WEEKLY TRENDS REPORT
Pictured: Edited image using Gemini
THIS WEEK’S FORECAST
FOR YOUR INFO
TikTok trends
Prediction market apps are trying to woo women with targeted ‘girl’ social content.
The thrill of watching someone get their medical results. Blind box opening videos but for life changing results.
ICYMI
The madness is over. Michigan and UCLA are the winners of NCAA male and women titles, respectively.
Going South. Wireless festival gets cancelled after its controversial headliner gets blocked.
Phrase of the week
“Brand Names Are in Crisis”. New companies are struggling to find a name that isn’t already claimed. Channel your inner edgy 11-year-old to think of one.
Digi updates
K-Pop is AI obsessed.
The SEO industry is in a gold race to influence AI responses.
This week’s dates & microtrends
Tea of the week
The oldest tortoise crypto death scam. (Jonathan, aged 194, is still alive and well!)
What we’re loving
Finally seeing the dark side of the moon and the inspiring journey of the Artemis II mission.
The best and worst of this year’s April fools. We unfortunately missed out on the ‘Sanic’ t-shirts
Established trends
Celebrities’ faces are being examined for enhancements for social media’s amusement.
Nursing jobs are the new golden ticket to stability and prosperity. Nurse Joy was the OG.
Insights of the week
The exhausting and anxiety inducing reality of being a foreign student in the UK.
The high physical and monetary cost of looksmaxxing.
On our radar
Euphoria S3 – 12 April
Beef S2 – 16 April
Honey Dijon: Nightlife – 17 April
ZAYN: Konakol – 17 April
Weekly doses of cute
Artemis II sitcom bye bye bye, the woodcock bird, Madden’s heartwarming message, the Thai Queen of dancing and the volleyball wedding.
Rising trend
Te amo? No! Saranghae! Latin America has fallen hard for the Hallyu Wave of South Korea.
The future
How do you file tax on prediction market profits?
What’s life after phone? The smartphone breaking point for young people
Stat of the week
Anti-social club. 49% of UK adult social media users now post, share or comment compared with 61% in 2024.
Ones to watch
JoJo fans can rest easy, Bong Joon Ho’s debut animated feature and an Animorphs TV show. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy – 17 April
TREND TRACKING
How some of the trends we’ve identified have evolved in recent months
How (a)quaint DIY laptops Finding peace online
Image: @noparticularorder.co
It’s the age of yearning and the rejection of dating apps. Creative singles are handing out Victorian-style acquaintance cards to whom ever catches their eye. These small pieces of card are a conversation starter without having to say anything. Dating is in its design era with the popularity of pitch dating in which singles value creativity and aesthetics. These methods are a window into a person’s personality. Something a dating profile can’t show properly.
Trend: An air of chalance
Image: @ubeboobey
Ever heard of a cyberdeck? No? Well, it’s a DIY portable laptop running on a raspberry PI. And, they’re being built in anything that is a case, from purses to a ring box to a random box from a thrift store. These cyberdecks are more than aesthetically pleasing, they’re one of a kind and suit the needs of their creator. Users are challenging their relationship with tech by building their own. These offline pieces of tech allow users to stay in the digital world but separate themselves from all the distractions a smartphone brings. Ours would be just for looking at pictures of our cat while our cat laid on us.
Trend: Accessorise your accessory
Ever since Club Penguin shut down back in 2017, we’ve been aimlessly wandering the Earth. But thanks to some dedicated fans, Club Penguin is back. As part of the Stop Killing Games movement, previously shut down online worlds are being revived from dedicated fans. Poptropica is currently seeing a revival and Toon Town has been running since its official closure. These games for many Gen Z/ Alphas were a major part of their childhood and their relationship with the internet. It offers a glimpse into simpler, pre-slop times and offers comfort to an anxious generation. It’s our way of touching grass.
Trend: Lost Media
Image: @zaraxx13_
Weber Forecast Insight
Brands should design for visibility, not just utility - thinking beyond the product and into what it can represent. Lean into the retro, tactical and fun!
This week’s long read
PERFORMATIVE LISTENING
Introducing performative reading’s slightly hipper sibling
A swathe of brands are tapping into the audiophile community by turning the act of listening into an aspirational aesthetic and taste signifier. What you listen to has become as carefully curated as what you’re seen reading on the tube.
It started with cool girls snapped wearing wired headphones (most recently Alyssa Lui for Vogue!) and gen Z reinventing iPod Shuffles as hair clips, and has boomed into customisable accessories like Diesel’s wired earbuds that come with lockets and charms that serve as an outward indication of your music taste. Even better if they’re plugged into a device solely for listening, like the Walkman-inspired FiiO. At a time when it’s cringe to be online, the retro, tactical option is a deliberate alternative.
Fashion houses are also borrowing from the aesthetic, with cultural strategist Alexi Gunner pointing to
brands like Sandro, Miu Miu and Nik Bentel taking cues from audio hardware so wearers can signal the genre, no listening required.
It all ladders back to taste. Much like your choice of reading material, what you listen to is an integral part of a carefully constructed personality that’s broadcast outward. Dating profiles list music taste as a dealbreaker, streaming platforms package listening data as annual personality portraits and Instagram stories are meticulously poured over for the perfect song to match the moment. The listening bar is the place to be seen, with McQueen Reverb and Valentino among many inspired by the Japanese tradition, turning the act of listening into a shared experience.
As digital fatigue deepens, we expect to see more single-minded tech, visible listening accessories and fashion-hardware hybrids.
BRANDWATCH
Inspiring creative from around the world
GAP Magnum Ice Cream
GAP is heading to the desert. For the first time ever, the brand is bringing its iconic Hoodie House to Coachella 2026 as the festival’s exclusive apparel sponsor. The on-site experience blends custom merch and music culture with limited-edition Gap x Coachella hoodies Designed for day-to-night festival life and social-first storytelling, this is a Coachella brand activation we love.
Magnum is making nail art the new festival flex. Just in time for festival season, the brand is turning its iconic chocolate-dipped bar into a wearable statement with a limited-edition 3D detail press -on nail collection created alongside celebrity nail artist Naomi Yasuda. The unexpected cultural crossover with The Dessert in the Desert set brings Magnum’s signature indulgence to fingertips, transforming the ice cream bar from treat to trend. Yummy!
Thom Browne
Thom Browne and ASICS have brought running to life with The Working Hour. The limited-edition magazine, shot by Robbie Lawrence and written by Durga Chew-Bose, explores Japanese life in motion By putting craft and creative to the forefront, the collab is a stunning, intimate cultural exploration. Available for a limited time in print, it’s less a launch and more a collectible moment – something we love to see!
Rhode
Beauty fans – it happened! Hailey Bieber finally partnered with her husband (yes, the JB) to introduce Rhode x The Biebers and the brand’s debut in spotwear reshaping skin concern as self-expression. So ideal for Gen Z and festival aesthetics! From sweat-proof pimple patches in playful custom shapes to banana-inspired updates of Rhode’s cult favourites, the drop blends skin care, pop culture and personal storytelling timed perfectly with Justin’s Coachella headline moment.
FREAK’S STORE x Taco Bell
Fast food just got streetwear’d! Marking Taco Bell’s first-ever apparel collaboration in Japan, FREAK’S STORE’s playful tee blends Lucha Libre and sumo wrestling with American pop culture for a bold, tongue-in-cheek take on global style. The culture-first design release moves beyond logo merch to deliver a wearable cultural mashup made for everyday streetwear. Proof that good taste comes in many forms!
Image: @gap
Image: Magnum Ice Cream
Image: @thombrowne
Image: @rhode Image: Daytona Park
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