024: New Year & 2024 Visions

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DISPATCH 024 —

In this week’s dispatch, we are manifesting our 2024 vision board with market finds, watching an emerging hair-care brand, and cheering the new year with rose-colored champagne coupes. Plus: a timely salve from Rihanna and fresh work from Dominic Chambers. But first, we take a spin in social media shopping…

ADVENTURES IN SOCIAL COMMERCE

There’s a lot to be said about the rise of Tiktok Shop and even fast fashion giants like Shein (which is reportedly gearing up for a US IPO this year and has apparently mastered what Amazon has not in selling fast fashion profitably at scale). We’re not going to add our two cents here, but what has caught our eye is how few brands are experimenting with commerce via social media outside of formal channels.

Tiktok Shop launched last year. Instagram Shop launched in 2020. Outside of those avenues, there has always been some form of the Direct Message to Payment Link manual process. Considering Instagram Shop itself is still only available in 22 countries, direct payment links are basically one of the only ways to contract with a buyer through a social platform. The challenges are innumerable as you can easily imagine.

Typically, the only receipts received are a set of messages, which can mysteriously disappear at a moment’s notice. Then, there’s the constant screenshots to ensure the piece you’ve requested is exactly correct. Add to that, sizing, shipping, and tracking details, and you’ve verifiably gotten yourself in a lengthy back-and-forth with a presumed genuine seller on the other side. Now don’t get us wrong, not all experiences are as clunky as described, but based on our most recent bout, it is certainly more common than is perhaps understood.

After placing an order for a product via DM on December 3, we waited until after the holidays before receiving. Now the product is incredibly hand-crafted and arguably well-worth the wait, but it was a little unnerving to say the least. Did the money escape into the void with zero recourse for retrieval?

It begs the question of ‘reasonable’ alternatives to social commerce, especially in countries where the technology is not yet available. It does heavily suggest that many non-US and non-EU brands, and in particular smaller ones, are constrained with how to nimbly reach a global consumer. In our eyes, after branding, shipping and logistics are the two most important functional needs to support a business. Ensuring an excellent customer experience is the utmost priority and a meaningful incentive for repeat purchase.

All that to say, we are really happy with the product. Maybe some things are worth the hassle.

2024 VISION BOARD MARKET PICKS

Do shopping wishlists count towards a vision board? Or shall we call it consumer-focused manifestation? In any case, we’re rounding up a few visionary pieces that would make for quite the welcome addition.

Start with self with this decidedly monogram pearl necklace from Only Made NY, which as it happens, is one of a handful of designs the founder produces each year. For setting intentions, this USM-designed compact incense holder from Bernard James is the perfect companion, complete with hand-written note. With hopes for a warmer future, here’s to an apropos vacation ensemble by Nia Thomas and for stomping out the ops, a pair of limited Wales Bonner x Adidas sambas will do.

ON OUR RADAR

Continuing the trend of strong lip-care beauty launches, Fenty Skin dropped another one with their latest Lux Balm. An ultra-hydrating Barbados Cherry, Shea Butter, and Vitamin E-infused formula, this balm offers an everyday alternative for nourishing dry lips. (Link)

Suyane Nyaya is a stylist and fashion editor for Elle Brasil. She is also the latest collaborator with Rio de Janeiro-based optical brand Zereres on a limited edition pair of sunglasses. Inspired by the Egyptians who pioneered the blue pigment, as we know it today, the range offers a one-of-a-kind shape that hopes to transcend time. (Link)

Painter Dominic Chambers is back with his first major solo exhibition in New York ‘Leave Room for the Wind’ focused on the link between leisure and nature. Chambers shows his largest paintings yet in a rainbow of shades, but it is a series of four small black-and-white works that captured our attention the most. Now open through February 3 at Lehmann Maupin. (Link)

It’s quite early days for an emerging clean haircare brand Soft Rows (part of this year’s Sephora Accelerator). The founder Quani Burnett spent many years working for the most Gen Z-favored beauty brands before forging out with her own start-up focused on texture-first formulation and testing. (Link)

Our favorite glassware brand Estelle Colored Glass has a delightful twist on their classic assortment — with their first color-blocked champagne coupe. Think a blush pink top contrasted with a bold red stem and base for a festive start to the new year. Now available for pre-order. (Link)