Hello, and welcome back to as seen on :)
I had a lot of fun writing this newsletter, which is how I know it’s a great one.
Fashion’s cinematic era; a new Reels format I’m hating; Saks’ distressed-debt maneuvering; Botswana wants majority control of De Beers; Sarah Jessica Parker’s new global creative director job; Beli is Gen Z's eating Yelp’s lunch; Ghia launched a new flavor today; Pfizer is re-entering the obesity drug race; it’s a red-hot job market over on Wall Street; Broadway economics aren’t working anymore; Facebook’s AI dating assistant; i-D is now on Substack; the end of an era for Highsnobiety; and a bunch of other stuff…
ENJOY!
By now, we can all agree that the future of commerce is social — which is why eBay is acquiring Tise, an Oslo-based social marketplace for secondhand fashion and interior design items. The company said in a press release, “With Tise’s on-trend inventory, loyal community, and social-first approach, we’ll strengthen eBay’s C2C offerings and more deeply connect with the next generation of enthusiasts.” If they’re serious about strengthening community, they need to be spending more time speaking with people like
and less time on whatever it is they’re doing at the Teen Vogue Summit.Gen Z’s share of global luxury spending is set to rise from 4% to 25% by 2030. It might be too early to crown any winners, but it’s safe to say that Tapestry’s brands have best perfected speaking the language of Gen Z. In the last week, Coach SS26 commentary has been all over my TikTok feed. This video in particular — organically created — is gold. Coach, as I see it, is doing a few really smart things at once: premiumizing the brand, establishing its bags as a Gen Z staple by strengthening share of voice, and controlling access and narrative to ensure sustained brand heat. Three pretty difficult things to achieve at once — but they’re doing it.