tangled web of debt and a lender dispute that suggests the brand’s financial health was far more fragile than its shimmering social media presence indicated. In short: a staggering $50 million in liabilities and a bitter legal dispute with a primary lender that resulted in the abrupt cancellation of a scheduled asset auction. While McGrath herself continues to define the aesthetic of global runways, her namesake company is struggling to manage a massive debt load accumulated during a decade of rapid, VC-funded expansion. The brand is now in a race to restructure its operations and secure its supply chain before the "Mother" of makeup loses her grip on the retail landscape.

The Aesthetic Aftermath: This bankruptcy is a forensic look at the collapse of the "Prestige-Mass" bridge. Pat McGrath successfully brought high-fashion artistry to the aisles of Sephora, but the model relied on a constant, expensive cycle of "hype" that eventually hit a ceiling. The filing confirms that in 2026, pure artistic genius is no longer enough to counter the rising costs of customer acquisition and the predatory nature of high-interest private equity. For the cultured consumer, it is a sobering reminder that our favorite luxury brands are often fragile financial houses of cards, held together by shimmering pigment and increasingly thin margins.

🍕 Gas Station Pizza: The Quality Revolution

The Situation: The 2026 Pizza Power Report has issued a warning to independent pizzerias: the gas station is no longer a last resort. Chains like Casey’s and 7-Eleven have revolutionized their food programs with high-tech convection ovens and premium ingredient sourcing, offering a product that now rivals local artisanal shops. With lower overhead, 24/7 availability, and seamless app-to-pump ordering, “C-store pizza” has become a high-margin juggernaut that is capturing the “tired professional” market.

The Efficiency Verdict: This shift represents the “Democratization of Decent.” We are living in an era where the floor for food quality has been raised so high that convenience is now the deciding factor for the consumer. While we still appreciate the wood-fired, neighborhood gem, the sheer friction of ordering from an indie shop (long waits, clunky websites) is driving us toward the hyper-efficiency of the pump station. It confirms that in a high-stress economy, “good enough and fast” is winning the war against “perfect and slow,” forcing small businesses to innovate their technology or lose their lunch to the gas station.

🖥️ Microsoft Admits to the Rise of the “Infinite Workday”

The Situation: Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index reveals a workforce reaching its breaking point, with employees trapped in a state of “digital debt.” The data shows a 16% increase in meetings held after 8 p.m. and a constant barrage of over 250 daily digital notifications per worker. With users being interrupted every two minutes by pings, the traditional workday has been replaced by a fragmented “infinite loop” where administrative triaging happens from the moment we wake up until the moment we sleep.

The Productivity Paradox: We were promised that technology would liberate us; instead, it has simply expanded the surface area of our availability. This “infinite workday” is a cognitive tax that is bankrupting our ability to perform “deep work” or engage in meaningful creative thought. For the high-achieving woman, this confirms that the “flexibility” of remote work has become a trap, turning our homes into 24-hour satellite offices. It is a cultural crisis masquerading as “connectivity,” forcing us to ask if we are actually producing value or just living in a perpetual state of administrative panic.

🩴 Crocs and the Comfort Revolution in China

The Situation: In a stunning reversal of fortune, Crocs has become a top-tier aspirational brand for Chinese Gen Z. By leaning into the “ugly-cool” aesthetic and creating platform versions of their classic clogs, the brand has captured a demographic that is increasingly prioritizing personal comfort over traditional elegance. The “Dongmen” (Chinese slang for Crocs fans) subculture has turned the act of wearing Crocs into a social signal of “chill,” with consumers spending hundreds on “Jibbitz” to turn their shoes into wearable art pieces that are shared across platforms like Xiaohongshu.

The Functional Rebellion: This trend is a visual manifestation of “lying flat.” After years of performing high-effort luxury, Chinese youth are pivoting toward a brand that allows them to be literally and metaphorically “grounded.” The success of Crocs confirms that “irony” is the new currency of status. For the cultured consumer, it is a fascinating case study in how a brand can succeed by stopping its attempt to be “cool” and instead embracing its status as an oddball outlier. It proves that in 2026, the most radical thing you can do is wear a foam shoe to a high-end dinner.

📚 TT BOOK REC: This Is Where We Live by Janelle Brown

Janelle Brown’s This Is Where We Live is a piercing, almost uncomfortable examination of the "Creative Class" in Los Angeles, centered on a couple whose marriage is as structurally unsound as the subprime mortgage holding their mid-century bungalow together. Claudia, a filmmaker on the verge of obscurity, and Jeremy, an indie musician clinging to a fading bohemian dream, represent a specific type of urban professional who treats cultural capital as a replacement for financial literacy. As the 2008 housing crisis looms and their adjustable-rate mortgage begins its inevitable climb, Brown masterfully details how their shared domestic life dissolves into a series of petty resentments and moral compromises. The prose is sharp and satirical, perfectly capturing the aesthetic pretension of the "Silver Lake set" while grounding the narrative in the visceral terror of impending bankruptcy. It is an enticing and devastating look at the fragility of modern adulthood, proving that when the dream of homeownership becomes a trap, the people inside often become each other’s primary antagonists.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. The Cruise Boom: Why Gen Z is Boarding the Ship- Younger travelers are ditching "curated" backpacking for the high-efficiency luxury of cruises.

2. Luxury Fatigue: Is LVMH Losing Its Luster?- Investors are turning cautious as Chinese growth slows and "status burnout" sets in.

3. The Analog Bag: Fashion’s Answer to Doomscrolling- TikTok’s latest accessory isn't a status symbol—it’s a Faraday cage for your phone.

   ---

   🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

   The girls are holding out hope for true makeup artistry, hot food and motor oil can live in harmony, and Big Tech confirmed burnout is real. You? You’re watching it all and probably suddenly bored with your usual pizza place.

   xx Jenn,
   Thoughtful Threads
   Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

   ---

   Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

   • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

   • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

   • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

   • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

   Disclaimer

   Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down the retail collapse everyone saw coming, the rise of sober spaces and so much more.

Also inside: the new legislation that will make China a bigger superpower and a book rec about the long term damages of family vlogging.

Let’s go.

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🛍️ Saks Global Fails to Scale Luxury Retail

• The Situation: On January 14, 2026, Saks Global—the retail titan formed by the high-stakes $2.65 billion merger of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus—officially filed for bankruptcy protection. (Btw: we saw this coming the second the acquisition was announced and said as much in a podcast episode from one year ago— listen on Apple or on Spotify.) The filing comes after months of missed payments to vendors and a staggering decline in aspirational luxury spending. Despite the “mega-merger” intended to create a defensive wall against the rise of e-commerce, the company found itself paralyzed by a massive debt load and a stagnant inventory that failed to move during the critical holiday season. The restructuring plan likely involves shuttering several historic flagship locations (perhaps selling off the retail assets as well) and pivoting toward a purely digital-first loyalty model to appease creditors (where we have been not shy about suspecting this is an important moment for Jeff Bezos).

