It’s fascinating to watch the talent wars play out in big tech—where engineers are poached like athletes, AI researchers are paid like hedge fund managers, and the top 1% truly command the market. Obscene sums of money are thrown around, yes—but there’s a deeper shift happening. For the first time, being exceptional at your craft—whether you’re a developer, a product designer, or a researcher—can put you in the same league as actors or athletes. If you’re truly world-class, the market will find you.

As one GS Elevator quote puts it: “Talent is the only thing that stands between most people and their dreams.” If you’re truly great at your craft, the ceiling is higher than ever.

Caught my eye

Pierce & Ward is the iconic interior design studio behind the homes of Hollywood’s elite—known for blending midcentury modern with a cozy, lived-in elegance and an obsessive eye for detail. Their spaces feel effortless, but every corner is intentional.

Trends — what’s bubbling underneath the headlines

• Coach Cafés and the new entry-level luxury

  The merge of fashion and hospitality isn’t new—Ralph did coffee, Jacquemus did gelato—but Coach is giving it a distinctly Gen Z twist. The brand’s new Coach Coffee Shop concept is rolling out in malls across the U.S. Twenty locations are planned over the next year, with dozens more to follow. If legacy fashion brands once offered fragrances or keychains as the aspirational entry point, today it’s a $6 coffee and a cake. This move made me think that hospitality isn't just a lifestyle extension anymore, it's the top of the funnel.

• Snack panic at the checkout

  I didn’t even dream I’d live in a world where Oreo collaborates with Reese’s. But here we are—extreme times, extreme measures. Mondelez, the maker of Oreo rang the alarm bell: people are snacking less. “There’s a lot of consumer anxiety,” CEO Dirk Van de Put admitted—pointing not to health consciousness, but emotional strain. Even comfort food isn’t recession-proof anymore.

• The week of real controversies

  And I am not talking about the Astronomer CEO at the Coldplay concert—though the company’s PR response deserves its own case study. It’s about the overstimulated, hyper-scrutinized media climate we live in, where every brand move is a risk. Guess dropped an ad featuring an AI-generated model in Vogue—intended as innovation, received as insensitivity. American Eagle ran a denim campaign with a blonde model and a  caption about her "great jeans"—and caught heat. We’ve hit a point where cutting through the noise often means walking the edge. The question now isn’t will you be criticized, but are you clear enough on your values to handle it when you are?

• New social media strategy: proximity posting
  This summer, the biggest Instagram flex isn’t where you are—it’s when you’re there. A gondola selfie is just a gondola selfie… unless it’s from the weekend of the Bezos wedding. It’s turning into a deliberate social strategy called proximity posting: the art of being adjacent to the moment, not center-stage, and letting the timing do the talking. With real exclusivity shifting from what you can buy to where you're invited, social capital is the new luxury currency.

• The hardest club to get into? Your pilates studio
  Across New York, a new kind of exclusivity is taking hold—invite-only fitness studios like Tera and The Ness, where getting into a class now rivals getting a table at Cipriani. These aren’t just workouts—they’re curated micro-communities with referral systems, Instagram vetting, and $65 sessions capped at six. I’ve written before that fitness is becoming the new private club. Now, it’s also becoming impossible to get into.

Business moves, big numbers & “wait, what?”

• Candy company goes couture. I honestly couldn’t have imagined a world where Katjes—producer of my favourite Tropic jelly beans—takes control of Bogner, Munich’s luxury ski and sports fashion brand. But beneath the surprise is an interesting story about scale and succession. In many ways, family ownership is still the best form of capital for fashion. The cycles are long, often spanning decades, and most institutional investors simply don’t have the patience for that timeline. In today’s market, category lines are blurring, and the “right” owner may no longer come from the sector—but from anywhere that understands brand building at a generational pace.

• Figma IPO: design enters the chat. Figma pulled off one of the most successful tech IPOs in recent memory—nearly a 250% price jump during the first trading day. I was impressed by the financials: 88% gross margins, 132% net revenue retention, and $749M in 2024 revenue, growing nearly 50% year over year. Now, with AI on the rise and code becoming increasingly commoditized, it’s creativity, ideas, and design that will define what stands out. This IPO success marks the moment design became a core differentiator in tech’s next chapter.

• L.Catterton’s bold swing into golf. L Catterton took a majority stake in L.A.B. Golf, valuing the Oregon-based putter brand at $200 million. And as someone who doesn’t know much about golf, I had to look up what a putter is: a putter is the club used for short, precise strokes on the green. But L.A.B., which started in a trailer, built a cult following around its “Lie Angle Balance” tech and sold over 130,000 putters in 2024—tripling sales year-over-year. It’s a perfect case of product innovation + niche + perfect timing. When all three align, even the most niche and unsexy categories can go venture-grade.

Results in 30 sec (or less)

Wish I were there - pop-ups,  collabs, etc.

Pencil in, book the ticket, or just follow on social media — choose your option and let’s discuss afterwards!

• Until 08.09.25 | Forte Dei Marmi - Longchamp beach club

• Ongoing | Amsterdam - Café Maison Margiela

Next steps

Please feel free to get in touch. I’d love to hear from you!

• Email: [email protected]

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

• TikTok

Forward this e-mail to a colleague or a friend

Read other content here