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Someone walked past this sunny evening at the Oudegracht in Utrecht, wearing a T-shirt that could either have been proper vintage, or recently bought from a tourist store. It said underneath a sunset image thereoff:
Awesome
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Browsing through the bookstore looking at cookbooks, books on fashion, photography, art, architecture, gardening, I feel excited and inspired. Walking to a restaurant where I sit down to have a Neapolitan style pizza, I feel energised. Coming to a French brasserie-bar, I feel sophisticated. A single night out in the city is a much needed luxury these days.
As we are busy being parents, partners, family, friends, professionals and do-it-(y)ourselfers it’s sometimes easy to feel not only a little drained but also uninspired and thinly spread. I listened to this podcast earlier this week as I cycled to work (which in- and of-itself uplifted my moods a little) in which the speaker talks about how dopamine addiction is also an escapism of having to profile ourselves all the time.
“Modern life requires us to just constantly think about ourselves and be on display. And the use of these ways to take us out of ourselves is increasing because we’re constantly narcissistically thinking about ourselves.”
From the NYT Interview: Digital Drugs Have Us Hooked. Dr. Anna Lembke Sees a Way Out.
So that’s why we love to scroll Instagram and just be mindlessly looking at other people profiling themselves. I could get into that theory. But trying to stop this habit (as I am) brings the challenge with it that it becomes harder to relax the mind for a minute… interesting, that’s an observation to be let simmering.
I was also watching this video by Van Neistat on Easy flow vs. Hard flow state in which he talks about procrastination being a form of “western” and efficient relaxation. Another interesting thought to let linger.
I was feeling a little flat and down the past two weeks (ever since Blue Monday to be honest). Slowly I have become more aware of it and trying to understand why I feel this way. Is it a mild depression because of the cold, wet, grey weather? Is it because of the hard work on the garden that’s making me tired? Is it all the things going on in the family?
Exactly a year ago we were loving life in sunny Australia. Off course the fact that we were on holiday made for a relaxing start to the year. But the climate, temperature, sun and environment definitely were as important in making the otherwise most difficult months of the year in terms of mood more manageable. Upon return it was a bit of a deception to life our normal live again within our usual surrounds. People told us “you missed nothing, it was only rain throughout the time you were away.”
It’s mid February and I have felt what those people did last year – a mild mid-winter depression. After returning from New York at the start of this year, I was feeling very uplifted and excited, energised! How could I create moments in my daily life that create this same feeling for me with minimal and ready-at-hand means? That’s an observation to think about in the next few weeks. Ta-ta
Itinerary for reference (2024)
AMS 09:15 11 Dec (Wed) Amsterdam, Schiphol Intl.
EWR 10:40 11 Dec (Wed) New York, Newark
UA71 Boeing 777-200 – Flying time: 8hrs 25mins
EWR 18:05 27 Dec (Fri) New York, Newark.
AMS 07:15 28 Dec (Sat) Amsterdam, Schiphol Intl.
UA70 Boeing 777-200 – Flying time: 7hrs 10mins
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Unpacking the brand positioning of being diversely culturally inspired and taking locality as inspiration a little further;
Using something as inspiration, does not mean the outcome will be a literal translation of that which has been the starting point (inspiration). It rather means that a source (of inspiration) has become seminal in the thoughts process, helping in forming a certain cohesion in thought, concept and creation. Although the final outcome does not necessarily need to have any resemblance or visual/physical queue to what has been used as a source of inspiration, the mention of the inspiration also can’t be frivolous. When the source of inspiration is an important factor to the design or positioning and is communicated as such, the synergy between inspiration and final product has to be relevant to some degree for it to be convincing.
Then, the question is; does the brand positioning need to be linked to the sources of inspiration? Or rather; is that which is described as the source of inspiration actually what is the starting point of the clothing designs, or is it a bogus attempt to be more culturally relevant? Here it becomes important to remind yourself that “using something as inspiration, does not mean the outcome will be a literal translation of that which has been the starting point (inspiration)”. And if [BRAND NAME]’s HOW (being diversely culturally inspired) and WHY (challenging the globalised (homogenised) world/industry) are genuine, there needs to be no fear as such.
Although genuine, are these diverse cultural inspirations and the use thereof for brand positioning (outside of those cultural environments) appropriate? Or is it a sort of cultural appropriation and therefor inappropriate? It depends on how literal the translation is between source of inspiration and creative output. It also depends on the way it’s translated into something new. When inspiration is used properly to create something entirely new, it would be appropriate as what is being made doesn’t pertain to be of that which is used as inspiration. However, if what is being made is leaning more to a copy, it wouldn’t be as appropriate. This is about (cultural) ownership and representation.
