LVMH Places Big Bet on Our Legacy
Inside Our Legacy's new investor, AI, a social media ban, and Cybertrucks
In Today’s Newsletter
Our Legacy gets an LVMH investment… what’s next?
AI is Being Used to Verify Sneaker Authenticity
Australia Might Ban Social Media for Kids
We are About to Start Seeing A LOT More Cybertrucks
Our Legacy’s LVMH Investment
Bernard Arnault, the world’s 5th richest person, is backing up a dump truck worth of money to cult-favorite Our Legacy.
The Scandinavian sleeper brand is selling a minority stake to LVMH Luxury Ventures Fund— with exact figures not being disclosed.
Founded nearly 20 years ago, the brands early collections were incredibly subdued, but over various mens and women’s collections— they’ve grown to prominence for their unique tailoring, fabric choices, and avant garde collections that somehow look good all the damn time.
I’ve personally spent more money than I’d care to admit on several grey sweaters, jeans, an insulated parka, etc.
This is a major co-sign for the brand, but I do worry about what comes next.
Take for example, Aime Leon Dore, which received a massive LVMH investment and has seen its quality and brand equity diminish, presumably to scale the business at an unsustainable pace to meet investor demands.
So I certainly hope this new investment helps the brand move from just under the the radar to the mainstream, but I hope they continue to employ their unique perspective in new collections.
Can AI Verify a Sneaker with… Smell
The growing ‘hype’ market consisting of secondary sales of coveted sneakers, jewelry, watches, and collectibles is attracting a new wave of startups.
These startups mostly revolve around helping e-commerce platforms like StockX verify the authenticity of sneakers.
Osmo uses sensors and AI to literally smell if a shoe is real.
Basically, counterfeit sneakers have traces of chemicals typically used in fake factories and this AI can detect the subtle nuances of them.
They did a pilot program that apparently yielded a 95% success rate.
Australia’s New (Potential) Social Media Ban
Emerging data around growing teen depression is being largely linked to the rise of social media.
The problem is especially evident with teen girls, who have seen depression rates rise 14% since social media became common on every teen’s device.
In the aftermath of a teen committing suicide after allegedly developing an online relationship with an AI chatbot made by Character.AI, I saw many podcast hosts and pundits argue we need to enact legislation to ban social media for teens.
Now Australia may be doing just that.
Proposed legislation would ban social media apps for teens under the age of 16.
The bill, if passed, would put the onus of enforcement on social media companies like X, TikTok, and Meta, and not outline any specific punishments or exemptions.
I think the issue lies with how social media is used. In many ways it can be used as a valuable tool to meet new people, discover new ideas, and promote your talents— but its darkest sides can lead to conspiracy, divisiveness, and isolationism.
What do you guys think about a teen social media ban?
We Are About to See WAYYYY More Cybertrucks
The Cybertruck is inherently a polarizing design— which is now associated with crypto bros in Miami.
And if you’re one of those this is great news, but I’d imagine for most of you this next story is going to hurt…
Tesla has announced you can lease a Cybertruck for just $999 a month (with $7500 down)
So get ready to start seeing a whole lot more Cybertrucks driving around New York.
Just a year ago, the Cybertruck was going for $100,000+, but the market has cooled significantly as production numbers rose.
And now this lowered entry point is sure to increase numbers on the road.
Tesla reported it was the 3rd best selling EV last quarter…
Jake Bell is a content marketing, creative strategist, designer, and writer based in NYC. He specializes in brand building, content strategy, creative direction, business development, and making things cool.
Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio
Our Legacy is cooked
Our Legacy's perception will probably be somewhat be impacted negatively. I think it's rare a company can take outside investment, and not have people think less of it. Even if you can't subjectively prove it, will say it lost the vision or quality went down. Ultimately once investment is accepted the goal is always the same, make more money faster and have infinite growth. Time and time again this strategy seems to ruin a brand over the long term and alienate the people who "made it cool" to begin with. I can understand founders taking the huge pay day and having the thing they worked so hard to create get bigger, I'd probably do the same. It's just a shame it comes for everything cool and interesting at some point down the line.
Social media ban is good. Like you said it can have a positive impact and be a tool for good, it rarely works out that way. I think people from all ages can be negatively impacted from it, although teens feel it the worst. Adults are - generally but not always - better equipped to handle the emotions you might feel. Social media as a whole probably wouldn't be as negative if the algorithms didn't skew towards negativity and topics that make you feel bad.