Is denim having its moment? Levi’s stock has boomed thanks to Beyoncé’s song with Post Malone. It’s not the brand’s first pop music crossover though – check out this radio commercial recorded by Jefferson Airplane way back when. You can practically smell the 60s pouring out of the speakers.
Scroll down to read about booming Botswana, bleisure, and hand-me-downs.
Stats to power your week
💻 The 9-5 work week is sooo millennial – the number of 16-24 year olds who are self-employed (or freelancers) has increased by 65% since 2009 in the US. More autonomy, less fake email jobs? GWI Core
🩷 With the latest wave from our Kids data set, we can finally answer the burning question: Did the film make Barbie cool again? Kinda. The number of 8-11 year olds who say the dolls are their favorite toy has gone up by 20% since last year, but she’s still not as popular as she was in 2021. For now, Lego reigns supreme. GWI Kids
🌴 Joining minimoons, set jetting, and voluntourism on the list of buzzy travel portmanteaus is "bleisure" travel, where you can work and play. For prospective remote workers, the most important thing – even more than good weather – is a reliable internet connection. Working on a beachside hammock is all fun and games until the wifi goes. GWI Travel
✈️ Feeling the wanderlust? If you want to take off to the trendiest locations this summer, the countries experiencing the biggest year-on-year jumps in vacation plans are South Africa (+23%), the USA (+23%), and Botswana (+21%). GWI Travel
👚 Hand-me-down suddenly has a nice ring to it, with secondhand clothing stores hitting it big time online. While saving a few pennies is the biggest reason people go for pre-loved threads, millennials stand out for buying based on brand reputation. Looks like this generation is digging for treasure. GWI Zeitgeist
What’s on our radar
Monday’s solar eclipse was well-timed. Interest in astrology is up 20% since 2020, the cosmos is increasingly on people's minds, and folks are wondering how all of this affects their star signs. Shout out to all the Aries babies.
In recent years big retailers have started incorporating sensory-friendly hours to make the shopping experience more peaceful for neurodivergent customers. Lego stores are taking things a step further to become sensory-certified, while supermarket chain Morrisons is extending its “Quieter Hours” initiative.
The summer of 2022 was a pivotal one for AI-generated images, as they properly entered the memesphere. Something similar may be happening at the moment with AI music, as a sad indie performance of a software license and a rap about paying taxes have gone viral, while the team behind Stable Diffusion have launched a new music-generating tool.
At the same time, an eye-watering list of artists have signed an open letter asking tech firms to safeguard human creativity. Oh, and we now have our first music video completely generated by Sora, OpenAI’s video-generating model.
What do you get when you blend Roblox and SparkNotes? Gauth is a new AI-powered app that’s literally doing students’ homework.
While Apple might not be making the jump from making smartphones to electric cars, Xiaomi is.
Climate change is creating a sticky situation for maple syrup (though New Jersey is doing its best to make up the shortfall). Combine this with the record-breaking increase in cocoa prices, and next year’s Pancake Day might fall flat.
Chart of the week
In June 2021, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said the social platform was no longer a photo-sharing app, and it would focus much more on video. Three years on, and his comments are bearing fruit; the number of Instagrammers looking at Reels will soon overtake the number creating Stories.
Short videos are versatile in that users can play around with editing styles – not to mention, they're great for getting eyes on a brand, creator, or influencer. Russ Cook, the self-styled “Hardest Geezer” who recently finished running across Africa, first garnered attention with the help of his distinctive video diaries.
Local lowdown
Swedes take a chance on the solo lifestyle
Sweden isn’t just known for minimalist design, the Nobel Peace Prize, and smörgåsbord (though these are all great). There’s something else we notice: the importance of independence among its residents.
In our research, Swedes rank number one in the world for saying they’re in a relationship, but also for living alone. They’re ahead of the curve of the “living apart together” trend, and the Swedish language is better at capturing the nuances of relationship statuses. If you’re committed to someone but don’t live with them? You’re “särbo”. And if you move in together (but don’t get married), you’re “sambo”.
This independent streak seems to have deep roots, and is sustained by Sweden’s strong welfare state. Perhaps the country’s reputation for interior design is helped by so many people being able to decorate their own spaces from an early age.
