I've got a question for you and I want you to let me know in the comments. What are you wearing right now? Or what do you plan to wear throughout the day?
That could be accessories, that could be clothes, that could be anything that you feel like represents the lifestyle that you want to be living 24/7. [Music] Refi Beauty just released something that I have been thinking about for a long time. they added something to their product lineup that really reflects where I think we're going, especially when it comes to building a business and having a brand that has products that you usually don't see out in the streets or aren't that visible.
So, let's break it down. Let's talk about it, right? So, you may have seen on their Instagram that they basically released a keychain where put in one of your refi lip balms or lip glosses and it just triggered something in my brain.
They've actually been doing a lot of experiential marketing for a while, especially during summer. They've launched a hotel. They've got all these other bits happening, but the keychain specifically just like triggered something in my mind, especially because you could put the lip balm in it.
So, let's talk about wearables and wearability. I think when it comes to being able to build a brand, especially with a product that people can't see, so we're talking maybe hair care, maybe homegoods, food, skin care, and to an extent makeup. You can kind of see makeup on people's faces, but to an extent makeup.
It can be a really competitive market. And something that I've personally noticed, especially with a lot of big brands that have cut through and been dominating your for you page, your social feed, is they've been able to find, especially in this category, they've been able to lean on something that fashion brands have leaned on forever, which is literally the world of wearables, the world of fashion, the world of belonging to something by what you wear. I think it's really easy or much easier if you are literally a fashion brand because then you get to have your logo and someone wears your logo or people are used to a particular style of cut of how you cut trousers and everyone knows if you go out and I'm wearing these let's say blue jeans with white stitches I'm wearing true religion let's say if I go out with a certain monogram I'm wearing Louis Vuitton or Dior or whatever the other things are we have to adorn ourselves in life right with clothes and many of us even people who think that they are not fashionable able and not into trends.
We wear things that represent the lifestyles, the ideals, the aspirations, the habits, the crews, the cultures, the social tribes that we're involved in, right? So, that could be the examples I've mentioned, you know, all the way through to a luxury brand. But that could also be, like I said, the people who don't wear um fashion.
That could be a Patagonia body warmer. That could be your on running trainers. Everything means something.
And we as humans, as communal creatures, like to be part of a pack and represent ourselves as such. So the Rafi keychain is super interesting to me cuz it's not just the key chain, but it also has the lip balm insert, right? And it got me thinking about road naturally because road created the phone case where you could put your lip balm in it.
And then because of the nature of like the fact that we live in a world of selfies, it became something that you see everywhere, right? And this is what gets me excited about the future of what's coming when it comes to building a brand because brands serve a purpose obviously. So in that case skincare but there's a purpose beyond that which is about belonging and being able to selfidentify that you can implement and you can make go further when someone has to carry something out of their house and wear it in front of someone else.
So, as a brand owner, I would be thinking about how are my products going to lean on and learn from wearables and fashion. If we think about the early 2000s, even now it's having a resurgence, right? iPhone earphones, right?
They've got the white cord. Back then, all other earphones were like black or other inconspicuous colors. But when Apple launched the iPod with those earphones, the whole campaign wasn't even really featuring the pod.
was featuring these like black silhouettes with the white contrast of the earphones dancing and enjoying life. So that became a symbol of um futurism. It became a symbol of good taste.
It became a symbol of being a music head and that has evolved. Even when I think about the AirPods Max, they are also a statement. They are fashion symbol.
Now again, earphones are already in a slightly different category because they are already wearable by default. you they're not like having to make an iPhone case where you can put your lip gloss in or having to make a key keychain where you can put your lip gloss in. But I think it's really interesting to see how beauty brands are intentionally or not intentionally being able to leverage the power of wearability and tie that back to their overall business.
Now with the Rafi keychain, it's actually not available for sale right now. It's actually available to the level two and level three members in I think what looks like a royalty program. But even still, that could be an early test.
They might be seeing, okay, what's the adoption? They're using it to drive like more sales and get people to buy things during a certain period. But there could be a time where that is like a version zero of what they could be developing when it comes to wearables.
And maybe someone in the team is watching this and thinking, actually, maybe we will spin it out. And that makes total sense to me. I think another example of a brand that has a wearable that you wouldn't expect is Topicals, right?
topicals is famous for its pink faded under eye masks and those they're not the first people to make under eye masks. Um but those particular under eye masks are first of all obviously brightening cooling do all the skinincare functional things that people really value and really work but they also transitioned into this idea of like a fashion statement. Even if you didn't wear out the house you wanted to take a photo so that people could see that you were wearing it.
Um, and I think that even for the people who then did go out of the house, then it became a whole another situation, right? And I have seen so many videos online of people talking about, you know, I would love to see this color combination or I would like my own color and all these things. And that's because again, if you can make something that is existing, especially if you're a brand like I said that is not wearable by default.
