LSN : News : Roblox launches a £28m fund for creators

Rimowa hammers home its history with music collaboration

Rimowa Hammerschlag, Germany

Germany – Rimowa is known for its luxury aluminium shell luggage and a history of art-related collaborations. For its new limited-edition collection, Hammerschlag, the LVMH-owned business has turned to music to celebrate the craft behind the products.

Designed to express the hammering work involved in creating the collection, German musician Nils Frahm has composed a piano piece, entitled Hammers.

The two collection items include a cabin case and a hand carry case. The latter retails for £1,770 ($2,235, €2,070) and is limited to 1,898 numbered pieces, a number echoing the year Rimowa was founded in Cologne. The designs have a vintage 1960s aesthetic, with leather handles, bespoke interiors and textured surfaces.

Rimowa is tapping into the Luxury Recrafted mindset, detailed in our macrotrend report, and a wider cultural seam that is luring luxury shoppers with sensorial products and arts-focused marketing.

Strategic opportunity

The collection’s vintage has immediate heirloom appeal; consider how your brand can imbue product longevity and appreciated value through both design and advertising

Textiles brand Evrnu launches DTC fashion collection

360 Hoodie by Evrnu and Christopher Bevans, US

New York – Textiles innovator Evrnu has partnered with designer Christopher Bevans of Bevans Creative Studio to launch its debut direct-to-consumer (DTC) offering, a hoodie made from recycled fibre, Nucycl.

The Nucycl and Bevans 360 Hoodie is sourced from textile waste and fully recyclable, marking a turn towards tech-driven fabric innovation. Using 3D seamless technology, the 360 Hoodie minimises production waste and comes with the Nucycl Guarantee: recyclable and eligible for transformation into a new garment.

In bypassing the middle man and going straight to consumers, the textiles company is demonstrating to brands a new production model, and it plans to expand the range. With textile waste and garment longevity a pressing issue for the fashion industry, the garment’s high-end price tag positions lab-innovated, recycled fibres as precious materials. Discover more fabric innovators in our Five Luxury Fashion Brands Advancing Biotechnology report.

Strategic opportunity

Although the 360 Hoodie is part marketing initiative, designed to highlight Evrnu’s first Nucycl textile-to-textile recycling facility in the US, its DTC approach should push those in the fashion sector to question which traditions, models and systems to leave behind in order to be more sustainable.

Roblox launches a £28m fund for creators

US – Placing its innovation firmly in the hands of the creator economy, Roblox has launched its own £27.7m ($35m, €32.4m) fund.

The new Creator Fund expands on an initial venture targeting games developers, expanding to those who wish to develop other types of initiatives within the gaming platform. Those receiving funds will also be able to incorporate intellectual property from Roblox’s partners, including Paramount’s Nickelodeon. ‘Roblox’s vision for creators is to enable creation of anything, anywhere, by anyone,’ Matt Curtis, Roblox’s vice-president of developer relations, told Fast Company.

One of the first products arising from the fund is Clip It, a Tik-Tok-like short form video platform through which players can create videos of their avatars. Roblox reported that creators on the platform earned a record £586.7m ($741m, €686m) in 2023, a 19% increase from the previous year.

Insatiable Sweep Mini Game in NARS Sweet Rush Roblox experience, US

Strategic opportunity

What tools can your business create for individuals to innovate with your brand? This can not only enable greater personalisation but can also supercharge innovation

Stat: Flirtini survey reveals astrology’s influence on dating

Photography by Jacob Sierra, US

US – Dating app Flirtini’s latest survey of 2,000 of its adult users reveals the influence of astrology on modern-day dating.

The study revealed opinions about ‘Mercury retrograde’, referring to a time when the planet moves slower than Earth around the Sun and apparent chaos ensues: ‘71% of people believe that Mercury retrograde has a negative impact on their relationship, and 46% admit that their loved one was acting unusual as soon as Mercury started its odd spin’.

So much so, that one in four people have been dumped because of Mercury retrograde and about half of those surveyed reported unusually unnecessary behaviours and an inability to talk about problems. This has apparently resulted in users going ‘boysober’ to avoid any ensuing negative effects of the Mercury retrograde period. More specifically, one in three respondents reported avoiding going on first dates during the astrological event and 37% have cancelled a date after realising their plans clash with the planets.

Planetary-sensitive dating may sound niche, but turning to ancient practices for guidance can be seen not only as a reaction to a tech-driven world and a fading following in mainstream religions, but also as an embracing of new technology used to create more personalised experiences, as we uncover in our AI Believers report.

Strategic opportunity

Consider how your brand can capitalise on Gen Z’s openness to spiritual guidance away from mainstream religion, with experiences and products that embrace novelty