• TRAVEL has been a highlight for me over the last 6 months. When I flew back from Austin this week, I was struck by how stress-free and fun this travel experience had been versus the trepidation I felt last March on my first post-pandemic trip (also to Austin coincidentally).
• This most recent AUSTIN trip was not only fun but also extremely productive with countless new discoveries (#1 – 5) including my first-ever football game.
• RETAIL is also getting its groove back. Not sure how sustainable it all is but at least people are experimenting with new formats and trying new things (#6 – 8).

Please scroll down for the week’s highlights.

AUSTIN TRENDS & OBSERVATIONS

1. Young(ish) men SO sleek and modern (just like their Teslas)!

1. The most interesting find while hanging out in Austin was the minimally sleek and modern style favored by so many young guys. CUTS Clothing is their brand of choice. I was unfamiliar with it but spoke with a few of my guy friends and they are all big fans. The CUTS logo is really discrete which made it difficult to identify the brand but once I started looking into it, I also realized that every ad or image on their website includes a laptop or an iphone (just to make sure there is no confusion as to the brand’s target customer). Steven Borrelli founded the company in 2016.
2. Other popular brands amongst the guys included Vuori, RVAC, Lululemon, and for footwear lots of ON and Hoka (on the older guys).
3. What all these brands have in common is their focus on performance, engineering, and technical fabrics.

CONVERSELY: While the guys dress monochromatically, and look very sleek and modern (to match all the TESLAS I saw around town!), the most popular look among women tended to be a bit more frou-frou with brightly colored flouncy dresses, accessorized with lots of gold (from jewelry to boots).

2. Domain Northside: a trendy urban “bubble” where people live, work, and play.

1. Domain NORTHSIDE is way out of town (30 mins by Uber on a Sunday morning) but it is lively and very trendy. I’ve heard that a lot of tech people live there, especially those whose companies are nearby, e.g., Vrbo.
2. The retail options are excellent. Standouts include Apple (the store was packed with a line out the door), Chanel, DryBar, Forloh, Vueri, Joybird, Mizzen+Main, Nike, RH, Sephora, Tecovas, and Yeti. A huge assortment of home furnishings (too many to mention but from all ends of the price spectrum) which makes sense since residential is a key part of this mixed use development.
3. The restaurant and nightlife scene is also very good (casual vs. fine dining). Standouts including Velvet Taco, The Dogwood, Curry Up Now, Easy Tiger (which just opened a Pretzel Bar), Jeni’s Ice Cream, Kung Fu Saloon, Culinary Dropout, Taverna, Valencia’s Tex-Mex Garage.

MY TAKE: Reminded me of my recent visit to Summerlin Downtown on the outskirts of Las Vegas (developed by the Howard Hughes Corporation). I understand the appeal of these faux-urban mixed-use developments, especially as real urban downtowns get sketchier. Still not for me but I 100% get why people move here.

3. Bruce Munro’s Field of Light at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (the reason for my visit to Austin)

1. I booked my trip for the opening of FIELD OF LIGHT, the minute details were announced. An extra bonus for us on opening night: a full, Harvest Moon!
2. The installation covers 16 acres in the Arboretum at the Wildflower Center with 28,000 stemmed spheres that are lit by solar-powered fiber optics. It’s absolutely stunning.
3. Make sure you book your tickets (ideally VIP for better access) to coincide with nightfall to get the full effect. The installation will be up through December 30, 2022. More photos below.

4. restaurant recos

1. Austin has an exceptional food scene. This trip I made a beeline for Launderette and Odd Duck (both of which are wildly popular with locals and generally difficult to get a reservation). However, eating early and sitting at the bar always does the trick. I also revisited Jeffrey’s which was as sublime as I remembered.
2. I love the vibe at each of these restaurants (one in a former launderette), the staff at all three are top-notch, and the food is FANTASTIC.

5. Texas Football: Longhorns vs. Crimson Tide (my FIRST American football game!!)

1. By all reports, this was one of the season’s most exciting matches with the Texas Longhorns competing against Alabama, the top-ranked football team in the nation.
2. And special shout out to my friend Sheri H who snagged fabulous seats for us.
3. Everything about the day was spectacular from the pre-game festivities and tailgating, to the live on-site Fox Big Noon Kick Off Show, the B-52 flyover, and most especially the enthusiastic, orange-clad fans in the stadium (all 111,000 of them).

