on men’s bags + the continued growth of onlyfans

bro, can i put my lipstick in your purse?

Welcome back to another newsletter from the common thred! ➿

This week we’re exploring men’s growing taste for designer purses, the millions (and billions) still being made on OnlyFans, the joys and blunders of maintaining modern friendships, and a monumental breakthrough in medicine.

As always, there’s a bit more ground to cover, so let’s get into it 🙂

👜 Fashion trends

The biggest trend in luxury resale is… men’s purses! According to TheRealReal’s latest annual report, searches for men’s handbags grew 900 percent in the past year, with Gen-X and Millennial men spending more on these items than any other age group. The brands men searched for most were Gucci, Fendi and Chanel. In 2024, it turns out the sluttiest thing a man can do is wear a sexy little designer purse.

As Gen Z matures, virtual stores get an AI boost – vogue business.

Young people’s love for gaming is beginning to infiltrate online shopping experiences, with 3D, immersive storefronts living alongside traditional e-commerce grids more than ever before. Artificial intelligence is accelerating this process, making it easier brands to build virtual shopping experiences, with some even personalised to each individual shopper. This tech will likely only get better, so it’s safe to say marketing tactics are about to get even more irresistible.

❤️‍🩹 Life & relationships

Have you noticed more and more internet users are adopting apathy to cope with their dissatisfaction with anything (or everything) around them? This wonderful, insightful essay by Catherine Shannon presents us with potential causes of this way of thinking, while giving us reasons to continue looking for meaning, for continuing to care, and to continue believing that we deserve to find happiness by striving for the things that matter to us – no matter how big or small.

Exploring the friendship paradox – the atlantic.

Are young people actually lonely? The average American reports having four or five friends, with less than 4 percent of people saying they have none. The problem might actually be that we never get to see our friends. Americans now spend less than three hours a week with their pals, compared with more than six hours a decade ago. Most of our friends don’t know each other, meaning seeing them requires two (or more) different meet-ups. This is an issue when most people feel like their free time is more scarce than ever. Research shows those with more resources are better positioned to maintain friendships, while greater access to third places – often afforded by wealthier people – increases the likelihood of having more friends. Long live free third places!!!

🤑 Tech & finance

Will biometrics be the key to travelling and making purchases in the future? This technology is increasingly being used in payment apps and airports, with its proponents saying it ‘eliminates friction, saves time and reduces queues’. That said, public-facing services need to collect, extract, and store your biodata in the cloud for these mechanisms to work. This opens up a plethora of potential security risks and a novel superset of concerns for consumers.

OnlyFans has a lot of fans – morning brew.

The pandemic-sparked popularity of OnlyFans isn’t slowing down. Over the last year, the number of creators on the platform jumped by 29 percent, reaching a whopping 4.1 million. As many as 305 million people now visit the platform regularly, spending a total of $6.6 billion in 2023 – a $1 billion jump from last year. All this activity has made OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky insanely rich. The last fiscal year saw him earn $472 million in dividends – he takes a 20 percent cut of every transaction made on the platform – and has earned more than $1 billion over the previous three years. How does everyone feel about this?

🧬 In other news…

Great news for anyone struggling with chronic urinary tract infections. Scientists are beginning to eliminate antibiotic-resistant bacteria in patients with the help of CRISPR, a renowned gene-editing technology. This might sound like the work of science fiction, but it’s totally possible to inject the DNA of viruses into human DNA in order to grant someone resistance or total immunity to specific illnesses. This revolutionary approach could change the lives of millions of people struggling with stubborn, reoccurring UTIs that don’t clear with antibiotics.

‘Our Cow Angus’ is a project that tests society’s moral compass – thred.

The art collective MSCHF is known for challenging society’s way of thinking through its unique and provocative work, including the infamous Big Red Boots and ATM Leaderboard displayed at Art Basel in Miami. For its latest project, the organisation rescued a cow from a slaughterhouse and pre-sold it as burger packets and leather bags. They then named the cow Angus and asked customers if they wanted to cancel their orders to spare Angus from being killed for profit. With over 500 days to go before the cow’s day of slaughter, some people have already cancelled their orders. Still, current projections don’t exactly paint a rosy picture for Angus. Will buyers’ remorse kick in for the remaining customers?

🫧 Recommendation

Thanks for reading and make sure to subscribe for the latest news on Gen Z and youth culture. Also, don’t forget to check out The Gen Zer for a weekly roundup of more trending insights, stories, and discussions.