So I'm even thinking like home wear, candles, um cookware, like what could you integrate into your world? What is an extension of one of the products that you are making or what could be an extension of one of the products that you are making that would become something that people could carry, wear in front of other people and catch other people's eyes. I think it's also wearability is not just about wearing in real life.
Wearability is also about sharability or Instagrammability, right? So when I think of the red phone case, the most places I've seen it, even though I have seen it in in real life a lot, of course, the most places I've seen it is in people's selfies. And I think that's so interesting, right?
Because naturally, you take a mirror selfie with your phone. And then again, the phone case is there. So again, thinking about how does someone move through their day?
What are the things that they're doing? And how can I integrate an element of my brand? It doesn't necessarily mean you have to make a brand new product.
You might add a remix to something you're already doing or introduce a piece of merch. It doesn't have to be this whole great project, but I would think about how can I involve wearables, especially sharable wearables like social media sharable. How can I integrate those things into everything that I'm um doing and building, especially when it comes to brand recognition and desire.
All these things I've mentioned are also like a bit culty. People want to do it. It's not just about the fact that it's wearable.
was the fact that it's like interesting. It catches fire in one way or another. Final example of this is the Stanley Cup.
And again, I've been thinking a lot about brands or types of products that you typically don't see or that aren't trendy. So like a Stanley Cup and there have been historical a couple of other like sippy cups that have become trendy. But I think what Stanley have done like really interestingly is like their continual collaborations with different organizations.
sometimes the different um TV shows and films, the colorways and how they've integrated that cup into an overall aesthetic, whether it's in your car or whether it's in a workout. And they have then created like I' I've seen cases where there are like little pockets for people who go to yoga or go to Pilates for them to add extra things, add supplements, add a lip gloss, add whatever else they need to um move through their their lives because a Stanley Cup represents like ah I'm I'm reaching my hydration goals. and someone who's reaching their hydration goals is like super productive.
So by being able to think about okay what are all the different touch points in the life of someone who is aiming for productivity they may not even be there in terms of productivity yet but they want that they aspire to that life what else can I create or how can we integrate our cup into those moments of creativity whether it's like organizing the car setup whether it's like going on a daily walk and that has really shaped a lot of how the organic um creative content has come out from the brand recently and then I guess the final thing and I think this is quite like an relatively easy entry point is and it circles back all the way back to refire to be honest is actually bad charms. Bad charms have been trending now for probably three or four years. Obviously, they have existed before, but they become back into the zeitgeist.
And I think luxury brands have found a way to build more of a I mean, luxury brands, luxury fashion brands don't need to do this cuz they're already wearables by default, but by introducing lots of like nano bags that can become bag charms to bigger bags. I've definitely seen a lot of people who are interested in luxury online have really been bought into that and got really excited by it. And in a similar way, we've seen it really amplified by the story and the mythology around like Jane Burkin and how she treated her Burkin bag, the very first one.
We've seen that in how Coach have re-released some of their larger bags with chains. It's not a new thing, the bag chain. It's something that, you know, we've all seen.
Um, I don't think anyone's dominated it yet. I don't think there's one bag chain that is like desirable. I think the styling is, but if I was a brand, I would be thinking about, okay, maybe I could integrate there.
Or instead of integrating into an existing trend right now, I think, okay, I'm going to start with the bag chain and I'm going to try and extrapolate out and think about what else could I do in that world that doesn't feel so on trend naturally. Pains me to mention it, but I think I really need to. Um, especially when we talk about wearables, is the Lubu as well, right?
Because Laboos have also become a version of a bag chain. Whether you agree, whether you disagree, it doesn't change the fact that that is also another way that they are being marketed, especially to older um women, you know, especially to older women who aren't children who may not play with them in the same way or may not want to be depicted or resonate with content about like kids playing with the dolls is them being attached especially to work bags, luxury bags, bags that carry um a lot of things that represent the life of a woman who's about town, has loads of responsibilities. has a lot going on in her life, spinning a lot of plates.
And again, I just think it's an interesting integration because I think on the surface, many people would have said those two things absolutely don't match that, you know, toy monster with a Chanel bag or with a $10,000 Hermes bag. Absolutely not. And yet here we are on the internet and in real life with loads of people who are collecting these to accessorize with.
So when you think about how you are developing products and not just developing products but even when you think about like simple things like merch, I would think about what is wearable and what is also easy as well. I think ease is a big part of this. So you might be thinking, okay, I'm going to go and make a tote bag or I'm going to go and make a t-shirt.
I think I love a slogan t-shirt. So I think that's a strong one. I think the challenge sometimes with tote bags is that you compete with many other bags.
Um, but I would love for you to throw out some merch that you think could be interesting or things that you love in the comments. Um, and then maybe we can go back and forth and think about what could be interesting to transfer into something that could resonate for a brand that you love, a brand that either you're working on or just something that you wish imagined at some point in your life.
