The governments and the European Parliament need to agree on the Ecodesign Regulation before it can enter law. Under the initial March 2022 proposal by the European Commission, the Commission itself was to have determined at a later stage whether to put destruction bans in place.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-countries-back-ban-destruction-unsold-textiles-2023-05-22/
Category Archives: economics
Venture Capital Has a New Net-Zero Alliance
Putting together a band of interested firms is only the first step. Next, the investors plan to develop a methodology to reduce their emissions and reach net-zero and best practices to encourage their portfolio companies to do the same. VCA members have been consulting with Project Frame, an initiative of the nonprofit Prime Coalition, to develop a structured way for VCs to think about and quantify their emissions — and how to reduce them over time. That includes the role that carbon offsets — which have a spotty record — will play in ensuring their portfolios reach net-zero.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-25/venture-capital-focuses-on-climate-change-with-new-net-zero-alliance
In search of cultural truths
by Marie Lena Tupot and Tim Stock, scenarioDNA inc.
No one will think about Italy’s “Barbie Venus” campaign 6 months from now, but many will continue to make the same mistakes as the world flies beyond 20th-century marketing techniques. The Italy campaign serves as a marker of dismay and innovation washing. Yet, it’s not only Italy’s minister of tourism missing the mark, we in New York were way off base with recent New York City rebranding too. There are real issues in these cases beyond a misguided art director that set the stage for policy planning globally.
Cultural truths need to be examined.
The most obvious is the generative AI version of Botticelli’s Venus. With the trend of de-influencing gaining momentum, Botticelli’s Venus is identified as an influencer named Venere and looks like an ad for Botox. Further, the campaign places Venere at age 30+. If art history rumors are true, the model for Botticelli did not live beyond her 22nd year. Botticelli’s paintings were an expression of love for a woman coming of age and otherworldliness regarding her absence. The knowing gaze of Venere is not evocative of the unreachable gaze of Venus.
So…where is the love, Italy? Venere begins her tour of Italy clothed while the marvel of Michelangelo’s David is being censored in the US states so much so that the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, and the director of Florence’s Accademia Gallery, Cecilie Hollberg, invited former principal Hope Carrasquilla for a personal tour after she was asked to resign for exposing students to the David. (Carrasquilla also showed her students The Birth of Venus in her natural state.)
Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè said in a press conference unveiling the campaign, “We are the most beautiful nation in the world but we are not the best at promoting ourselves. We need to regain our pride in being Italian, in our identity.” She missed the point. Modern pride lives within Italy’s contemporary makers, creators and innovators. None of which were included in the conception of the campaign.
A representative from Armando Testa, the agency that executed the Venere campaign, explained the need to use the Venus as “an easy, direct and immediately recognizable way to promote Italy abroad.” Marketers lose who they are when they resort to such shortcuts. It’s the same way with executive briefs. Richness and research get lost.
Marketers need to see the human beings in front of them.
Also, consider that when Italy blocked ChatGPT regarding data privacy concerns and generative AI, VPN activity in Italy rose 400%. At the time, there were Youtube instructions on how to circumvent the ban through VPN access. One might consequently assume that Italy certainly is not at a loss for inspired generative AI creators. Where were those creative technologists when Italy needed them? Italy’s National Innovation Fund supports such up-and-comer types through venture capital. Instead, they were having their wrists slapped because no one quite knows how to handle AI.
The allegory of rebirth and renewal makes perfect sense for Italy. A sophomoric generative AI version of Botticelli’s Venus does not make sense.
Recent tourism has boomed for Italy this spring without the guidance of Venere. That said, Italy cannot sustain itself on tourism alone. Its newly found post-Covid vitality must be driven from within its modern-day maker culture. This culture already exists. It holds the narrative red threads back to Botticelli. According to Frieze Magazine, “spontaneous, informal networks are transforming the art scene of the eternal city [Rome].” Why aren’t they being reached out to?
We can’t be creating media for the lowest common denominators. If we do, then media is simply chasing after phenomena that have already happened. Moving forward, campaigns should bring us to where our imaginations want to go. Gone is the world where campaigns start and end.
Campaigns are now living breathing records reflecting our own existence.
Does anyone want to be Venus Barbie? Doubtful. Do people want to feel the love of Botticelli that can only be found in Italy? Yes.
