š§¦ We Don't Believe in Earth Day
Earth Day BS, GFA on Micro Trends, Love Letter to Football Shirts, Earth Day Polling of America (2023), Japanese Skate TV Show, ARVIN GOODS Socks
Arvin News
Happy Sunday!Ā
We think Earth Day is a big pile of marketing horse shit. The mission of Arvin Goods is āTo Make the Cleanest Basics on the Planetā. The basics for now being socks, but that could be any product deemed a daily necessity really. Our ambition is to use socks as a kind of trojan horse into your daily mindset to realize that buying clean isnāt that difficult.
Producing clean also isnāt that difficult, but most companies make it sound like they have to reinvent the wheel to do it. The reality is they just need to mandate that the design process of their product or brand starts with a low-impact plan and the rest will fall in line. Too many companies started with a bad supply chain, or material strategy and now make the conscious decision to not fix it. Or even worse fix a very small part of it and then market that small portion like it is a big deal. Earth day allows these brands to act like they are doing good under the guise of a āholidayā.
Earth Day is a two-way street, however. You as a consumer should have expectations of companies but also of yourself and your friends/family. Do the research know what you are buying, where does it come from, and how is it made? Vote with your wallet! We shouldnāt need a fake holiday to make reasonable purchasing decisions, and we definitely do not need it so the worst offenders can sweep it all under the rug for a day. Every Day is actually Earth Day.
Hope you enjoy todayās Clean Up. We would love to hear from you. Comment here on substack hit us on social, or email us at info@arvingoods.com. Have a great week. Cheers,
Team AG āļøš§¦
Stories Of The Weekā¦
Fashion
Examining the Era of Micro Trends - GFA
Just when you thought youād perfected āBalletcoreā, you find out itās āTomato Girl Summerā. But not for long. Next calls for a focus on the āFrazzled English Womanā trend, before this is swiftly replaced by the āCoastal Cowgirl Coreā. The 2024 āMob Wifeā aesthetic is seemingly already old news, as is āBogcoreā (i.e. āviking-meets-grunge-meets-organicoreā, of course). A quick skim of Aesthetics Wiki and youāll find hundreds of previously inconceivable so-called ācoresā and āaestheticsā that simply didnāt make it to your hyper-personalised algorithmic feed. And just as they catch your attention, the internet has moved on.
Today, the zeitgeist is in many ways elusive.
Prevailing trend categories have always existed, but historically these notions defined decades as opposed to a singular week on social media. We are now in the era of micro trends.
What is a micro trend?
āA niche or industry specific consumer behavioural trend which is mass market ready and actionable. With a shorter life span, micro trends usually filter down from Macro Trends and provide opportunities for innovators, designers, and marketers to tap into these emerging consumer mindsets.ā
Micro trends often take already common notions and make them marketable, for example, āCinnamon Cookie Butter hairā is simply a new way to market brunette hair. š¬š
Design
āA love letter to the football shirtā: The book commemorating 50 years of Admiral replica jerseys - Itās Nice That
50 years ago, the sports brand Admiral signed a historic deal with Leeds United. Theyād won the rights to make replica shirts to mark the clubs 1973/4 season, giving people the chance to wear their beloved team on their chest ā and so, the fan football shirt was born. Prior to this, people would have to go to the lengths of sewing a club badge onto their own shirts to show their support. āAdmiral saw an opportunity and kickstarted what is now a multi-billion pound industry,ā says Lee Nash, co-founder and creative director of Glory Magazine.
Admiral reached out the Glory team and Halcyon Publishing to see if they were interested in creating a book that memorialised the historical deal; safe to say, āwe didnāt need asking twiceā, says Lee. For Lee, one of the most important things was for the book to be āa love letter to the football shirtā, showing all of the designs in the best possible light. āAdmiral truly pioneered many fabrics and patterns that are still being used and inspiring kits today, so we wanted to ensure each shirt was beautifully represented,ā says Lee. To ensure this, Lee enlisted the help of photographer James Hendley, āsomething of a shirt specialistā whoās collaborated with numerous big sports brands. šļøā½ļø
Industry
Earth Day and the polling of America, 2023 - GreenBiz
**This article is from last year but still very relevant
Consumers express growing interest in purchasing greener products despite growing skepticism about environmental marketing claims. Can both be true?
For much of the past two decades, April has brought forth a profusion of colorful findings about Americansā environmental views and habits. Iāve been chronicling these data since 2007, minus the past two years when the surveys were scaled back, presumably due to pandemic-related reasons.
Whatever the cause, spring 2023 has brought a bumper crop of surveys, so Iām resuming my stock-taking of what theyāre finding and what they mean.
The top line: Americans seem increasingly concerned about environmental issues, notably the climate crisis, but are as confused as ever about what to do about it and whether to believe companiesā green messaging. That confusion is reflected in the dueling narratives of two of the more prominent 2023 surveys:
"Consumers care about sustainability ā and back it up with their wallets," said consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which fielded a survey with market researcher NielsenIQ to examine "sales growth for products that claim to be environmentally and socially responsible."
"U.S. consumers expressed much greater skepticism about essential sources of information about the environmental effects of products," reported another researcher, GfK, in its annualĀ Green Gauge study.
Of course, both can be true: Consumers could claim a growing interest in purchasing products deemed environmentally superior despite growing skepticism about marketing claims. Still, it takes some mental jujitsu to align the two sentiments. My hunch is that consumers are still talking far more than theyāre walking. šæššļø
Entertainment
ćKASSOćJapanese Skateboarding TV show Ā (English Subtitles) - YouTube
This is equal parts weird, funny, and amazing. Japanese game show skateboarding. These guys all kill it! š¹š
'The Clean Up' is a weekly newsletter that mixes in some Arvin Goods news, products, as well as stories we saw during the week that are worth a share. From books to podcasts, sustainability to business news, we try to keep it interesting, and fun. If you are not a subscriber, sign up and join everyone who receives The Clean Up directly in their inbox every Sunday.