• The Retail Facade: This bankruptcy is a forensic look at the death of the “Cathedral of Consumption.” For over a century, the department store was the physical manifestation of class mobility; it was a curated world where the middle class could touch the hem of the elite. However, in the age of direct-to-consumer luxury and algorithmic curation, the physical middleman has become a relic. The failure of the Saks-Neiman merger proves that you cannot “scale” exclusivity. For the modern, cultured consumer, the “Saks experience” has been replaced by niche, community-driven brands that offer authenticity over grandiosity. We are witnessing a shift where luxury is no longer about where you buy, but the specific, un-buyable taste required to find it.

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  🚘 Porsche’s 99% Profit Collapse

  

• The Situation: In a quarterly earnings report that sent shockwaves through the DAX, Porsche revealed a 99% drop in profit, narrowly escaping a total net loss. The brand, long considered the gold standard of German industrial stability, cited a catastrophic cooling of the Chinese market—where high-net-worth individuals are pulling back on conspicuous consumption—and the ballooning R&D costs associated with their aggressive transition to electric power. While the 911 remains a cult object, the company’s newer, volume-driven EV models have struggled to maintain the margins necessary to fund the legacy of the brand, leaving the automaker in a precarious financial “no-man’s-land.”

• The Heritage Facade: Porsche’s crisis is a cautionary tale about the volatility of “Brand Equity” in a post-combustion world. For decades, Porsche sold a specific mechanical soul—the vibration, the sound, the analog connection to the road. By pivotally shifting to silent, software-heavy EVs, they have entered a commodity war with tech giants who play by different rules. The 99% profit drop suggests that the “ultra-luxury” consumer is currently in a state of paralysis, caught between a desire for heritage and the fear of owning a depreciating tech-product on wheels. It confirms that in 2026, “luxury” isn’t just about performance; it’s about whether a legacy brand can survive its own evolution without losing its soul.

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  🚗 🇨🇦 Canada Breaks from U.S. on BYD Tariffs

  

• The Situation: In a move that has significantly strained the US-Canada trade relationship, the Canadian government has officially moved to allow the Chinese EV powerhouse BYD to sell its vehicles within the country. This decision involves a sharp reduction in the 100% tariffs that the U.S. has maintained to protect its domestic manufacturers. By prioritizing consumer affordability and climate goals over protectionist loyalty, Canada has opened the door for high-tech, low-cost EVs that could potentially disrupt the entire North American automotive market (*cough cough* TESLA). BYD is currently scouting locations for its first Canadian flagship showrooms, aiming for a mid-2026 launch.

• The Geopolitical Facade: Canada’s pivot is a quiet admission that the West is losing the electric race. By welcoming BYD, Canada is betting that “democratized luxury”—the ability for a middle-class family to own a high-tech EV for $25k—is more important than maintaining a unified front with Washington. For the savvy consumer, this confirms that the future of the road is no longer a Western monopoly, but an Eastern-led revolution in manufacturing efficiency. It forces us to ask: are we willing to trade our geopolitical allegiances for a car that finally makes the “green transition” affordable?

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  🍸 Sober Bars and the End of “Liquid Bonding”

• The Situation: The evolution of alcohol-free bars has moved past the “mocktail” phase and into a serious culinary movement. New venues are hiring “spirit-free” sommeliers to craft pairing menus that rival the best Michelin-starred programs. These bars are specifically targeting the “performance-driven” demographic—lawyers, tech founders, and creatives—who want the social benefits of a late-night lounge without the cognitive “fog” of alcohol. This trend is backed by massive investment from beverage conglomerates who are pivoting to meet the demands of a population that is increasingly terrified of the health implications of drinking. Several major alcohol brands have pivoted to promoting their new ‘zero-proof’ options with large scale marketing campaigns, including Heineken and Guinness.

• The Intoxicant Facade: The sober bar is the ultimate “quiet luxury” of the lifestyle world. Especially as one of the chief complaints of mocktails is that the price rivals that of its alcohol infused counterpart, the draw for a sober leaning life is not just financial. It signals that you are someone who values their time and their health enough to opt out of the social pressure of the “rounds.” In a world of digital noise and constant stimulation, “clarity” has become the rarest intoxicant of all. These bars prove that we are no longer looking for an escape; we are looking for a connection—one that we can actually remember the next morning. It confirms that “sobriety” has moved from a moralistic choice to a sophisticated, aspirational lifestyle.

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  📚 TT BOOK REC: The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

  Shari Franke’s debut is a "scorched-earth" account of growing up as a child of the internet. As part of the 8 Passengers family that pioneered family vlogging on YouTube, her daily life was broadcast to millions of strangers, creating a warped reality where her value was tied to her "engagement" metrics. The memoir provides an enticing but unsettling look at the psychological architecture of a home where every dinner, tear, and punishment was potential content. It is a story of resilience and the grueling, often lonely process of "un-learning" a mother's toxic doctrine after the world turns its back.

  This book is a masterclass in understanding the intersection of trauma, religion, and the digital age. Franke argues that the "family vlog" is the ultimate act of carelessness—an adult smashing up the childhood of their creatures and then retreating into the money they made from it. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever felt "disturbed" by the implications of broadcasting children’s lives on a screen. It acts as a mirror to our own consumption habits, forcing us to ask if our "likes" were the fuel that burned Shari’s childhood to the ground.

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  🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

  1. Population Caps: Switzerland’s ‘Sustainability’ Gamble- Can a country survive by saying “no” to growth? A look at Switzerland’s radical new plan to cap its population.

  2. Secret Lives and Mormon Wives: The Allure of Utah- An essay that muses on why we are obsessed with glimpses of the Mormon life and an exploration of the women who are finding their voices in a high-control world.

  3. DraftKings and the Death of Trust: The Gambling Epidemic- A look at how sports betting apps are infiltrating our homes and the quiet crisis they are creating in modern relationships.

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  🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

  The girls are waiting to hear about a Saks liquidation sale, luxury is on life support in other industries besides fashion, and the hangover is becoming a thing of the past. You? You’re watching it all and probably looking to get a rental car the next time you’re in Canada.

  xx Jenn,
  Thoughtful Threads
  Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

  ---

  Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

  • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

  • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

  • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

  • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

  Disclaimer

  Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down a digital gambling scandal, the new political fashion darling and so much more.

Also inside: the Japanese clinic with the cutest mission and a book rec about the highs and lows of complex female friendships.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

🎲 Anita Max Wynn- Drake’s Gambling Fiasco

The Situation: On January 2, 2026, a federal class-action RICO lawsuit was filed in Virginia naming Drake, streamer Adin Ross, and Australian social media creator George Nguyen as defendants alongside the platform Stake.us. The complaint alleges a sophisticated “money-moving” scheme where Stake provided Drake and Ross with “house money” to stage massive, misleading wagers to influence their young fanbases. Most critically, the suit claims the defendants used Stake’s “tipping” feature to funnel these funds to Nguyen, who allegedly interfaced with bot vendors and streaming farms to artificially inflate Drake’s Spotify streams by billions. This suggests that Drake’s dominance in the charts wasn’t just a result of cultural resonance, but a coordinated “narrative surge” designed to fabricate popularity and distort industry algorithms.

