← Clotheshorse with Amanda Lee McCarty
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- [00:01]
Amanda Lee McCarty
It was a freezing afternoon in New York City, and, well, I was a freshman in college. And as I always was at that period in my life, I was woefully underdressed for the weather. Seriously, I don't know what was going on with me, but it took me years to figure out that maybe I shouldn't go out with bare legs in the middle of winter in New York City. Maybe I should wear layers of clothing. Maybe I should track down an actually warm coat. Now, this day, this particular afternoon, I was wearing tights. And I was wearing a really cute vintage winter coat, but we call it my teddy bear coat. That's what it looked like, but it was high on style, low on warmth. So I had reached a point after a few hours of walking around where I could feel my legs getting wind burned through my tights. And beyond that, I should have been studying, but instead I was gallivanting around the East Village and soho with a woman who would, in just a few months, completely break my heart. But on that day, I was willing to get hypothermia just to spend some time with her. And she said, let's go to Dean and DeLuca and buy something absurdly overpriced. I literally had no idea what she was talking about. And while I assumed we were going to a department store, instead we walked into the fanciest grocery store I had ever visited. I mean, Dean and DeLuca was. Yes, that's the correct tense here. Dean and Duluca was a gourmet grocery store, which was just not a thing that existed where I grew up. It was a far cry from the super thrift in Manchester, Pennsylvania that we had shopped at for most of my childhood. It was way fancier than the Wise Market in York, where everyone knew my grandma by her first name and teenage boys helped load groceries into her car. And, you know, I don't know if this happened at the grocery stores where you grew up, but it was a pretty common after school job specifically for teenage boys to just load people's groceries into the car all day long, take out their cart, you know, after they bagged everything. It was a pretty standard after school job that I think has been gone for a really long time.
- [02:53]
Dustin Travis White
Anyway, here I was at Dean and.
- [02:55]
Amanda Lee McCarty
DeLuca, where as far as I could tell, there were no teenage boys who were going to offer to take your groceries out to your car. And they were certainly not handing out green stamps that you could later exchange for a sewing machine or a dollhouse. And I'm not even sure that There were grocery carts, just really nice baskets, and I was just in awe. Like I said, the concept of a gourmet grocery store was. Well, today it seems boring almost because most grocery stores have gotten a little gourmet. But back then, this was a wild idea. And not only was I surprised by what I saw on there because there were a lot of foods I'd literally never even heard of. But of course, I was also blown away by how much everything cost. While my companion compared various jars of olives and jams, I wandered over to the produce where I spotted a little wooden pint sized basket of strawberries. And I was like, wow, strawberries in February? How was that possible? Where did they come from? They must have flown in on a special airplane just for fancy strawberries. And I probably wasn't that far off because these strawberries had definitely come from very far away because they were $10 and there were maybe like six strawberries in that basket. That was the equivalent that $10 of two hours of folding and size taping jeans at Urban Outfitters. A task that in the beginning had felt like some sort of onerous punishment, but felt kind of calming, soothing to just zone out and fold some jeans. Imagine working two hours for a handful of strawberries. My companion saw me eyeing them up and she exclaimed, get them. It would be so bougie of you. And it was tempting, of course. I mean, these were the most beautiful, perfect, just the ideal of what we think strawberries are. But it was also easy for her to say, yeah, spend $10 on strawberries when her family lived somewhere swanky in Connecticut, literally next door to Martha Stewart. And meanwhile, I was living off of student loans and my almost full time job making $6 an hour. I shook my head. $10 would get me two soy burger platter meals at Dojo, which was my favorite restaurant. And by the way, I have spent the past few months trying to duplicate that recipe. I'm getting really, really close. $10 on strawberries would be $10 less toward my goal of buying a computer of my own so I didn't have to sit in the computer lab in the basement of the library all night. Imagine typing a paper from my bed. Of course, the computer was years away. Years away. But even still, $10 was a month of birth control pills from Planned Parenthood. It was tampons and toothpaste and pencils and paper and phone calls and so many other things. It felt wild to spend that on a tiny basket of strawberries that would be gone as fast as they'd appeared. But the novelty of those berries lives with me decades later. Even as I could right now, if I was back home, walk into just about any grocery store in the United States and buy a whole plastic clamshell of strawberries for about $5, would they be the best berries ever? Would they be the perfect idea of what we think strawberries are? No, but they would be there. And I was thinking about those strawberries a lot as I prepped for this year's trip to Japan. Hi. That's where I am right now. I was digging through my memories of shopping in Japan to outline the techniques brands use here to connect emotionally with their customers. After all, 95% of the reason we buy something and where we buy it and how we buy it, it's all wrapped up in emotions. And yeah, that's not a statistic or anything. It's just an observation from me, someone who spent a couple of decades figuring out what people want to buy before they know it themselves. Now you're probably wondering what $10 strawberries have to do with Japan and emotional branding. And I promise I'm getting to that. So, you know, we moved around a lot when I was a kid. I've talked about that here before. The place we lived the longest, York Haven, Pennsylvania, had a population of a few hundred people. Other times we lived on dirt roads in places that seemed to have no names. We also lived in a trail that was otherwise surrounded by trees and beyond that, farmland. The closest mall was always at least a 30 to 45 minute drive to the other side of the county. All back roads. You know, the grocery store we shopped at most often in my childhood was the aforementioned super Thrift in Manchester. Even when we lived in a different town and I went to a different schools district often, that was still somehow the closest grocery store. And in late elementary school, a McDonald's actually opened next door. And it was like the most exciting thing that had happened in a long time. So all of this is to say it was extra rural where I grew up. Like, we were surrounded by farms and summer brought a lot of produce. Corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, which I hated until I was an adult, by the way. Tomatoes. Also hated those until I was an adult. And copious amounts of berries, sometimes peaches. No matter where we lived, there was always somewhere nearby where we could literally go pick wild raspberries. My mom would send me and my brother out with our Halloween plastic Jack O lanterns, which, you know, had been previously used for collecting candy and would basically be like, don't come back until those pumpkins are full of raspberries, which, yes, that is like so many raspberries, so many hours of picking raspberries. We also had a relative that owned a farm that grew strawberries. And in exchange for an afternoon of once again my brother and I picking strawberries, we could take home as many as we wanted. So by the end of the summer, I kind of got sick of berries, which was good because we wouldn't see.
