WEEKLY TRENDS REPORT
Pictured: iStock
THIS WEEK’S FORECAST
FOR YOUR INFO
This week’s dates & microtrends
TikTok trends of the week
Un poco loco. A Coco performance surprise on an unsuspecting delivery driver.
Bruno Mars says goodbye to Brazil with a funk music video Please release it officially, sincerely your number 1 fans.
ICYMI
After 20 years, the voice actor for Metal Gear Solid 3 has been revealed to be Ariel the little mermaid? 17 years later, the identity of the most mysterious song on the internet has been unveiled.
Phrase of the week
Being “The Theatre Kid” is being celebrated as musicals become mainstream. The end of bullying is near.
Tea of the week
Raygun retires from breakdancing after online vitriol.
Digi updates
AI will soon be able to determine the authenticity of shoes from its smell. AI is making us feel selfconscious of our stinky feet.
Temu with 41.98 million downloads, tops the list of the most downloaded apps of the year by Gen Z.
What we’re loving
Tour de Force. 100,000 Chinese students are riding their bikes on a journey for dumplings.
Bookstores in Japan are renting shelf space to authors to sell their books. Our Paul Mescal X Lebron fan fic is selling like hot cakes.
On Our Radar
TV: Interior Chinatown – 19 November
Movies: Wicked – 22 November
Music: Ice Cube: Man Down – 22 November
Weekly dose of cute
Prison break. 43 monkeys escape from their lab in South Carolina and a Raccoon bursts through a NY airport ceiling.
Established trends
Pickleball turns pro with its world championship. The trophy is confusingly not a golden pickle.
Equestrian fashion is on the rise from interest from ‘Rivals’ show. Petition for a “Pimp my horse” show.
Insights of the week
Be Like Mike. NBA owners are cashing out from their franchises as the league gets profitable. The silver can of warmth. Diet Coke’s popularity as a comfort drink for young women.
Rising trend
Spiritual focused bars are the new places to go for the anxious in China.
The future
Yes Chef! Hiring personal chefs to reduce the workload at home.
Stat of the week
42% of adults aged 19 to 30 have used cannabis in the past year as daily usage is higher than daily alcohol intake.
One to watch
Minecraft IRL. Japanese scientists are making satellites made of wood
Image: STRINGER/AFP via Getty images.
TREND TRACKING
How some of the trends we’ve identified have evolved in recent months
The Homie Lookbook
The 4B movement Seeing double
With the results of the recent elections around the world revealing increasing polarisation between young men and women, some women are taking inspiration from a niche South Korean protest movement called 4B, which started in 2017 and calls for women to boycott men and regain their sense of power. The TikTok tag #4bmovement currently has thousands of posts with millions of views, and Google search interest in the term spiked 450% after the election. Named after the Korean prefix bi, or no, adherents are asked to follow four prohibitions: No heterosexual marriage, no heterosexual dating, no heterosexual sex, and no childbearing under any circumstances. This might just be the beginning of more women taking extreme stances to counteract a sense of helplessness.
Smaller menswear brands are adopting an IYKYK strategy, using influential family and friends figures to insert their brands into niche communities and create the feeling of accessibility. It’s been dubbed the “Homie Lookbook” era, with a shift away from celebrity ambassadors and towards writers, podcasters and local tastemakers who possess “cultural capital” at a time when attention is increasingly difficult to capture. Just some recent examples include Davide Baroncini for Aime Leon Dore and GQ journalist Jason Diamond, who appeared in a J Press lookbook.
The past couple of weeks have been filled with lookalike content! First, it was Timothee Chalamet. Next, it was a lower stakes Paul Mescal lookalike competition in Dublin, where the winner received 20 Euros in the form of a giant Lidl check (despite the brand having no involvement). This weekend, London hosted a Harry Styles lookalike contest and a Dev Patel one in San Francisco a day later.
Despite seeming silly, there may be method to the madness. As Gen Z switch off from dating apps, it could be a genius tactic to meet the love of your life.
Sidenote: who wouldn’t win at a Jeremy Allen White lookalike contest? Jeremy Allen White.
Image: TikTok
Image: Jason Diamond for J.Press
Image: @katrinamirpuri
This week’s long read
‘I NEVER SEE YOU AT THE CLUB’
OK,
well I never see you at the fitness rave
Millenials and Gen X are looking on in horror as their previously favourite night clubs continue to shut down Meanwhile, back at the gym, Gen Z are driving a rise in attendance harder than a spin class instructor on their third espresso. We hate to break it to you but for many Gen Z-ers, the days of hitting up the club are so 2019.
So, exercising is the new clubbing for Gen Z. But what does this mean for youth culture? Clubs used to be a place to find community, to find love and even to find yourself through fashion and self-expression.
Gen Z has previously been dubbed the loneliest generation in human history, but many are discovering a new sense of community through fitness. In Berlin, the Fitness Rave organized by Les Mills and Adidas epitomizes the gym-as-a-club phenomenon. It attracted over 3,000 attendees, illustrating the appeal of blending fitness with social experiences.
When it comes to love, at a time of growing disillusionment with online dating, gyms and running clubs are providing a space to meet new people IRL.
The Lunge app has been designed specifically for in-real life fitness communities and hosted a singles event for singletons who ran the New York Marathon.
As running gear becomes a streetwear statement and races the new runways, brands are seeking to offer more than functional fits with Tracksmith and District Vision x New Balance leading the way in fashion forward fitness.
So, Gen Z is creating their own club scene on their own terms (just minus the hangover and dodgy hair do’s).
Weber Forecast Insight
As Gen Z prioritises their health and IRL experiences, it feels like group exercise events like marathons are the music festivals of this generation. Think about how brands can make exercise a cultural moment for Gen Z.
Image: @districtvision Image: @Les Mils
Image: Beezer photos Image: @lunge_official
WANT TO KNOW WHAT ELSE IS ON THE HORIZON?
Talk to us for: Reports
Our ‘Signals’ reports provide deep dive insights and implications for your brand, audience or category. Workshops
Our own ‘Culture Collider’ workshop methodology approaches briefs through the lens of cultural trends to help teams create culture first ideas.
Pictured: iStock