The Predatory Facade: This lawsuit serves as a forensic autopsy of the modern “super-influencer” model, revealing a parasitic relationship where celebrity status is both the product and the lure. The focus on Stake’s “sweepstakes” branding—a legal loophole designed to evade traditional gambling regulations—highlights a central crisis in the digital economy: the erosion of consumer protection in the face of offshore crypto-casinos. For the savvy observer, the botting allegations are the most damning, as they confirm that the metrics of cultural “success” (the streams, the viral clips, the chart positions) are increasingly financial products that can be bought and manipulated. This isn’t just a legal battle over gambling; it is a reckoning for a culture that has allowed celebrity influence to become an unregulated engine for financial extraction and algorithmic fraud.

🚖 ✈️ 2026: Bumper to Bumper Traffic is in the Air (Literally)

The Situation: The “sky highway” moved from theory to infrastructure in August 2025 with the FAA’s publication of Part 108, a landmark regulatory framework that standardizes Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. This rule eliminates the cumbersome, case-by-case waiver process, allowing for the routine scaling of package delivery and aerial surveying at low altitudes. Simultaneously, Honda has emerged from “stealth mode,” filing for FAA exemptions to begin flight trials of its “F1” research aircraft—a hybrid-electric eVTOL prototype. While competitors have struggled with pure battery limitations, Honda’s hybrid strategy leverages Formula 1-derived turbogenerator technology to target an ambitious 250-mile (400km) range, with full-scale remotely piloted test flights scheduled for March 2026.

The Institutional Frontier: This regulatory shift represents the formal “domestication” of the sky, where the chaos of early drone experimentation is being replaced by a predictable, corporate-ready airspace. Honda’s entry is particularly significant because it signals the pivot from “intracity” hops to “intercity” travel, effectively positioning the eVTOL as a competitor to short-haul commercial flights rather than just a luxury car replacement. By bypassing the “battery breakthrough” narrative and opting for a hybrid model, Honda is betting that the future of air mobility depends on practical range and legacy automotive reliability rather than purely green idealism. This transition confirms that 2026 is the year flight moves from a venture capital dream to a standardized utility, where the “buzz” in the sky is no longer a novelty, but a regulated commercial pulse.

🏙️ Rama Duwaji and the NYC aesthetic reset

The Situation: The era of the hyper-sexualized, algorithm-optimized “Instagram Baddie” is officially waning, replaced by a look championed by creatives like Rama Duwaji..…who also happens to be the First Lady of New York City but she’s totally cool about it. This style privileges modesty (in a powerful way), structural tailoring, and visible intellect—think statement accessories, oversized coats, rich textures, and an air of quiet interiority. It is a visual signal that women are reclaiming their mystery and valuing cultural capital over purely physical currency. The aesthetic (or a way of life truly if you’re anything like me) is less about male gaze approval and more about signaling to other women that you read, you think, and you curate your life with intentionality rather than just visibility.

The Intellectual Pivot: This aesthetic shift is a quiet rebellion against the “fast fashion” body. The “Intelligent Girl” cannot be easily bought via a shopping haul; it requires a cultivation of taste and a sense of self that exists primarily offline. By centering the mind and the wardrobe as tools of personal expression rather than seduction, Rama Duwaji is helping to create a culture where “smart” is the new aspirational sexy. It represents a profound rejection of the pressure to be perpetually accessible and “hot” for the digital gaze, proving that in 2026, the most powerful thing a woman can be is well-read and utterly self-possessed.

🧸 How a Japanese Stuffed Animal Clinic Preserves Childhood Memories

The Situation: In a world dominated by disposable goods and planned obsolescence, Japan’s Natsumi Clinic offers a radical counter-narrative: a specialized “hospital” that restores beloved stuffed animals. The process is treated with absolute medical seriousness—patients are admitted, given specific “treatments” (restuffing, stitching, washing), and discharged with care instructions and “get-well” updates. This is more than a repair shop; it is a validation of the deep emotional attachments humans form with objects, acknowledging that these physical relics often hold decades of memory and sensory comfort.

The Sentimental Rebellion: The clinic’s global success is a quiet indictment of our throwaway culture. In a digital age where so much of our life is intangible and fleeting, we are becoming desperate to preserve the physical totems of our history. By treating these objects with dignity, the Natsumi Clinic challenges the modern impulse to “just buy a new one,” proving that there is a deep market for services that honor care, repair, and the emotional durability of the things we love. It suggests that true value doesn’t come from the price tag or the novelty, but from the continuity of companionship and the stories embedded in the fabric.

📚 TT BOOK REC: Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Sarah Wynn Williams, a former Director of Public Policy at Meta, has released an explosive memoir titled Careless People that chronicles her high-level tenure alongside the highest employees at Meta, namely Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. The book details her transition from an idealistic believer in "global connection" to a disillusioned witness to the company's "lethal carelessness." Internally, the memoir paints a portrait of a toxic workplace where she faced systemic misogyny and a shocking lack of support during a life-threatening maternity health crisis, all while the company publicly championed "leaning in."

The book’s title—a direct nod to the classic Gatsby quote about those who "smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money"—serves as a devastating critique of the tech elite’s detachment from the wreckage they leave behind. For the intelligent observer, Careless People confirms that Meta’s core brand of "social good" was effectively a veneer for a cynical pursuit of power and market share at any cost. By contrasting Sandberg's corporate feminist philosophy with a reality that prioritized growth over human decency, Wynn Williams exposes a central paradox: the very people tasked with connecting the world are fundamentally insulated from the consequences of their creation. This memoir isn't just a whistle-blowing account; it is a political indictment of a class that treats global stability as collateral damage in an endless drive for algorithmic dominance.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. The Bureaucracy Battles: Pregnant Workers Sue Over DOGE Cuts- Federal lawsuits are flying as pregnant workers challenge the legality of the new administration's mass firings, pitting the drive for bureaucratic "efficiency" against the legal safeguards for working mothers and the vulnerable.

2. The Rush Economy: Why Sorority Access Now Costs Thousands- The emergence of high-priced “Rush Consultants” helping young women navigate sorority recruitment underscores a grim reality: access to elite circles is increasingly behind a paywall, locking out those who cannot afford to pay for the “right” personality packaging and social coaching.

3. The Attention Recession: America's News Boycott- A significant portion of the population is actively avoiding the news to preserve mental health; this “headline fatigue” marks the failure of the 24-hour outrage cycle, forcing media companies to reckon with an audience that has simply decided to opt out of the anxiety to save their own sanity.

