Visa but not the credit card

This one’s harder to qualify for

Sophia Amoruso

Jan 08, 2025

Wanna sponsor this thing? Have a spicy tip? Hit reply. For everything else, find me here.

In today’s issue:

20k people join this brand’s waitlist each week
The latest status symbol is $80 at Walmart
The velour tracksuit is coming back
I’m launching something soon…

Notes from a messy desk

Major life update: my UK Visa came through.

But not just any visa… this one’s called the Global Talent Visa – think of it as the Hogwarts letter for overachieving adults. The Global Talent visa is awarded to people who’ve made notable contributions to their field (cue me blushing), and after an application process that required assembling career receipts, glowing recommendations, and possibly sacrificing a few Post-it notes to the visa gods, I’ve officially been granted the golden ticket to live and work in the UK. It was pretty cringe to dig through and present my own press and accolades, but I saved $20K not paying an immigration attorney to do it for me.

I’m moving to Notting Hill in February, and I’ll be crossing the pond in weird style—aboard a chartered dog airline. Yes, my three poodles, Donna, Cosi, and Gino, are coming along. Dog jets aside, the logistics of immigrating these three tiny freaks has quite literally been the hardest part of planning the move. But more on that madness later.

Onto this week’s newsletter.

Wheels up (with three poodles),

Sophia

Collabs on my radar

Zendaya stars in Louis Vuitton x Murakami campaign

Madhappy and Juicy Couture are dropping a 15-piece collection paying homage to Southern California tomorrow and yes it includes a velour tracksuit. Also iconic: The Louis Vuitton collaboration with Takashi Murakami. Coffee Mate is dropping thai iced coffee and piña colada creamers with Warner Bros. for the upcoming third season of The White Lotus. It’s based in Thailand. Béis and Crop Shop Boutique just teased a collaboration that looks a lot like athleisure wear and matching carry-on bags. People in the comments are losing it over the blue colorway. Kate Spade and imPRESS partnered on press-on nails that are as fresh, preppy, and whimsical as you’d imagine. Caviar is having a moment – you can now get a Baz Bagel topped with cream cheese and 15 grams of caviar on the weekends at French restaurant Caviar Kaspia at The Mark hotel in New York.

Shopping roundup, dry January edition

1. Moussy Vintage pants 2. Bienne heels 3. Dorsey white sapphire necklace 4. Reformation cashmere cardigan 5. MAISON ESSENTIELE top 6. Staud bag

I’m not sure if I’ll endure January with no alcohol, but given the Surgeon General is considering putting warnings on booze and I’m so boring it hasn’t come around yet this year, who knows. This is my sober girl style roundup for the week.

Links to make you smarter and more interesting

An OnlyFans creator made a $1,000 tip using a chatbot. Models on the platform are outsourcing some of the messaging labor to AI bots, a task once outsourced to cheaper workers overseas. That means some paid subscribers might have less authentic, human-generated conversations with creators. It’s just good business.

Skims needs to become synonymous with a feeling or subculture, not a market category. Ana Andjelic just published a case study on the shapewear brand in The Sociology of Business, and it makes some strong points around the extent polished editorial and celebrity can go when it comes to creating and growing an iconic brand. “Product innovation that goes beyond the first-mover advantage to become the growth machine happens only when a brand becomes synonymous with an emotion, not a market category (and featuring a celebrity du jour in campaigns ain’t it).”

@alixearle Seeing my hair that long & healthy makes me sick .. id do anything

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Alix Earle posted a video endorsing expired Pantene shampoo and conditioner and now millions are clamoring for the $6 product. This proves not everyone is looking for the most science-backed, clean, organic, vegan, gluten-free, sulfate-free, high-quality, double-digital price tag products, especially if someone they admire (who has good hair) tells them they’re into the cheap bottle collecting dust under the sink of their parents house.

20,000 people join this fragrance brand’s waitlist each week. Ffern drops small batches of limited-edition scents with each season, which means people are buying perfumes without smelling them first. Most customers learn about the brand through reviews and descriptions on TikTok, Instagram, and Fragrantica. Good copy and storytelling go a long way.

Hailey Bieber’s Rhode brand filed trademarks for women’s pajamas, track pants, sweaters, hair scrunchies, and towels. Among a few other clothing and home goods categories. After the other Rhode, a decade-long clothing brand, closed for good, the skincare (for now) brand made some moves with the US Patent and Trademark Office. A reminder that trademarks are a smart (and usually low) investment to protect your brand’s current and future interests. Think ahead.

One in three US teens under 18 have been approached by brands to promote their products. The survey, from social commerce platform Whop, also found that 42% of them are actively earning money online and nearly half a million made $1,000+ this year with an influencer deal. It makes sense – it’s a job where they have all the technical skills. Plus, the youth are entrepreneurial. They want to run their own schedule. “[With] traditional babysitting, the hours are more rigid,” Alyssa Stevens, a global director of influencer marketing, said. “They are not as glamorous when you’re working with kids, and they can have a more flexible schedule and make a ton of money following their passion.”

People are pissed over Meta’s AI profiles. They are… not good. The value for Meta is clear: get people to talk to these sloppy, sometimes offensive profiles to collect more data and serve more ads. The value for users is unclear, and given many of the accounts (including celebrity ones dropped last year) have been taken down already, it’s TBD if Meta knows either.

Lord & Taylor is getting rid of “the biggest betrayal of the brand.” The 198-year-old retailer is bringing back its cursive logo and scrapping the modern, sans-serif one. The business is expected to make a comeback this year with a discount luxury e-commerce platform. Shedding the startup aesthetic logo is a smart move.

Religion-based investors made more than $100 billion in ETFs and mutual funds last year. Conservative Christian funds are emboldened with the rightward shift in the political climate. “They want their dollars being invested in what they believe is the God-honoring way,” Will Lofland, a managing director at GuideStone, said. GuideStone Funds caters to Southern Baptist retirees and faith-based investors.

blogilates

A post shared by @blogilates

Entrepreneur Cassey Ho (@blogilates) dropped a Target collection and half the inventory sold in less than a week. One thing Cassey’s fans love about her: she shares candid, behind-the-scenes content. People want to see behind the curtain – it’s why you should always be capturing content as you build, not just when you launch. “I love making content almost as if I’m blogging.”

CVS is piloting locked cases that you can open with your phone. A reporter for Retail Brew tested one out at a location in the Upper West Side in New York City and said the response from both shoppers and employees has been positive. Stores are losing interest and revenue when shoppers have to ask someone to open a case to get some detergent or acne patches or whatever. Taking the middleman out of the equation is smart.

@bethennyfrankel Final rating on the FIRKIN: C Overall takeaway is to find ORIGINAL affordable bags vs a cheap copy @Walmart #hermes #hermesbirkin #birkin #firkin #wirkin #handbag #handbaguniversity #walmart #luxurygoods #lordswork #walmartbirkin #bagreview

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A viral knockoff Birkin at Walmart, costing $80, is being called “the Wirkin.” It sold out online and is now a status symbol thanks to its scarcity. And the adopted name. The name is very good.

Beauty brands are using old school marketing like direct mail, print, TV ads, and Facebook groups to reach Gen X. Shoppers aged 45 to 64 make up the largest market share in prestige beauty. They’re less interested in finding a 12-step skincare routine on skincare TikTok, even if they are on the platform. Nostalgia, both in terms of aesthetics and media platforms, sell.