The Daily Valet. - 8/7/20, Friday

✔️ The Revolution Will Be Comfortable

August 07, 2020

Friday, August 7th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Are the weekends coming quickly for you too? Not that I’m complaining.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s Big Story

The Revolution Will Be Comfortable

Even before the pandemic, the fashion industry had started to unravel

As so many of us work from home, our need (and desire) to really get dressed up has all but evaporated. Living and working in our sweatpants has become a running joke but it’s based in truth. According to WWD, sweatpant sales have surged in self-isolation.

Couple that with the fact that so many people are currently uncertain about their finances and suddenly the notion of spending wildly on clothing feels ... ill-advised.

A wonderful piece in this weekend’s New York Times magazine examines this phenomenon brilliantly. Writer Irina Aleksander speaks with Scott Sternberg, the founder of burgeoning brand Entireworld, about making clothes people want to wear right now and how clothing brands can survive in this economy.

Scott is a really cool guy, a savvy marketer and sharp-eyed designer with great taste. If you haven’t checked out his line of basics yet, let me assure you that the sweats and tees are some of the best on the market. Plus, they’re all reasonably priced. Something that’s no doubt helped the brand weather this storm.

The story goes on, in detail, about how the global fashion business spun out of control and found itself struggling to keep up and stay relevant even before a global pandemic shut down everything from stores and design studios to the factories making the clothes. But now things are fundamentally going to have to change. And a lot of brands won’t survive.

I think it’s a similar story to what’s going on in scores of businesses right now. We’re all being forced to look at our lives and work, then figure out what’s really essential and what was the stuff we were doing simply because it was expected.

↦ Dig Deeper: Listen to Sternberg discuss quarantine life and the importance of making good product on the Blamo! podcast.

Trump Declared TikTok a “National Emergency”

And issues executive order that will ban it

President Donald Trump signed an executive order late on Thursday meant to block all business with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, starting next month.

According to the New York Times, the order essentially sets a 45-day deadline for an acquisition of TikTok, which is in talks to be acquired by Microsoft.

A ban on the social media app would be unprecedented. On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that a ban on TikTok would set “a really bad long-term precedent,” reports BuzzFeed News.

The president signed an additional executive order Thursday night as well, partially banning WeChat, a Chinese owned social media platform that facilitates messaging, social media and payment transactions.

↦ FYI: TikTok is the first Chinese app to have caught on in any significant way outside its home country.

Is the NRA in Trouble?

New York Attorney General Letitia James sues to dissolve the organization

The attorney general of New York took action Thursday to dissolve the National Rifle Association following an 18-month investigation that found evidence the powerful gun rights group is “fraught with fraud and abuse,” reports NPR.

According to the lawsuit, CEO Wayne LaPierre used the NRA as a “personal piggy bank,” diverting tens of millions of dollars for personal trips and expenditures, lucrative no-show contracts to buy people's silence and other improper spending, according to the lawsuit.

The NRA's financial troubles, Attorney General Letitia James said, were long cloaked by loyal lieutenants but became public as deficits piled up. The organization went from a nearly $28 million surplus in 2015 to a $36 million deficit in 2018, reports the Associated Press.

Samsung’s New AirPods Competitor

An unconventional design turns out to be a winner

This week, Samsung's bean-shaped true wireless earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Live, were unveiled and the reviews are now in. The consensus? Tech writers really like them.

The buds were tested by Forbes, CNN and The Verge and they all raved about the unique design and capabilities. While most rivals to Apple's ground-breaking headphones have a stem that protrudes from the ear, usually to provide a place for a microphone to point towards your mouth, there's nothing like that here.

They pair easily with your phone (even an iPhone) and the battery life is long and nearly class-leading for a noise-canceling true wireless earbud.

According to Wired, there's also improved microphone quality for phone and video calls. There are three mics in the buds, and they use beam-forming tech to tune out background noise and focus on just your voice for improved clarity.

↦ Want a Pair? They're available now for $169.99.

In Other News

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

What you bought in July

Hostile architecture in times of crisis

This dog drone

What Will Our Bars Become?

Questioning the future role of the bar as gathering space, purveyor of drink and sanctuary

I've lost count of how often I've uttered the phrase, “I need a drink,” during these past few months. Stress is high and morale is low, so a strong cocktail can work wonders.

But sadly, bars are off limits for the time being. It's clear that indoor drinking, elbow-to-elbow with unmasked strangers, is a bad idea.

Now, we quickly stop by our local watering holes for their sidewalk slushy programs, flights of rare spirits, at-home cocktail kits and to-go Negronis—often purveyed from a makeshift Plexiglass window.

In a new series of conversations published on Punch, three industry leaders—in three different cities with very different sets of state mandates—discuss the future of bars. They talk about the ways that bars continue to physically shape-shift alongside their meanings as purveyors of drink and sanctuaries from reality.

↦ Buy: Bartenders reveal some of the best ready-to-drink cocktails on the market today.

What We’re Buying

Hiro Clark, the Los Angeles-based brand which we've long said makes some of our favorite T-shirts, has just launched their Archive Sale. This brings back some of the brand's most popular graphic tees and sweatshirts from the past. There are cool photo prints and vintage-inspired hoodies, but this one is our favorite. It's simple and slightly ominous—perfect for this time. Plus, like all Hiro Clark tees, it's made in Canada from soft yet sturdy cotton with a fit that somehow makes your biceps always look their best.

↦ Get It $88 / $52 at Hiro Clark