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   🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

   The girls are contributing to the yassification of gambling, cool girls are back in the Big Apple and air traffic might take on a new meaning in this lifetime. You? You’re watching it all and probably wondering how sky rush hour commutes work.

   xx Jenn,
   Thoughtful Threads
   Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

   ---

   Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

   • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

   • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

   • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

   • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

   Disclaimer

   Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

(This post is adapted from a previous podcast episode, “Ami Colé, Collina Strada & the Case for Big Small Business” which you can find on Apple and Spotify)

We are gathered here today to talk about something that might be a little polarizing, perhaps even upsetting or triggering, depending on where your sensibilities lie—but we are here to learn from the mistakes of others. I say “mistake” with all the love in the world, not in a shady way, but as a vital post-mortem for anyone interested in the proceedings of modern business. Today, we are discussing the untimely demise of the beauty brand Ami Colé.

Ami Colé was a brand that, on paper, should have been an untouchable success. Founded by Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye—a Senegalese American woman with an impeccable corporate pedigree including L’Oreal, Glossier, and time in the trenches as a Sephora sales associate—the brand was rooted in a heartfelt tribute to her mother. It launched officially around 2020, and in its short five-to-six-year run, it managed to achieve what most founders only dream of: a cult-like following that resonated in a way that felt deeply emotional rather than purely transactional.

The Oprah Effect and the Illusion of Infallibility

The brand’s trajectory was marked by the kind of high-octane visibility that usually signals a “check cashed” moment. We saw the write-ups in Allure, Essence, and Ebony, but the true peak was being named one of Oprah’s Favorite Things. Historically, that placement is the ultimate “out of here” ticket; it’s what put brands like Tory Burch on the map and propelled them into the stratosphere. With that kind of press and genuine word-of-mouth from tastemakers, the sky seemed to be the limit.

However, beneath the gloss and the “favorite things” fanfare, a much darker structural reality was at play. Despite the cult following and the visibility, Ami Colé was operating within the “VC Death Trap”. A lot of brands experiencing that right now were part of the 2020 financial windfall—a time when corporations, fueled by sudden guilt over their lack of partnership with Black communities, began throwing money at POC-owned brands to assuage their consciences and stay on the “right side of history”.

The $6 Million Dollar Miscalculation

In a recent interview with Emma Grede on the Aspire podcast, Diarrha confirmed the numbers that many of us suspected. Over multiple rounds of funding, the brand received roughly $6 million. To be blunt: that is nothing when you are trying to launch and scale a business on a grand, global level. It was a paltry sum thrown at a founder by rich people who wanted the optics of inclusivity without providing the actual capital required for success.

The silent villains of this story are the investors who demanded explosive growth for the five dollars they invested. When the brand was already in 250 Sephora doors—an insane feat for a young company—the investors were unsatisfied; they were pushing for 600. As Emma Grede noted, no one had the founder’s best interest at heart in that scenario. There is no way a new brand has the working capital or the operational energy to scale to 600 doors in just four years. It wasn’t sustainable, and it led to the aggressive burnout of the very thing that made the brand special.

The VC Graveyard: From Ami Colé to Nasty Gal

This isn’t just an Ami Colé story; this is the story of the VC graveyard. We saw it years ago with Nasty Gal, one of my favorite examples to cite when people question my skepticism of outside investments. Before Sophia Amoruso took outside investment, her business was $1 million cash positive through pure bootstrapping. That is the real success story that should have been on billboards. But our culture doesn’t find bootstrapping “sexy”. We want the shiny Silicon Valley office, the fancy board of directors, and the fuel-injection of cash that makes for a good Forbes cover.

But what happened when the “experts” with the credentials arrived? They treated Nasty Gal like a commodity—like sugar or tea—and ignored the element of love that built the community. They ran it into the ground, bought crappy merchandise, raised prices, and let the founder be the fall guy while the C-suite executives remained nameless. It is the same ego-driven cycle where we prioritize “brownie points” and external validation over a sustainable P&L.

The Alternative: Profit Over Growth

In contrast, let’s look at a brand like Collina Strada. Founded by Hillary Taymour in 2008, it is a brand that prioritizes whimsical, niche designs and sustainability over mindless scale. They are not chasing notoriety; they aren’t trying to be in every Nordstrom or Saks. They are strategic about wholesale and prioritize the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model where they actually keep their margins.

Collina Strada prioritizes profits over growth. They don’t have the “flash-in-the-pan” buzz of the VC-backed brands, and they might not be on the cover of Fast Company, but they have outlived almost everyone in the VC graveyard. They understand that the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.

Longevity is the New Luxury

The bigger picture is that we need to stop viewing VC funding as a badge of honor or legitimacy. Your brand is not less legitimate because it isn’t in 600 doors. If you are a D2C brand that has been cash-positive for ten years, you have achieved more than most people will ever do in business.

Purpose is greater than popularity; longevity is greater than hype; and private success is far greater than public applause. We need to move away from the idea that we have to be seen in certain rooms to be “legit”. If certain people don’t recognize the value of what you’re doing, it simply isn’t for them. Profitability is sexy. I’d rather you be cash positive and quietly doing your thing than be a “celebrated” brand that has never been profitable a day in its life. Let’s support the brands that respect moving at their own pace—and let’s have the courage to do the same.

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

• Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down a newly popular TikTok bag line, the lawsuit that reveals labels determine the price and so much more.

Also inside: the sweater that made men angry and a book rec about the highs and lows of complex female friendships.

Let’s go.

Subscribe now

👜 Pierre Laborde and the Gatekeeping Question

The Memo: Haitian-born, NYC-based designer Pierre Laborde’s drop-shaped handbags—lauded for their vibrant colors and handcrafted details—exploded into viral fame thanks to TikTok. This visibility is a win for independent, Black-owned designers, demonstrating that originality and craftsmanship (not just massive ad budgets) are what fashion lovers crave.

The Big Picture: The subsequent cultural debate about who is “allowed” to spread the word about a Black-owned brand is fascinating. When predominantly white, high-follower influencers discovered and promoted the bags, a segment of the Black community pushed back, accusing them of “colonizing” a brand that had been quietly supported by its community for years. This tension isn’t about simple protectionism; it’s a necessary conversation about cultural ownership, equitable visibility, and the historical marginalization that makes the sudden mass adoption of Black creativity feel for some less like a celebration and more like a loss of sacred space. The situation compels us all to confront our own roles in amplifying—or exploiting—independent talent.

Shameless plug: our podcast episode about this situation can be found here (Apple) and here (Spotify).

🏋️‍♂️ Lululemon Sues Costco: The Dupe Dilemma

The Situation: Lululemon is suing Costco, alleging the retailer is selling “confusingly similar” lookalikes—or “dupes”—of its bestselling products like the Scuba hoodies and Define jackets. The lawsuit highlights a central crisis in the modern athleisure market: how do you protect “trade dress” (the unique visual identity of a product) when the designs are inherently minimalist and easily copied, and consumers are actively looking for the lower-cost replica?