NEW RETAIL EXPERIENCES

6. First-Ever: Physical Pop-Up with Digital-only clothing (ZERO10 + Crosby Studios)

It’s at 138 Wooster Street in Soho and you need an appt to get in. It didn’t look ready for prime time when I stopped by earlier this week but maybe that’s the look they were going for. Only open through September 18.

Here’s what Design Milk has to say about it:

1. Augmented Reality (AR) fashion platform ZERO10 partnered with Harry Nuriev’s Crosby Studio to create this first-of-its-kind digital-only pop-up concept.
2. Eliminating typical retail decor, Crosby Studios designed the store as an interactive space where visitors can come to explore without physical objects, like clothing racks, and display tables “getting in the way.” While the digital collection will be available for visitors to purchase, the focus is to provide people with a fun and engaging metaverse experience in an actual store.
3. The space is decked out in vibrant neon greens and cool grays in pixelated patterns reminiscent of old video games.
4. Once inside a fitting room, visitors scan QR codes with their iPhones, leading them to ZERO10’s app page where they can try on the collection in real-time or via uploaded photos from camera roll. Three of the pieces are free for fitting and saving to the digital wardrobes in the app; one piece has to be purchased before trying it on; and the final piece is a limited-edition collection of NFTs available for purchase at 0,1 ETH each through the app.
5. If you’re interested in checking out the pop-up shop in-person or trying on the clothing, you have until September 18th, 2022 to visit. You must make a reservation to visit here. After the 18th, the collection will be available exclusively via ZERO10’s app.

7. SuperPlastic Opens in NYC as Demand for Art, Anime, Sports, and NFT Collectibles soars

1. SUPERPLASTIC launched their first store a few weeks ago at 15 Prince Street in Nolita (just a few blocks from their old Kid Robot store). They already have 1.5MM followers on Instagram so this stands a good chance of being a huge success. Worth following if you want to stay up-to-date on the latest toy and digital collectibles.
2. The Prince St. flagship is actually two stores combined. One side is open to the general public. The other is a gallery space (viewable from the street), but only open for events and by private appointment for mega collectors.
3. BTW, Funko will be launching a similar store, in LA, for Snoop Dogg’s ‘Tha Dogg House’ in early 2023. (Source: BusinessWire)

Toy Collectibles Market witnesses a multi-facet growth opportunity along with anime collectibles demand

During the forecast period 2022-2032, the global toy collectibles market is expected to reach USD 18.3 Billion. As toymakers explore ways to integrate physical and digital play to succeed in a technology-driven marketplace, collectible toys are becoming more popular in countries around the world. Toy artists’ creative concepts, limited availability, quality craftsmanship, and the marketing strategies of toy manufacturers all contribute to this phenomenon. Nowadays, artists such as KAWS are selling their works for millions of dollars at major art auctions. Cartoon character toys are the most in demand products in the toy collectible and anime collectible industry.

Market Decipher has published the first-ever comprehensive research report, “Collectibles Market and NFT Market Size, Statistics, Growth Trend Analysis and Forecast Report, 2022 – 2032″

8. Why is “juju” suddenly popping up in brand names?

• In August, I ran into Juju Gear at the Bozeman Farmer’s Market and last week in Austin, Good Juju Flower Farm.
• Checking “Good Juju” on Google Trends shows an increase over the past 12 months (perhaps because of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Juju Smith-Schuster?).
• Anyone else noticing this? Luciana, this is one of your favorite expressions, what do you have to say about this?

9. THE FEAST OF San Gennaro is BACK! Based on opening day crowds, it’s Going to be MAJOR!

Note: All these photos were taken at 5 pm on Thursday (30 mins before the Feast officially opened). Jam-packed!

1. The Feast runs from 9/15 – 9/25, daily.
2. As always, a highlight is the food especially the eating contests, e.g., cannolis, zeppolis, and back by popular demand, the second annual pizza eating contest. All details in the link above.

And that’s a wrap for this week.

Busy, very social weekend ahead. Katharine L. is in town!! We have some very fun activities planned. Next week, I have one major task and that is to get my Real ID drivers license (will see if I’m any more successful with that than I have been with my green card renewal). For absolutely no good reason, I am optimistic about it. And on that note, my friends, wishing you all a great weekend!