Trend Taster: dopamine dressing edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Millennial moms are obsessed with their grandmothers' game
Discreet period care kits for hotel rooms
Overlooked platforms harbour super-engaged audiences
Explainer: dopamine dressing
Solar Sidewalks Are Turning Every Footstep Into Electricity
Millennial moms are obsessed with their grandmothers' game
Mah-jongg is having a moment among women in their 30s and 40s, with "Momjong" groups forming nationwide. What started as retirement community entertainment is now trending thanks to "Crazy Rich Asians," celebrity endorsements from Meghan Markle's "Maj Squad," and luxury sets from Hermès costing thousands. When screen-weary millennials crave analogue connection, they're reaching for century-old Chinese tiles. Sometimes the newest trend is actually the oldest one.
Discreet period care kits for hotel rooms
Hotels stock shoe horns for the few but ignore period products for half their guests. Irish B Corp Riley just launched discreet period care kits for hotel rooms; organic cotton essentials packaged as standard amenities. It's such an obvious gap you wonder why it took this long. While hotels perfect thread counts and pillow menus, they've missed fundamental human needs hiding in plain sight. This shift towards truly inclusive hospitality reveals how many "standard" services were designed through a remarkably narrow lens.
Overlooked platforms harbour super-engaged audiences
Sports command the strongest die-hard fandom at 17% of US adults, yet the real story lies in where super-fans congregate. Gen Z leads fandom engagement across all activities, but Twitch and Discord users consistently outperform mainstream platforms like Instagram in fan behaviours. While 10% of Instagram users call themselves die-hard actor fans, that jumps to 17% on Twitch. These gaming-centric platforms create communities so engaged they attend fan events at nearly double the rate of other social media users.
Explainer: dopamine dressing
"Dopamine dressing" treats colour as medication, with vibrant hues scientifically proven to trigger dopamine release and enhance cognitive performance through "enclothed cognition." Christopher John Rogers, Valentino, and Versace lead runways saturated in electric blues and juicy corals, while social media creators turn every outfit into rainbow therapy. The trend echoes 1920s post-war optimism, when bold fashion became joyful rebellion against darkness. It rejects fashion's traditional neutral safety, positioning emotional dressing as intentional wellness practice
Solar Sidewalks Are Turning Every Footstep Into Electricity
Cities worldwide are embedding solar panels directly into walkways, transforming mundane infrastructure into power generators. Thompson Rivers University pioneered Canada's first in-ground solar in 2016, while Barcelona and Amsterdam now use solar sidewalks to meet climate goals. The latest innovation combines solar capture with kinetic energy from footsteps; Pavegen's tiles generate 30 times more power when combining both sources. The technology addresses urban solar's biggest challenge: space constraints where rooftops are shaded and ground space is scarce.