The Luxe Facade: The lawsuit serves as a quiet admission that Lululemon’s product quality, once its core differentiator, is now effectively replicated and accessible at a fraction of the price. The legal focus is on consumer confusion—arguing customers might mistake the $20 Costco jacket for the $128 Lululemon original. For the savvy consumer, however, the dupe phenomenon is a political gesture: it confirms that the difference between the premium product and the dupe is increasingly about labeling, marketing spend, and the cost of status, not material construction. This case confirms that the functional gap between luxury athleisure and its knock-off is shrinking.

🚴 Peloton’s Second Wind and The Failings of the AI Trainer

The Breakdown: Peloton’s recent pivot to AI—including building its own Large Language Model, Peloton IQ, and using camera-based movement tracking—was framed as the future of fitness. However, the move has been met with skepticism and reports of failure. This high-tech misstep is a reminder that the value of Peloton was never the bike itself, but the community, accountability, and charismatic human instruction delivered by their rockstar trainers.

The Human Factor: The issue is that AI struggles with the psychological half of the fitness battle. It cannot offer tough love, discerning accountability, or wisdom to push you past the point of self-pity when you’re feeling exhaustion. Personalized guidance on form is one thing, but the human element—the shared anxiety of a race, the moral obligation to a training partner—is the real motivator that justifies the high monthly fee. The failed AI bike confirms that fitness is deeply psychological, and some things, especially motivation, still need a human coach.

👨 J. Crew’s ‘Woke’ Sweaters and the Clothing Police

The Memo: J.Crew recently debuted a men’s pink Fair Isle sweater, which ignited a fierce (and frankly, baffling) online culture war. Conservative commenters erupted, calling the $168 sweater “feminine” and leaving scathing negative reviews on the website—despite not purchasing it. This was less about the sweater’s aesthetic and more about its social and political coding.

The Dilemma: This incident underscores how even the most innocuous items of clothing can become highly polarized political signifiers in our deeply fractured retail landscape. J.Crew, a brand that historically represented prep and clean-cut Americana, inadvertently became a battleground over gender norms and perceived masculinity. The volume of the outrage confirms that, for many, purchasing decisions are no longer about fashion but about which tribe you signal allegiance to, turning a simple pink knit into a stand-in for a national identity crisis.

📚 TT BOOK REC: The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy’s novel has delivered an era-defining portrait of friendship, tracing the lives of five Black women—Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique, and Nakia—from their early twenties through to their mid-forties. This long-awaited novel is a masterful and kaleidoscopic follow-up that explores the complexities of finding purpose, navigating career pivots, and the enduring, often tangled, thicket of female intimacy over two decades.

The novel is a vital read because it moves beyond the generic “Sex and the City” friendship trope to capture the precariousness of modern adulthood amid national upheavals like the housing crisis and racial reckonings. Flournoy’s craft is superb, using shifting perspectives to embed the reader deeply in her characters’ interior lives. It’s a beautifully written, wise, and intimate book that captures the struggle of achieving security and belonging in a world that is constantly shifting beneath their feet, marking it as a truly future classic about surviving contemporary American life.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. The Wage Wars: Why DoorDash and Uber Are Suing NYC Over a Tipping Mandate -The gig economy giants are challenging new laws that require them to prompt customers for a minimum 10% tip at checkout, arguing the move pressures consumers and violates their free speech rights.

2. Infrastructure Shame: How One MTA Accessibility Officer is Fighting a 117-Year-Old Problem -An interview with the MTA’s first Chief Accessibility Officer, detailing the political, financial, and architectural challenges of finally making the New York subway system truly usable for all citizens.

3. The New Best Friend: Why Teens Banned From Social Media Are Turning to AI Chatbots -After Australia banned social media for those under 16, millions of teens are treating AI chatbots with “endless patience” as accessible, non-judgmental, and constant mental health support.

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   🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

   The girls are buying leggings and beef jerky in the same place (and the resemblance is uncanny), AI is no replacement for a gym buddy, and the right leaning men are mad about sweaters they didn’t buy. You? You’re watching it all and probably a bit more thankful for your trainer.

   xx Jenn,
   Thoughtful Threads
   Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

   ---

   Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

   • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

   • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

   • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

   • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

   Disclaimer

   Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down the second act of a beauty founder, the rise of the casual drink, the fall of the fancy salad and so much more.

Also inside: the 50 year (!!!) mortgage and a historical fiction book rec about trailblazing women fighting for American literacy.

Let’s go.

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💄 SKIMS Beauty and the Nuance of Ami Colé’s Second Act

What’s Up: Beauty industry news exploded with the announcement that Diarrha N’Diaye, founder of the recently shuttered cult-favorite Black beauty brand Ami Colé, is joining Kim Kardashian’s Skims as Executive Vice President of Beauty & Fragrance.

The Insight: This move is a fascinating, fraught case study in what it takes for a Black female founder to achieve scale in a market that loves to celebrate small brands but rarely funds them for the long haul. N’Diaye’s own essay about Ami Colé’s closure highlighted the near-impossible metrics and data-access gaps facing Black entrepreneurs. While many in the community are genuinely happy to see N’Diaye secure a powerful, well-resourced role that grants her the infrastructure and capital she couldn’t access independently—a necessary “check” and professional victory—the sentiment isn’t simple.

There is an understandable tension: some critics view the move as a loss of a vital, independent voice and express concern over the optics of a talented Black leader joining a brand that has often been accused of exploiting or appropriating Black culture for profit. The situation reveals a structural economic reality: sometimes, the only viable path to genuine influence and the ability to scale inclusivity (the goal of Ami Colé) is through the financial and logistical machine of a massive, Kardashian-backed entity. This is not a simple narrative of betrayal or triumph, but a nuanced reflection of the systemic barriers that force brilliant founders into difficult, high-stakes alliances.

🥗 Sweetgreen’s Slowdown: What the Salad Bowl Says About the Consumer

What’s Up: Sweetgreen, the darling of the upscale fast-casual movement, is hitting a rough patch. Recent financial results show negative same-store sales growth, a drop in traffic, and widening net losses, despite efforts to automate with its “Infinite Kitchen.”

The Insight: The performance of Sweetgreen is a direct reflection of shifting consumer sentiment and the ultimate limit of the “lunch premium.” For years, the demographic of cultured, urban professionals was willing to pay upwards of $15-20 for a bespoke salad bowl, symbolizing convenience, health, and a certain aspirational lifestyle. Sweetgreen’s struggle suggests that amid economic uncertainty, this discretionary spending is the first to be cut.

This isn’t just a challenge for one company; it’s a canary in the coal mine for the entire “better-for-you” fast-casual category. Consumers are either retreating to cheaper, more value-driven alternatives (traditional fast food) or opting to save money by preparing their expensive, healthy bowls at home. It highlights that no amount of branding or efficiency (like the Infinite Kitchen) can insulate a premium product from a market that is suddenly prioritizing savings over convenience and daily health status signaling. The salad bowl, once a status symbol, is now simply too high a price for a daily habit.

