Packing my clothes into a Simplehuman trash can
And something about my baggage.
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In today’s issue:
Instagram is testing a new button for the haters
A lot of people feel like shit after this (hint: it’s probably on your cal right now)
Instagram is testing a new button for the haters
I’m launching something soon…
Notes from a messy desk
I’ve been babbling about London for so long I’m beginning to feel like a poser. However, by the time this newsletter hits your inbox next week (if I can get my shit together enough to write it), the poodles and I will be settling into a charming 1-bedroom apartment in a charming neighborhood with a lot of charming Lime Bikes (well, once you pick the last person’s smashed sandwich out of the basket).
Visa immigration thing ready to be stamped? Check. UK pet health certificates that required three $1,000 x-rays (for three tiny heart murmurs)? Check. A suitcase full of skincare products? Check, check.
I got myself a UK phone number with MoreMins, finagled a Revolut bank account, and snagged a private mailbox to where I’m shipping boxes off to as you read this. I’m taking no furniture and nothing larger than what can fit in a 22”x22”xIforget box. It’s been rather absurd to weigh what’s worth shipping vs. buying – among the things I’m bringing: paper clips, my Our Place mixing bowls, a Simplehuman trash can (I stuffed it with clothes!), and a plastic bag of tiny special shells from a faraway special island I went to with someone special.
Speaking of shipping… selling shit on Facebook Marketplace made me miss my eBay days. Oh, and this was fun: I got both trolled and hit on in a 24 hour period.
I’ve been super sick this week, and have lost a lot of time with the move. I’m selling all of the furniture in this apartment, save for a couple special things. In fact, I just gave away these iconic purple file cabinets from the Nasty Gal days:
And here they are in my little Silverlake apartment (this is the second time I’ve moved since August):
Back to shipping. The holy grail of this entire move has been a very ugly website and very excellent service called My Baggage. I used them to ship some boxes over when I was in London last fall, sending 60lb boxes for $160… in four days. I know that’s not nothing, but in comparison to how much I spend on my other baggage (I’m on the hunt for a London therapist, HMU if you know a good one!), it’s dirt cheap. On their list of prohibited items: fur, meat, slush syrup, windscreen, lottery tickets, and my favorite: “filth.” Good thing I won’t be in the box, otherwise we’d definitely get held up at customs.
Alright, wish me luck guys. And thanks for reading as always.
Wheels up (finally!),
Sophia
Collabs on my radar
Gap and Harlem’s Fashion Row, an agency that represents designers of color, collabed on a collection. LA-based streetwear brand Cherry and VERDY’s Girls Don’t Cry label just dropped a Valentine’s Day-themed capsule collection. Puma and Collina Strada partnered on some funky footwear. Also funky (and fuzzy): UGG’s collab with Ambush. LALA Reimagined, the duo behind dreamy, modern homes across Los Angeles, dropped a collab with Anthropologie. It’s gorgeous – look at this sculptural oak bar cart and these wood table lamps. British designer and columnist Luke Edward Hall created a collection of home objects for the Lacquer Company. Illustrator Mary Matson debuted a playful wallpaper and textile collection for Temple Studio. Reminds me of a day at the beach. Speaking of beach, H&M is dropping a White Lotus collab designed by the show’s costume designer. Kourtney Kardashian’s vitamin & supplement brand lemme just partnered with Barry’s on a metabolism-boosting shake.
Collab report: Last week, subscribers were most into the RIMOWA x Rick Owens luggage and the White Lotus x Away luggage.
Links to make you smarter and more interesting
Jellycat – the stuffed animal brand beloved by Gen Z – made $252 million in 2023, a 37% increase from the previous year. Marketing experts attribute the surge in popularity of the brand (which has been around since 1999) to pandemic loneliness, a need for comfort in the form of stuffies, TikTok and even subreddit r/Jellycatplush.
A Nike x SKIMS partnership is happening, but don’t call it a collab. It’s a brand. NikeSKIMS, which will have its own dedicated staff, is the first time Nike has partnered with an existing outside company to form a new brand. The women’s apparel line is inspired and informed by “athletes, sport and the female form” and is designed for both the gym and the everyday.
A 21-year-old Stanford dropout built an AI assistant to help you respond to all your unanswered texts. It’s called RPLY and 1,000 paid users signed up in the first week. The founder, Molly Cantillon, said a lot of people in tech, creative, and business are downloading the Mac OS app. Imma use it just to get rid of my 300-deep notification badge.
