Reading for Your Trip Back from the Hamptons ☀️
Chamberlain Coffee's fundraising, Gen Z's mistrust of sunscreen, Flamingo Estate's Popup, and a sexy new Clase Azul bottle.
Good morning afternoon everyone and happy Memorial Day.
I figured many of you may be returning back from a (hopefully) fun weekend away in the Hamptons or Montauk or Jersey or wherever you are splitting a house with 15 other people, so you may want to read your fav Substack on the trip home.
If you’re in a Blade (I hope some of my readers can afford to charter a helicopter to the Hamptons) then this abbreviated newsletter shouldn’t take up too much of your ride, and if you’re in car… sorry, queue up How Long Gone.
Some of us stayed back in the city this weekend, texting ‘Who do you know?’ to friends who have friends who have houses out East.
Here’s some brand news—
Chamberlain Coffee raised an additional $4M in equity funding. The new round was revealed in an SEC filing, which also states Emma Chamberlain’s successful coffee brand hopes to raise up to $7M in the future. Their previous rounds helped them successfully enter the ready-to-drink (RTD) category with canned cold brew and lattes in wholesale distributors. Last year, they reported over $20M in sales, a 2x increase from the previous year. Emma Chamberlain is an incredible example of an influencer who has parlayed viral success into a quality DTC brand consumers really love. I’m curious to see how they expand their brand universe and line with additional collaborations, hopefully ones that produce real product unlike their 818 ‘collab’
Clase Azul has a sexy new Mezcal bottle. Speaking of tequila, Clase Azul is launching a new mezcal and it comes in a distinct red bottle, forgoing their standard blue and white design. I think the bottle looks really nice and I love Mezcal. No notes. I love when an alcohol brand does a special bottle for the pricer stuff, for example 818’s reserve tequila.
Gen Z doesn’t trust sunscreen. Uh oh. Apparently Gen Z have become increasingly skeptical of sunscreen, according to a new study that reports 37% of Gen Z needs to be nagged to wear sunscreen, and 28% claimed they didn’t believe sunscreen caused skin cancer. This is partly attributable to the trad-life culture growing steam online (the same subculture that loves raw milk) I don’t know about raw milk, but I can say with confidence that skin cancer is real, and being shortsighted about sunscreen is no laughing matter. Here are my recommendations for great sun screen.
Body Sunscreen
I personally like Vacation’s Chardonnay Oil, which provides 30SPF protection and leaves you with a nice sheen. It smells f*cking incredible too.
Facial Sunscreen
I have been using Salt and Stone’s 50SPF sunscreen stick for about a year. But I believe the brand may be discontinuing their sunscreen line, as I can only find it from third party distributors and the category has been removed from their website. LMK in the comments what you guys use and I’ll give it a try.
Flamingo Estate is entering hotels with a new partnership. Your fav heirloom tomato scented candle creator is launching a popup shop at JW Marriott Essex House (right on 59th at the bottom of Central Park) where the brand will stock a variety of their home goods. Flamingo has also developed a special scent for JW Marriot hotels across the world that is “…anchored by White Lotus, Holy Basil, and Rosemary”
Someone in my network wrote on X or Substack how much sense a Flamingo Estate hotel line would make sense and I totally agree. They’ve built an incredibly strong brand and I could see it working, especially their innate attention to detail. If you wrote this, email me or drop a comment and I’ll be sure to credit you.
Merch!!! 🧢
I’ve been considering dropping an exclusive, limited run ‘Who Do You Know?’ dad hat, and I am curious as to if this is something any of my readers would actually purchase. It would be affordable but very limited, and the tagline ‘Who Do You Know?’ gives a vibe of prestige, exclusivity, and gatekeeping that I think fits Summer ‘24.
LMK in the comments if you’d be interested or any ideas you may have.
Okay gotta go do other things. Have a great Memorial Day :)
Jake Bell is a content marketing, creative strategist, and designer based in NYC. He specializes in brand building, content creation, branding, art direction, creative strategy, and making things cool.
Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio
After recently coming back from Japan, Japanese sunscreen (and any sunscreen outside of Canada/USA) is far superior. Too many draconian rules.
Biore/Anessa and I even got Muji sunscreen which is sooo good. All no caste.
in re sunscreen recommendations: Jack Black oil free water resistant SPF 45 (it has a silly name like 'performance shield' but I can't remember it. but those are the specs). Rubs in nicely and doesn't irritate my skin. Supergoop Play SPF 50 is nice, too, but more moisturizing. La Roche Posay Anthelios SPF 50 is my go-to for long days in the sun, but does give me a white cast especially with multiple applications. I used to be a substitute PE teacher and Anthelios was the only SPF I trusted being outside for 8 hours straight. AVOID the Native brand SPF. I found it heinously sticky, it never dries down, it's like wearing flypaper.