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You probably have a chair like this. The one where you throw those clothes that aren’t quite laundry. They still have a few wears left. The more clothes you have like that, the more energy and water you are actually saving … so it’s probably a good thing to have them so you can avoid … Read more
Have you ever seen a product promoted as being made with “vegan leather?” Assuming you have, do you actually know what that means? It turns out this is just one example of the growing problem faced by fashion brands using any form of leather in their products. There are new leathers made from plant materials like … Read more
When I was a kid and we would travel to India, all the taxis looked the same. The model that dominated back then, and for decades before and after was the Ambassador—alternately described as “virtually indestructible” and voted “the world’s best taxi.” Despite the fact that the factory making them operated from the 50s until closing in 2014, … Read more
Lobster is considered a luxury food today, with high prices to prove it, but it wasn’t always this way. Lobster was once cheap and plentiful, and seen as a poor man’s food. Its evolution to our tables and its prestige are largely thanks to the combined efforts of chefs and marketers. Today there is a large … Read more
Sustainability-first brands like Patagonia have taken their commitment to reuse to the furthest extreme by creating an entire ecommerce experience dedicated to allowing their customers to sell used products to one another. When the Worn Wear platform came out in 2020, the brand was criticized for their crazy idea of inviting their customers to keep … Read more
Last year when Henry and I were writing The Future Normal, we wrote about a trend we named Unnaturally Better and profiled Solar Foods, a company that had created a protein called Solein synthesized from carbon dioxide. Literally food from air. This week, I came across another story of a similar company called Savor that can create fats from air … Read more
The idea of vegan beauty products is undeniably appealing for many people. Products that are sourced without animal byproducts are supposedly more natural, better for the environment and healthier for you. It’s one of the reasons why more than 86% of consumers say that they want more vegan beauty products. Yet in beauty, just like in … Read more
This summer, in their ample parking lots across several European cities, IKEA will be hosting weekend flea markets for people to come and sell their used household goods and other items they don’t need anymore. Donations from the day will be used to support vulnerable single-parent families. The effort is designed to underscore the brand’s … Read more
A tiny branch of the US Department of Energy focused on high-risk projects just awarded $5 million dollars to three startup ventures that are each independently “investigating whether seaweed can serve as a practical source of critical materials, such as platinum and rhodium, as well as rare earth elements, including neodymium, lanthanum, yttrium, and dysprosium.” … Read more
The skies were orange above Athens and that was just one of several climate and energy related stories this week that offered a glimpse into stories we will see more frequently in the coming years. The first example is a concerning story of a tiny Arizona town where a private company purchased land and water rights only … Read more
Non-Obvious Thinking is my latest book about the 4 secrets of becoming a non-obvious thinker - relesaed 10/01/2024.
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator, founder of the Non-Obvious Company and the 3-time Wall Street Journal bestselling author of ten books.
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In addition to Non-Obvious Thinking, Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.
