teen brains & behavior, nike's big press week, brandy melville, gems from kiko kostadinov, and more
lil lite monday edition!
Wow, it’s been a minute since my last email but what a week it was. Drake vs. Everybody, Coachella ft. every act that matters to Gen X / Elder millennials..
Anyway, here is my semi-weekly dispatch on things i’ve been reading/observing.
Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!
Mini-deep-dive on Teens / Gen Alpha: buying shoes, skipping class, all the good stuff
So much fodder in my respective feeds over the past week around the state of Teens. First and most critically, Piper Sandler released their semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens report, which always has some interesting data. The juiciest tells (imo) are the continued competitive activity happening in footwear and athletic clothing brands; Nike has lost mindshare, where Hoka and On made significant gains, especially with upper-income teens. Some other interesting tidbits around social media preferences- Instagram’s heavy feature iteration recently has paid off, with the App boosted amongst teens and Tiktok losing some ground (hello TikTok shop).
On a less consumption-oriented tip, NYT published a piece about how Teens are now logging record levels of Absenteeism.
The trends suggest that something fundamental has shifted in American childhood and the culture of school, in ways that may be long lasting. What was once a deeply ingrained habit — wake up, catch the bus, report to class — is now something far more tenuous.
BI also wrote about ‘disconnected youth’ recently; a group who don’t work or attend school in any capacity.
And the number of young adults with no income has been on the rise; in 1990, around one in five young adults said they had no wage or salary income. As of 2022, it's over one in three, according to the new St. Louis Fed study.
We’ve been talking about how ‘nihilistic’ this cohort is in our decks for years at this point, and things are starting to show up in the data that actually points to the reality of it. Feels culturally existential when young people don’t feel equipped to engage with the world. anyway…. ..
Nike’s big press week!!!
Nike held their big innovation event in Paris last week, hosting 40 elite athletes and all their influencer/press friends and family to show off a suite of new products, concepts and gear for the upcoming olympics. There was some pretty cool stuff in the mix (AI-generated Wemby concepts aside, I actually love the SBs). You can get the brand-crafted Press release here which i would guess reveals some of their strategic bets and comms narratives they’re hoping to push in the coming months (“Nike is the brand of athletes. Nike innovations lead the sports industry.”etc).
All that being said, it felt like the most earned media for the brand this week centered on the CEO’s take on remote work, and the questionable choice in spotlighting a very high-cut bodysuit at the Paris event, which, as pointed out by NYT’s Vanessa Friedman “as displayed, [would] demand some complicated intimate grooming." Not the best look!
I’m kinda vexed by the remote work beef, because Nike notably forced everyone back to the office years ago (reader, one reason i quit my job at Nike in 2021 was because I moved back to NYC during the pandemic and wasn’t able to do my Global Nike role from NYC.) But logic aside, i do recommend a read-through of the Quote Tweets on this topic, or any comments on any instagram post about it. It’s illuminating as a marketer, and at times hilarious. I feel for the Comms team who probably worked their ass off on that Paris event and had it immediately overshadowed by ya boy with the Boomeriffic remote work takes. That aside, im excited to see whatever the brand has been cooking up (campaign wise) for the Olympics.
Separately, the latest Supreme x Nike is the best its looked in awhile- very Corteiz-adjacent.
The dark side of Branding Brandy Melville
Not gonna lie, from a branding standpoint i’ve been kind of obsessed with Brandy Melville for some time. In many ways their strategy has made so much sense and yet defies all the conventions that most retailers have taken on. I mean look at the website- it’s a marvel, so basic but does exactly what it needs to. and their audience doesn’t care.
The good; they built a genuine, bonafide community around their brand. They put their product, voice, visuals, and so much more literally in the hands of their target audience (teenage girls). When you think of a Brandy girl, you know exactly what she looks like and what her vibe is. From a branding standpoint, that’s a huge success, and they did it without traditional, expensive media spend.
The bad: holy yikes, please just go watch Brandy Hellville on HBO and report back. Honestly, there’s A LOT to take from this doc, i’m still processing.
Nice interview with the design team behind Kiko Kostadinov, the designer with a bonafide bubbling fandom
Many probably know Kiko via the brands’ sick ASICS collabs, but did you know that the womenswear line was led by two Melbourne-born and raised twins? I loved reading especially about their long term vision for what they proudly tout as being a ‘self-centered brand’ in this feature (*just translate it with Google Chrome), and their approach to marketing / visuals.
Kiko's fashion shoots go beyond expectations and are more about personal aesthetics and humor than marketing.
D: We hire creators who can have honest discussions. On top of that, it's important to leave free space to work.
K: Basically, I leave things like photography to the creator's will, and I try to ask people who are suited to that kind of approach.
—Is that a slightly different approach to manufacturing?
K: Maybe so. When working with external collaborators, I don't want to give them too much direction. When I choose someone to work with, I really like their style and work style. In other words, we just need them to do what they're good at, and that way we can see the brand from a different perspective. Giving too much direction to people who are fundamentally creative usually ends up with bad results. However, creators still care about us and ask us to make the final decisions.
Orchard St/LES is the new Soho
Really effusive write up about LAAMs here, which got me thinking about Orchard St in general right now; there’s a stretch between Canal and Delancey that genuinely offers as good a shopping experience as Soho presents if you’re looking for independent retail and something different. Colbo, Wythe, Awake NY, Mannahatta, a bunch of other curated thrift offerings I can’t recall the name of. If you branch out to Ludlow and the other side of Delancey, there’s some real gems for more femme-skewing gear- Assembly, Dana Foley, Frankie Shop, etc. It’s nice to see most of these spaces belonging to smaller brands and offering options away from the clusterf* that is Broadway. Curious if any of you are seeing similar in your markets; independent retailers banding together in walkable zones away from High St-type districts. The addition of coffee & matcha concepts into some of these stores also makes them feel less stiff and transactional.
Lil style n footwear link round-up
juicy trend round-up and discussion from
hereI love the Telfar round up of Eid fits. They do not miss.
Gorgeous ceramic Airmax 97.
KEEN are coming:
Thats all for now!
P.s I’ll be in London, Amsterdam and hopefully Paris in the next couple of weeks. Send me any deep cut shopping recs you might have, or places to lounge around for a coffee/matcha and hang with people :)
love this newsletter! and ty for the mention!
I started Brandy Hellville and then got distracted but I can't wait to go back to it. I will check back with detailed incredulity when I finish.