☕️ Starbucks’ China Strategy: A Smart Retreat?

What’s Up: Starbucks is offloading a majority 60% stake in its lucrative Chinese retail operations to the Chinese investment firm Boyu Capital in a deal valued at approximately $4 billion, while retaining 40% and licensing its brand.

The Insight: On the surface, this might look like a retreat, but it’s a strategically smart defensive move that echoes McDonald’s successful divestment model in the region. Starbucks faces intense, hyper-localized competition, primarily from fast-growing, cheaper rivals like Luckin Coffee, which has rapidly surpassed Starbucks in store count. By selling a controlling stake, Starbucks achieves three things: 1) It immediately pockets significant cash; 2) It insulates its bottom line from the risks of a slowing Chinese economy and rising U.S.-China political tensions (tariffs, boycotts); and 3) It gains a Chinese partner with “deep local knowledge” to navigate expansion into smaller cities, streamline operations, and aggressively compete on price and speed—areas where the foreign brand struggled. This move transforms Starbucks from a burdened, full-scale operator to a profitable minority shareholder and brand licensor, ensuring it still profits from the Chinese market’s growth without bearing all the operational and political risk.

🥤 The Age of the Corporate Elixir: Why Fast Food is Chasing Drinks

What’s Up: Major quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains, including McDonald’s with the now-shuttered CosMc’s concept and Taco Bell’s Live Más Cafes, are aggressively investing in specialty, custom-order, high-margin beverage businesses.

The Insight: The beverage game has become the final frontier of fast-food profit. Drinks have a significantly higher profit margin than food—a few cents in syrup and ice can sell for several dollars. For QSRs, drinks solve a critical business problem: the drive-thru bottleneck. Specialty drinks, with their custom toppings and flavor combinations, demand a higher price point and are easily added to an existing order, dramatically increasing the Average Unit Volume (AUV) without requiring a major kitchen overhaul. Taco Bell’s Live Más Cafe, focused on flashy beverages, and McDonald’s’ efforts show that these giants are targeting Gen Z’s preference for complex, customizable, and visually appealing “experience” drinks. This is less about food and more about dominating the afternoon “snack and sip” market, turning existing locations into high-efficiency, liquid-profit centers.

TT BOOK REC: The Giver of Stars

If you’re looking for an unforgettable saga of female resilience, deep friendship, and the quiet power of literature, this is it. Set in Depression-era Kentucky, the novel follows a remarkable group of women who, as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s WPA program, form the Packhorse Library—riding out into the treacherous mountains to deliver books to the isolated, book-starved poor. It’s a beautifully written, character-driven story that moves beyond simple historical fiction to explore the constraints placed on women, the importance of education, and the enduring connection that forms between women when they unite against convention and patriarchal control.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. Generational Wealth, Deferred: The True Cost of a 50-Year Mortgage- We analyze President Trump’s floating of a half-century mortgage, dissecting whether a slightly lower monthly payment is worth nearly double the interest and a massive loss of equity for millennial homebuyers.

2. Orange is the New Power Color: The Psychology of Apple’s New ‘Black’- Why is Apple betting that the new, vibrant Orange iPhone will become the next must-have status symbol? We explore how color psychology drives tech adoption and cultural trends.

3. The Art of the Unscripted: Deconstructing the Political Speaking Style- A fascinating linguistic and political analysis of how a public figure’s unique, often rambling, speaking style—known as “the weave”—is meticulously crafted to bypass traditional media and activate core supporters.

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   🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

   The career comeback is still a thing, drinks are the new dinner, and China is still a formidable power player in America-based business. You? You’re watching it all and probably counting the calories in a dirty soda.

   xx Jenn,
   Thoughtful Threads
   Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

   ---

   Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

   • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

   • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

   • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

   • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

   Disclaimer

   Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down a revolutionary money app, the rise of Trader Joe’s totes in unlikely places and so much more.

Also inside: the end of the penny and a book rec about a dystopian tech company that will make you look over your shoulder more often.

Let’s go.

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🇺🇸✈️🇬🇧 Why Brits Are Trading Their Burberry for a $3.99 Canvas Tote

The Vibe Check: You can’t open TikTok or stroll through Notting Hill without seeing it: The off-white Trader Joe’s canvas bag, an unlikely global fashion accessory. What started as a simple, affordable reusable grocery tote in the US has become an “IYKYK” status symbol across the pond—especially in the UK, where there isn’t a single TJ’s store. Hot take: this is a way to signal to select people, which we know is going to be a big theme. (When I used to carry a Harrod’s bag as my lunch tote, it didn’t mean much to everyone but it definitely meant something to someone- and we would stop and chat for a second just off the strength of that tote. That type of organic signaling is more important than ever.)

The Breakdown: The scarcity factor is key. If you’re rocking that red logo in London, it quietly signals that you’ve been to the US, have a savvy American friend, or you paid a premium on Depop (prices can hit 5x retail). This isn’t about luxury labels; it’s about cultural capital. In an age of fast-moving, internet-driven trends, foreign-branded “merch” represents a blend of ironic thrift culture, understated “American cool,” and a nod to sustainability. It’s the ultimate anti-status status symbol—a way to subtly flex that you’re globally connected and on top of the obscure aesthetic curve. Forget your designer bag; this tote says you’re interesting.

🪙 The Death of the Penny: What a ‘Rounding Tax’ Means for Your Wallet

The Memo: It’s official: The US Mint is expected to stop producing new pennies by early 2026. Why? It currently costs about 3.7 cents to make a 1-cent coin, a financial loss the government can no longer justify. The good news? No more overflowing coin jars. The twist? This is going to change how you pay.

The Future of Cash: When cash transactions end in cents (like $14.98), merchants will likely start rounding to the nearest 5 cents. This process is not new—Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all phased out their smallest coins successfully. The catch is what the Federal Reserve is calling a “rounding tax.” Analysis suggests that while rounding up and down should balance out, transaction totals are slightly more likely to end in digits that round up (like 8 or 9 cents), resulting in a small net cost to consumers. Don’t worry, your credit card and digital payments will still process at the exact amount. It’s a subtle nudge in the direction of our cashless future. (That said, I do think that we shouldn’t phase out cash altogether because it still allows for a modicum of privacy with regard to what we buy.)

And while we’re on the topic of money……

🇧🇷 The Rise of Pix: How a Brazilian App is Threatening Global Finance

The Intel: While you’re Venmo-ing your friends, Brazil is running on Pix, a groundbreaking instant payment platform launched by its Central Bank. Pix allows citizens and businesses to send and receive money 24/7 in seconds, for free (person-to-person). It has exploded, becoming the most frequent payment method for nearly two-thirds of the adult population and pushing cash use to just 6%.

