Is Farming Fashionable? 🐮
Insights on marketing, business, branding, products, design, founders, and culture.
GM everyone I am back in New York and just got back from my first workout at Equinox in about a week. Feeling f*cking pumped up to be back. I rinsed Drake’s new diss track about 100x and can say with confidence he’s wiping the floor with Kendrick right now.
Just yesterday, a Kendrick Lamar response was leaked online and it was insanely mid. Then it was revealed the clip was apparently AI generated, which many are calling BS. Some are speculating K Dot leaked the track, and backtracked and called AI when the response was lukewarm.
In the post-AI era, this lines between reality and fiction are increasingly blurred. In a world where AI can generate fake audio clips and video clips of us doing and saying anything, it kind of creates the perfect cover for getting away with anything.
Anyway… NEWS.
News
What the f*ck is Sky High Farm? Asked the New York Times, about the 501c3 taking the fashion world by storm right now. Founded by indie-sleaze era artist, Dan Colen (who is represented by Gagosian), Sky High Farm is trying to make farming and philanthropy fashionable. Located in Hudson Valley, the farm grows and donates food to local organizations, working to achieve ‘food sovereignty’
The brand also sells branded merchandise like tees, hoodies, workwear, socks, and underwear, which is produced by Dover Street Market and stocked in retailers like SSENSE and Nordstrom. Its attracted NYC style icons, like Interview’s Mel Ottenberg, as well as collaborations with Balenciaga and Nike.
They even launched their own beverage which was sold in Erewhon last year. The brand operates in a similar lane as other kitschy streetwear brands (it sort of reminds me of Cactus Plant Flea Market) I personally find the clothes sort of tacky, but the model being created by Colen and company is very fascinating. They are running a sustainable farm with major social benefit, all while selling merch, beverages, and more. The success of this project may inspire other similar ventures. Sky High Farm has reported over $5M in sales so far.
Gumroad’s CEO is pissed at Shopify. If you don’t know what Gumroad is, its essentially an e-commerce platform for creators to sell goods and services. It has some competitive overlap with Shopify, but I’ve personally always viewed them as having different customer bases. Either way, Gumroad’s CEO took to X to share a screenshot of YouTube ads Shopify is running, which target keywords on how to use Gumroad.
Essentially its like if you googled ‘Where to buy Olipop?’ and Poppi targeted those keywords and served you an ad saying Poppi was closer and offered free delivery. While I am here for CEO’s saying “f*ck you” to each other, I am not sure what the big deal is. Brands do this literally all the time, its smart for business, which is ruthless and competitive and not fair.
What is with all of these minimalist cans? In what seems to be a backlash to the colorful, loud cans that dominated CPG brands for years, many new brands are opting for stark, white, minimalist cans with subtle pops of color. Erewhon is using this motif for their new canned Kefir soda, Ross MacKay and George Heaton’s new electrolyte beverage, Cadence, is all white with a serif font, and I am seeing more and more everyday.
It’s always interesting to see how quickly design languages spread across a product category. I like the minimalism.
Who Do You Know? is a daily newsletter covering marketing, business, branding, products, design, founders, and culture.
Its written by Jake Bell, a content marketing and brand strategist in NYC.
To get in touch visit www.jb.studio or email jake@jb.studio