There’s a self-described “S&P 500 fund without the woke sh*t” launching early next year. Azoria Meritocracy ETF is finalizing a $25 million venture round with backing from “two prominent conservative-minded California venture capitalists.” Its investments will exclude any companies with DEI policies or initiatives.
Slow Ventures raised more than $60 million for a creators fund focused on niche influencers on YouTube. "In the early 2000s you had all these kids building apps, and professional VCs said, 'That's cute,'" Slow Ventures partner Sam Lessin said. "When we go to VCs now about creators, they say the same thing. Which means they're going to miss out again."
Yahoo enlisted ~100 YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram influencers to post content on their news homepage. In return, they get half of the ad sales from their content. It’s Yahoo’s push to drive more eyeballs to their new homepage, and it’s banking on the trend that media diets are increasingly influencer-heavy.
And YouTuber Kai Cenat wants to host a creator university. During a stream last week, Cenat said he wants to rent out a university for a weekend for streamers of all audience sizes. The details are very TBD, but it’s clear there’s an appetite to create more official, legit spaces to teach, incubate, and fund influencers.
Crown Affair has a hot year ahead: expanding to 450 Sephora locations (up from 55) and aiming to hit $30 million in sales (up from $20 million last year). The “it-girl hair care” brand is using part of the $9 million series B funding round to grow its Sephora presence and to staff up the team.
Back Market – a platform to buy refurbished tech – is running genius ads across 2,500 NYC subway cars. It has a nostalgic, Y2K aesthetic with the message to “downgrade now.” The ads speak to the underconsumption core trend popular among Gen Z consumers. The ads are almost as cool as Back Market’s collab with artist Gab Bois on a hardware collection worn by the Julia Fox.
77% of people said they’d rather spend their money on a big financial goal than Valentine’s Day gifts. And 30% would rather their partner save money and not get them a gift at all. Love is mindful consumerism.
Instagram is testing a dislike button on comments. The intention is to improve on the user experience – essentially flagging or even moving down comments people disagree with or find irrelevant. Downvoting is not a viable alternative to actual moderation and policies that protect all users, but it could offer an additional piece of qualitative data to influencers on what people are not vibing with.
Luigi Mangione just launched a new website – and has already crowdfunded more than $475,000 for legal fees. He’s also raking in a lot of fan pics: the FAQ page asks people to please send less photos. “Due to the volume of photos, they could take longer than usual to be screened and shared. Luigi appreciates the photos that are sent and kindly asks that people send no more than five photos at a time. Please note that every photo that is received is screened and reviewed by law enforcement.”
Fiverr wants gig workers to use generative AI. One such example: it’ll let voiceover and graphic design freelancers train AI on their materials and charge clients for access. Artists and creatives can also set up an AI model trained on their work and charge for the outputs. It’s part of Fiverr’s Personal AI Creation Model, which costs $25/month and only lets in thousands of vetted freelancers.
“Buyers have full flexibility to choose between a freelancer’s AI-generated work, human-created work, or a seamless blend of both,” a Fiverr spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Customers can instantly pay and download AI-generated assets or ask the freelancer for an additional edit. They can also contact the freelancer of an AI-generated work as a starting point for a project, as an example or inspiration, and ask for a specific service.”
Influencers who call themselves “UGC creators” grew by 93% from 2023 to 2024. A report found that influencers charged around $200 for UGC services last year, which is a 44% drop from the previous year. The TLDR: UGC-generated content is increasing but the rates are lowering, suggesting brands have more of the power in the space right now.
RIP Humane’s AI Pin. The product – a little smart brooch that wanted to kill the apps and get rid of the screen – was dubbed a flop out of the gate and struggled to find its redemption arc. Now, about 10 months after its launch, the company has sold its software to HP and will brick the pins at the end of the month.
28% of employees feel like shit after a meeting. A study on meeting hangovers found that they experienced negative effects like impaired engagement and productivity, and that the feelings could last throughout the rest of the workday. And 90% (!) reported that they had a meeting hangover at least occasionally. They blame their hangovers on irrelevant topics (59%), no clear agenda (59%), poor time management (53%), lack of follow-up (48%), weak participation (39%), and poor facilitating (30%).
Link report: Last week, subscribers were most into influencers putting smartwatches on their ankles and the retreat for trust fund babies.
More from my rich universe of endeavors
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Loved this! I had no idea about the Gap collab and I am now doing a deep dive <3