🩳 The comfy clothes boom

TikTok’s fate will perhaps, quite fittingly, be decided by a choreographed dance.

In prepared testimony before Congress today, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew aims to assure US lawmakers the app is safe from Chinese government influence.

Chew — and the 150m+ Americans who use the social video app — will soon learn if those assurances are enough to stop the US government’s continued pursuit of a ban.

Everyone is in a pickle here

Per The Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration has so far stayed firm on its request: Chinese parent ByteDance must sell their TikTok shares or risk banishment.

Negotiations have spanned two administrations. There’s bipartisan unity around fears that ByteDance would cede user data to Chinese authorities.

• Chew refutes this, assuring feds his team operates independently — and within global privacy laws. His testimony cites “Project Texas,” the app’s US data firewall initiative, eight times.

Both sides are digging in: TikTok has expanded public outreach this week. More members of Congress say they back legislation that would allow Biden to ban the app.

• This isn’t just a US thing — Dutch officials just joined British and EU leadership in pulling the app from government employees’ work phones.

TikTok’s content is fleeting — its repercussions are not

A ban may damage politicians’ standing with TikTok’s younger fanbase, a group that already turns out to vote in small numbers.

• Only 27% of Americans under 30 voted in the last midterms (actually a relatively high mark).
• Further complicating things, per WSJ, political parties have invested in reaching younger voters using — you guessed it — TikTok.
• Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo on a potential ban: “The politician in me thinks you’re going to literally lose every voter under 35, forever.”

The financial ramifications are significant as well. TikTok is central to the $100B creator economy, per Forbes.

Insider Intelligence data projects TikTok’s ad revenue will pass $11B by next year. (That would top Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitter.)

The Smiley Company office in London, England, is a wonder to behold.

Smiley paintings line the walls. Smiley plush pillows adorn the couches. There are smiley backpacks, smiley T-shirts, smiley exercise balls, smiley toys, smiley chocolates, and even smiley chicken nuggets.

Nearly 50 years ago, one man “invented” the modern smiley face. Then, another man halfway across the world made it into a multimillion-dollar cash cow.

But how did it get there?

The way we live — and what we wear — has changed in the last three years. One moment we were getting dressed for the office every day, and the next we were calling jeans “hard pants.”

The fashion industry is evolving to meet our demands (AKA being able to sit crisscross applesauce all day while working from home).

Brands prioritizing practicality and comfort are seeing increased sales:

• Hoka’s sales topped $1.3B in Q3 2023
• Lululemon’s revenue increased 28% to $1.9B in Q3 2022
• LL Bean had the second-highest earning year in its 110-year history, with 2022 revenue hitting $1.8B
• Crocs rung in a record year in 2022 with $3.6B in revenue, a 54% YoY increase
• Kontoor Brands, the holding company of Wrangler and Lee, saw revenue rise 9% in 2022

And growth is showing no signs of slowing down, with the broader athleisure market expected to hit a whopping $662.5B by 2030.

Easy-to-wear clothes…

… aren’t just for the work-from-home crowd. The high-fashion world is gripping its dad sneakers just as tightly (even though they’re a little ugly).

From models to normal folks, people are unwilling to feel uncomfortable in their clothes, with an estimated 81% of people prioritizing comfort over cost or style.

Could onesies be the next hot fashion trend? Only time will tell. *Crosses fingers.*