The Disruption: Pix is a prime example of a country taking financial sovereignty into its own hands, bypassing the traditional, costly infrastructure of international credit card companies and legacy banks. This model of a central bank-driven, universally accessible payment system is drawing immense international attention, with the US Federal Reserve’s FedNow system taking inspiration. The issue it poses for major international financial institutions is simple: displacement. A government-built, free, and efficient alternative completely undercuts their business model. As more countries eye similar models, the global financial landscape is on the brink of a major decentralized shakeup. About time.

💉 The Longevity Lab: Why Celebrities are Flocking to Prospera (to cheat the hands of time)

The Destination: Forget St. Maarten—the new celebrity hot spot is Próspera, a Special Economic Zone on the island of Roatán, Honduras. It’s a libertarian-leaning “governance incubator” where biotech companies are setting up shop to offer cutting-edge medical treatments not yet (or not ever) allowed by the FDA in the United States.

The Controversy: Think of it as medical tourism for the elite biohacker. Companies are developing things like advanced genetic therapies for cellular rejuvenation and cognitive enhancement. Case in point: Reports have emerged of celebrities like Khloé Kardashian receiving these treatments. Proponents praise the lack of bureaucratic red tape, arguing it fast-tracks life-changing medicine. Critics—including US doctors—raise serious ethical and safety concerns, pointing out the lack of rigorous, FDA-style oversight. It’s a Wild West of wellness that asks a high-stakes question: How much risk is a wealthy person willing to take in the pursuit of eternal youth and peak performance?

📚 TT BOOK REC: The Every by Dave Eggers

The Read: This book is the much-anticipated sequel to Eggers’ 2013 dystopian hit, The Circle. The new omnipotent tech conglomerate, The Every (a merger of The Circle and “the jungle” a.k.a. Amazon), is now in charge of everything. Our protagonist, Delaney, infiltrates the company with a plan: To destroy it from the inside by introducing increasingly ridiculous, invasive, and absurd apps until the public finally says, “Enough.” But how much surveillance can the public stand before they decide to take a stand? That’s what we proceed to figure out.

The Verdict: The Every is a darkly funny and deeply chilling satire. Eggers’ genius lies in extrapolating current-day tech fads—from moral outrage policing to forced data sharing—to their logical, nightmarish conclusion. It’s a hyperactive, often over-the-top read, but as a polemic against the tyranny of choice and the death of human wildness, it is urgent. You might find the characters thinly drawn, but the cultural commentary is thick, sharp, and leaves you desperately wanting to unplug every smart device you own. Read it if: you want to be simultaneously amused, terrified, and feel deeply seen in your anti-big-tech rage.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. The New Joint Commitment: Couples Who Get Cosmetic Work Together. -Forget the shared hobby. The modern partnership is embracing “beauty matching.”

2. Why ‘Six, Seven’ is the Viral, Banned Teen Slang You Need to Understand. -It has no meaning, yet it’s been named a word of the year and is causing chaos in classrooms. Dive into the “6-7” meme, a piece of Gen Alpha slang that’s less about communication and more about shared, ironic energy.

3. Marketing Genius or Cultural Hypocrisy? A Deep Dive on the SKIMS ‘Ultimate Bush.’ -Kim Kardashian’s faux pubic hair thong sold out instantly, sparking a firestorm of controversy. This critique analyzes the stunt: how a brand that profited from promoting a hairless aesthetic is now selling an artificial version of what it convinced us to remove. It’s a sharp lesson in the commodification of the body and high-level marketing strategy.

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   🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

   The penny is in her flop era, the new status symbol is access, and the rich people want to live forever. You? You’re watching it all and probably listing old tote bags on Depop.

   xx Jenn,
   Thoughtful Threads
   Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

   ---

   Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

   • Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

   • Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

   • Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

   • Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

   Disclaimer

   Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

🌶 THE GIST OF IT

Welcome to your biweekly roundup of all the contemporary cool girl news that’s fit to print. We’re breaking down Chanel’s sustainability efforts, an attempt at reviving the BlackBerry and so much more.

Also inside: the originator of the selfie and a book rec about the surprisingly intricate inner workings of reality TV.

Let’s go.

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👛 The Chanel Effect: Luxury Goes Circular

What’s Up: Chanel, the ultimate symbol of timeless luxury, just launched Nevold, its new B2B platform with a mission to repurpose materials and overstock goods into new products.

The Insight: This isn’t a small move; it’s a seismic industry signal. By officially embracing the sustainable angle, Chanel is acknowledging what you already knew: we have too much waste and need to find something to do with it. For years, luxury brands tried to shy away from the idea of being thrifty and cost effective; now, they’re integrating it. This move authenticates sustainability’s need to be considered in supply chain and helps the house protect its brand integrity since it is still just B2B. It’s the ultimate power play in the circular economy.

📞 Zinwa Q25: The ‘Vibe Phone’ Reborn

The Thesis: The launch of the Zinwa Q25, a feature phone with physical keys, represents a calculated cultural and psychological pushback against the “always-on” economy. It’s a subtle yet powerful rejection of the smartphone as a life-management tool and a recognition of its role as an attention economy siphon. This is the new ‘stealth wealth’ of connectivity: the ability to limit digital obligation and prioritize presence. The phone’s return signals that the desire for mental space is now driving hardware innovation.

The Zinwa Q25 taps into the same energy that fuels the ‘dumb phone’ movement, but with a crucial difference: it offers a high-performance, contemporary processor and a full suite of modern connectivity features. It’s not a retreat into the past, but an active choice to curate a tech experience that values utility, security, and a satisfying physical interface over the seamless, yet often intrusive, uniformity dictated by the industry giants.

(NOTE: No one has received an official version of this phone yet. This is for early adopters and I am not personally recommending anyone buy one at this time.)

🛒 Instacart’s AI Cart: Checkout With a Brain

The Thesis: Instacart’s AI-enabled ‘Caper Cart’ smart cart marks the moment digital efficiency fully colonizes the physical space of retail. By merging real-time inventory, personalized data (recipes, dietary needs), and automated checkout, the cart acts as a contextual computing interface for the physical world. This isn’t just a gimmick; it’s a redefinition of the “store” as a high-tech fulfillment center designed for the immediate, data-aware consumer.

Equipped with computer vision, they can identify products as they are placed inside, automatically tallying the bill, facilitating a seamless, checkout-free experience. More critically, the carts function as personalized shopping concierges: they guide customers along optimized routes based on their list, deliver targeted, real-time coupons and recipe suggestions, and, most powerfully, integrate the customer’s online purchase history with their in-store journey. This transforms the historically passive shopping cart into an active, data-rich component of the customer relationship.

But…..do we want that?

📚 TT BOOK REC: Cue the Sun!

Emily Nussbaum’s book is not a condemnation of reality TV; it’s an urgent, brilliant cultural autopsy. With the sharp prose that won her a Pulitzer, Nussbaum traces the genre’s DNA from Candid Camera to The Apprentice, exposing the ethical fault lines and the manipulative editing tool known as the “Frankenbite.” Crucially, she argues that reality TV is the art form that best prepared us for the current political and digital landscape. This book takes a lowbrow subject and grants it highbrow criticality, making it essential reading for anyone trying to understand the last 70 years of American life.