Recovery is critical for Italy, a country seriously impacted by COVID-19. But these lessons should be learned by all of us involved in messaging anywhere. Campaigns everywhere should be able to consistently evolve from informed ideas.
This popular Italian region is imposing restrictions on tourists
“We reached the limit of our resources, we had problems with traffic, and residents have difficulty finding places to live,” he said, adding that they want to “guarantee the quality [of life] for locals and tourists,” which has been growing harder over the past decade.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-tourist-restrictions-alto-adige/index.html
The State of Fashion 2023: Holding onto growth as global clouds gather (McKinsey)
The fashion market, excluding the luxury sector, will struggle to deliver significant growth in 2023. McKinsey analysis of fashion forecasts projects relatively slow sales growth of between –2 and +3 percent, weighed down by a contraction in the European market (expected to shrink between 1 and 4 percent) (exhibit). China and the United States are expected to fare better, growing between 2 and 7 percent and between 1 and 6 percent, respectively. These forecasts are reflective of inflation and are calculated in local currencies, meaning that the real impact for the sector could be more negative than these figures suggest.
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion
Freitag’s Sweat-Yourself-Shop is a tiny factory for making bags
Swiss brand Freitag has created a shop in Zurich, which is a “micro-factory” where customers can help make their own bag out of recycled tarpaulins.
Named Sweat-Yourself-Shop, the interactive retail space on Grüngasse was designed by Freitag to take their existing customisation options one step further.
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/10/31/sweat-yourself-shop-recycling-freitag-interiors-zurich/
Fashion can now report its plastic use. Will reduction follow?
Global non-profit CDP’s environmental disclosure system is open for reporting on plastics for the first time as of 19 April. For fashion, it’s an opportunity to get granular about how much plastic the industry uses and produces in packaging, production and materials, including plastic-based fibres such as polyester. The next step is to create strategies to reduce or eliminate plastic.
https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/fashion-can-now-report-its-plastic-use-will-reduction-follow?utm_source=linkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=vogue-bz&utm_social-type=earned
Half of Millennials Own Homes. The Rest Fear They Never Will
Millennials, the generation born between 1981 and 1996, are falling behind other generations when it comes to wealth, hit by the 2008 economic crisis, stagnating wages, skyrocketing house prices during the pandemic, and now rising interest rates and inflation. Nearly half are living paycheck to paycheck, according to 2022 data, and few own stocks or are free of student debt.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-19/half-of-millennials-own-homes-the-rest-fear-they-ll-never-buy-one
Animal-free offerings are down, but not out
Investments in next-gen materials – defined as animal-free and environmentally preferable alternatives to animal-based materials – dropped by more than half to $457 million in 2022. Yet next-gen materials continue to generate buzz and interest throughout the fashion world and beyond.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/04/animal-free-offerings-are-down-but-not-out?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social_scheduler&utm_term=Advanced+Materials&utm_content=15%2F04%2F2023+16%3A00
How Vulnerable Is LVMH?
While LVMH isn’t universally adored, it is broadly respected. Efforts by the group’s brands like Louis Vuitton and Dior to become more culturally relevant, particularly among young consumers, hardly hurt: Today, for every social media post and protest placard denouncing the mega-rich, there are just as many venerating their lifestyle and offering tips for how to attain it. Plenty of French people are proud that Europe’s biggest company, and the world’s richest person, are French.
Should the winds of policy ever really swing against rising inequality, LVMH will, of course, be a prime target no matter how many times they’ve opened their ateliers. But the days feel like a distant memory when, in 2011, a leading French newspaper put Arnault on its cover with the phrase “Casse toi, riche con” (politely translated as “Get lost, rich jerk”) or when François Ruffin made a national hit with his 2015 documentary “Merci, Patron!” (“Thank, Boss!”) — a political satire that featured hidden-camera footage of LVMH fixers attempting to buy off a disgruntled former worker and pressuring left-wing activists.
https://www.businessoffashion.com/briefings/luxury/how-vulnerable-is-lvmh/?utm_source=newsletter_professional_thisweek&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=This_Week_In_Fashion_140423&utm_term=NOQSPKAL6RAPTLIYH32735FBG4&utm_content=top_story_title
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 