“Creativity is the focused combination of unlikely things. Your mind locks onto a certain element and then searches widely for something unexpected that fits with it. What can scuba diving teach you about agriculture? What can trees teach you about public speaking? There is always some connective tissue between disciplines. If you wish to be more creative, look for the connections between two previously unconnected things.”
by James Clear, as found in his 3-2-1 newsletter
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Good products deserve reasonable pricing. This works two ways; neither should a product be overpriced to create a false perception of value and quality, nor should a product be underpriced to encourage impulse buying and the idea of a good deal. A good product has a price that is linked to its production process and quality manufacturing. These days brands either work with economies of scale (Primark) or economies of exclusivity (Dior) to determine their pricing. When something seems too cheap or expensive to be realistic and fair, it probably is. Sales-discounts play a part in this too. When a product can still be sold for a significantly reduced price without a loss, it means the consumer has been fooled with the original product sales-price.
[BRAND NAME] wants to offer products that are priced fairly to sustain a good product quality and a reasonable and publicly communicated growth percentage (revenue). This means products shall be priced accordingly, and any devaluation in pricing won’t be possible nor necessary.
Sales-drops and limited edition products have become a mainstay within the global (fashion)economy. They are a sales tactic with revenue as the prime incentive, not creativity. Why else would a great product design only be offered to a limited amount of people. This sales-tactic is used mostly to lure customers to a baseline product offering by creating the perception of scarcity and belonging. The scarcity is false, as it’s entirely within a brand’s power to make as many items of any product as they wish. The sense of belonging is created by making people think they are part of a select group of people that are “in-the-know” or these special editions/drops. Even if they couldn’t actually make a purchase of said item, by buying any other mainline product they feel connected to this urge they have to belong to the in-crowd.
[BRAND NAME] wants to offer products fairly and indefinitely based on people’s desire to purchase, through either pre-order listings, item inventory or archive reproductions. A product might be produced and launched in a specific quantity at first. Afterwards it might immediately be reproduced based on consumer demand or placed into a product archive from where re-runs and reproductions can be requested by prospect buyers (in active communication with the brand).
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“But as well as being regenerative by design, our economies must be distributive by design […] focus on thriving and balance within the social and the ecological boundaries of the doughnut.”
by Kate Raworth
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In everything we do, we believe in challenging the globalised (homogenised) world/industry – Why
by being diversely culturally inspired and by growing slowly, fairly and fulfillingly – How
with products that are made to order, produced responsibly and offered regeneratively – What
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No matter if we are able to travel to far-flung places or not – the mixing of cultures, nationalities and heritages happens all around us. It has done so for generations, though today it happens on a larger scale and to a wider demographic. Living in a multicultural world provides us the opportunity to see and understand life on earth from different perspectives, from which we can learn and grow. Globalisation has contributed to a faster and easier transfer of goods and thoughts. We have moved away from locality and diversity to a shared global aesthetic. The modern world stimulates homogeneity globally.
[BRAND NAME] wants to stimulate a more diverse understanding of our modern world by creating clothing that takes locality as inspiration for transforming globalised garments into localised expressions of our multicultural world.
Some things can only be found in very specific places in the world. However we have now access to almost anything from anywhere through the convenience of online shopping, international shipping and an interconnected world economy. Almost everything from anywhere is within our reach. The accessibility to such a wide gamma of goods from around the world has made us into greedy and unappreciative consumers. There is value in things being made and sold locally only, as it means the producer and consumer create a stronger connection; in physical contact the meeting of cultures can exist.
[BRAND NAME] wants to stimulate a cultural, personal and emotional exchange between brand, people and product by making certain products only available locally, close to its source of inspiration and/or production.
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Ideas to be more fully formed and formulated:
Direct to consumer. Describe what that means for this brand and for me. Make a diagram in which you can see how currently my income is fully made up of my paid job, and my brand is secondary to that. This means that time spent on the brand is limited but income from it also will be, so product costs can stay relatively low as they mainly need to support production instead of generating a living wage. A projected diagram can show how shifting the time spend and income earned through each channel can affect creative output and pricing, although it doesn’t necessarily have to mean products get more expensive. Maybe it’s more about the profit being used to support different things (at first it’s about stimulating growth and R&D, and once that has been achieved, income can and will support wages).
Think about a business model of funding, where a product will be released/produced once there has been enough backing in place. This can be done with time limits in place; if not reached before so-and-so the fund will be refunded.
Describe why these models are important to the brand’s ethos; forever growth is hurting the planet, our quality of life and our pockets too. There are different ways to undertake a business endeavour and this is one of them. Production in itself doesn’t have to be the problem, over production at the wrong cost can.
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Simon Sinek’s why as described on his website: We are here to inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that, together, each of us can change our world for the better. Why = what is your purpose or cause or believe
Those are the 3 steps on how to sell a product en why a product can be successful or not. […] The Why is about why you begin with selling products and what therein is the end-goal.
Said by Olaf Hussein (said in Dutch) in the Neyenrode Podcast