The book is an essential read for anyone interested in the machinery of contemporary media, peeling back the layers of artifice to expose deceptive editing tools—and the often-troubling ethical compromises that underpin the search for authenticity on screen. Nussbaum introduces the trickster pioneers and the exploited first stars, from the Loud family of An American Family to the cynical ringmasters of The Bachelor, illuminating the morally charged, tragic, and sometimes genuinely affecting consequences of being ‘real’ inside a highly controlled, manufactured world. It’s a dissertation of cultural criticism.

🧠 CULTURE CANDY (links to make you cool to talk to)

1. Unconventional Metrics: How Investors Spy on the Economy During a Data Freeze- When the government’s economic data stalls, Wall Street’s sharpest minds turn to surprising signals—from lipstick sales to private payroll trackers—to navigate market uncertainty.

2. Before the Filter: How Cecil Beaton Became the Original, Unrivaled Master of the Modern Selfie- Long before the front-facing camera, the legendary photographer Cecil Beaton transformed the art of self-portraiture into a weapon of self-promotion and image control, making him the ultimate pioneer of the modern ‘selfie’ and personal brand.

3. Building a Better Future: When Nike and Lego Teamed Up to Transform Play- A groundbreaking collaboration between two retail giants transformed a simple Chinese schoolyard into a vibrant, creative, and massive Lego-themed playground, redefining the future of urban space and interactive learning.

🖤 UNTIL NEXT TIME...

The sustainability effort is alive and well, the dumb phone is still having a moment, and one day your grocery cart might engage you in conversation. You? You’re watching it all and probably looking at the Real Housewives a little differently now.

xx Jenn,
Thoughtful Threads
Your URL safe space for good taste and smart takes

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

• Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee

• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!

TikTok beauty star Mikayla Nogueira is not the first person to spend a six figure sum during a shopping spree. She’s not even the first person to do that within her respective industry of beauty content creation. But the backlash she received from her recent luxury shopping haul is a reflection of the changing sentiments of society, not to mention an indictment on the state of the luxury fashion industry. It was only a few years ago that it was a rite of passage for beauty influencers to vlog their endless array of brand trips— just so said influencer can rant and rave about an updated formula for concealer. Most people would consider themselves lucky if they went to these destinations even once in their lifetime, let alone expect an annual invite to the most exotic locales on the planet.

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Many of these influencers’ viewers quickly learned to anticipate these videos in the pipeline; often, you could watch a different POV of every invited influencer to the same exact brand trip. The sentiment back then was that the viewer was in on the experience; if I get an all expense paid trip to Tahiti, then we all get an all expense paid trip to Tahiti. And for a longer time than I thought possible, people actually bought that. I have always thought that eventually most influencers tip the scale with their following to where their community is voyeuristic at best, and envious at worst. (This is not to say that you can’t enjoy someone’s content who is in a different position economically than you— but if every other video is just a haul, a luxury vacation, a new house tour…..I have a hard time believing that you have anything genuine to offer your viewers at that point. Most of them are probably just there to live vicariously through you, which quickly turns to resentment.)

First, we have to take a bit of personal responsibility into our own hands here. This is not simply a dogpile on the influencer du jour. If Mikayla left the internet today, there would be 50 other influencers to take her place. We have to deal with the reality of what the average influencer is. I’m going to hold your hand when I say this……influencers are sentient ads. Of course, they are real people and they live real lives but this is their livelihood. They sell their likeness and their parasocial relationships back to prospective sponsors who then pay for a bit of their audience’s attention. If you’re taking personal responsibility over what you consume, you know this already. The days of an earnest girl in her bedroom just talking about what she bought and enjoyed with her own Jamba Juice paycheck money are over. At least, they’re certainly over by the time you have a following in the millions. And that’s okay…..you as the viewer can still enjoy artifice. But don’t be surprised when the thin veneer of that artifice comes off. This is how people pay their bills; it’s not authentic at that point. You can still enjoy it though.

…….which brings us back full circle to Mikayla Nogueira and her hauls. It’s no secret that internet fame has been very good to her. In the span of a few short years, you can visually see her ascension into a different tax bracket. Everything from her home to her hair has had an upgrade that quite literally only money can buy. Surely, this is a huge change that Mikayla can’t simply ignore within her life……but she’s made the terrible decision of sharing her new money adventures with the internet. And through the lens of the internet, people can view this lifestyle for what it really is. And…..it’s quite vulgar.

The definitions of vulgar that are relevant to this scenario are:

“Deficient in taste, consideration, or refinement.”

“Offensively excessive in self-display or expenditure; ostentatious.”

At this point I’m desensitized to people sharing their lifestyle online; you can throw a rock and find someone online making content that is just a thinly veiled attempt at trying to show they matter in this world. In fact on some level, I think that’s why most people pick up a camera and have the audacity to think they can carve out a lane on the internet super highway. And that’s no shade….I’m one of them.

But what stuck out to me in that haul was how the fashion industry in many ways has bent to the whims of the most low brow people among us. The world is full of rich people with bad taste but never before has the industry been this interested in rearranging itself to accommodate them. In fact, the fashion industry had a long held reputation for being largely unimpressed with most of its patrons, whether or not they had money. All of those movie tropes back in the day of people being treated coolly at boutiques despite their desire to spend money don’t come out of thin air. And while I’m not championing bad service or cultural biases, I can also see that instead of expecting the public to raise its standards for what high art should be, the luxury industry is just giving them microwaved design for a high price.

Because today’s luxury customer doesn’t really care about the clothes themselves, but rather how the world perceives them in those clothes. So go ahead and slap a Miu Miu logo on a white tee for $2000; it’s lazy and uninspired but the margins are high and someone poor in taste but rich in cash will buy it hand over fist. The industry sees that now and has fallen in line with the tastes (or lack thereof) of its customer. And in the case of someone like Mikayla (and scores of other people just like her), the time it would take to cultivate a formed sense of self is less appealing than buying into the brand of Louis Vuitton (even Hermes at this point) and getting that instant rush of feeling like a somebody. Luxury now is in the intangibles. (That’s no secret- remember we predicted this would happen back in 2023?) But nonetheless…..it’s still sad to watch.

Enjoying the Thoughtful Threads newsletter? Please consider the following:

• Giving this post a 💜 and sharing it with any other aesthetic over-thinkers you know!

• Joining the party over on TikTok and Instagram (a work in progress but we’ll get there!)

• Joining this community as a paid subscriber which helps support my work for less than a large coffee (or a one time coffee treat is fine!)

• Sharing any interesting info/topics of interest/pictures of your furbabies to hithoughtfulthreads@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I personally believe will add value to my subscribers. Your support helps keep this newsletter running and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you for your support!