- [10:22]
Dustin Travis White
Them again until the next summer.
- [10:26]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Yet because strawberries were unavailable for most of the year, the first berries of the next summer, they tasted extra good and extra special. And it was a big moment. Even now, a good strawberry, like a really good one, it fills my brain with a wave of summer sun and then that refreshing feeling of the air right after a long overdue thunderstorm. It's a feeling so good that you might be motivated to spend $10 to feel it in the middle of a frigid February. Because let's all be honest here, February is the worst month of winter. In the fall, we ate apples and pears plentiful at the market and at roadside stands. And in the winter, my grandma bought us stores grocery crates of oranges so we could get enough vitamin C. I know that sometimes we had bananas, but it wasn't a regular part of our diet and that was just how fruit was for us, super seasonal. Well, unless it came in a can, man, I'm just going to tell you that just about every hotel breakfast I have had here in Japan, I haven't eaten it, but it's been up for offering canned fruit cocktail, like a huge vat of canned fruit cocktail, which is just.
- [11:59]
Dustin Travis White
Well, listen, the only good way to.
- [12:01]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Eat canned fruit cocktail is with coolip, which they're not offering. So I haven't been having any, but I just hadn't seen canned fruit cocktail for a long time. But let me tell you my friends, staple of my diet when I was a child, But otherwise, like I'll tell you, there were many fruits and vegetables that I never had until I was an adult. A jalapeno, a lot of different peppers. Actually, I was literally in my 20s before I had an avocado. I asked Dustin if his experience was similar growing up because he also is from a very rural area but in West Virginia, and he couldn't remember. But I think based on what I've heard, that he mostly lived on canned beans as a kid by choice. By the way, loves a bean. But he did concede that it did seem like somewhere along the Way produce kind of lost its seasonality for those of us in the United States. And the produce section is a lot bigger than it once was. Think about a trip to the supermarket now, as I record this In November of 2025, you could buy bananas, oranges, apples, pears, melons, berries of all types, several kinds of peppers, avocados, fresh herbs, peas, green beans, carrots, parsnips, bok choy, lettuce, spring mix, and so on and so on. In most supermarkets in the United States, the produce section is where you enter the store and it's huge, full of just about every fruit and vegetable you might ever need. Basically everything is now non seasonal, which, you know, makes it a lot less special. And guess what? It's not my imagination. This is a real thing that really happened. In the 1970s, produce sections in grocery stores were at an all time low because most people no longer really knew how to cook fresh produce or had any interest in cooking fresh produce. And frozen or canned vegetables were cheaper.
- [14:22]
Dustin Travis White
And easier to prepare.
- [14:24]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Of course, it also set a lot of us up for a childhood where we thought we hated vegetables. It turned out we just didn't like overcooked, mushy, canned and frozen vegetables. Seriously, I had a, a real carrot, like a cooked carrot, when I was like, I don't know, 20? And I was like, wait, carrots are good. Because I'd grown up on canned and frozen carrots, which are abysmal. And I was just like, wait, if carrots are this good, what about all the other vegetables? And wow, true story. I mean, I eat mostly vegetables now and I'm a huge fan. I read this really intense detailing of how the produce department has changed in the last 50 years from the Packer, which is a produce grocery industry publication. And in the 1970s, the produce section of most grocery stores was about 3% of the total space, which is so tiny. But the industry as a whole kind of looked at produce as a stock specialty category, not a necessity. And furthermore, because produce was so super seasonal, it wasn't really a part, like a footprint of the store that could be counted on to drive consistent sales. And actually, a lot of grocery stores were considering cutting the size of the produce department even more to make room for more lucrative and consistent product categories like meat and other sort of convenience processed foods. But in the 1980s, nutrition became very trendy, along with aerobics, jogging, yogurt wearing, weird thong bodysuits over leggings for working out. Whose idea was that? What a terrible idea. But people were starting to get more into eating fresh produce. Yes, fruits and vegetables were suddenly trendy and grocery stores were tapping into this by slowly expanding their produce departments. And at the same time, trade agreements made it easier to stock the same produce items consistent consistently year round, which was a very new concept. As these trade agreements expanded, it meant that also the produce offering could expand. And so by the 90s, it also meant that new, more exotic items could join the mix, like pineapple, starfruit, lychee and snow peas. According to the packer quote, In 1980, supermarkets carried an average of 100 different produce items. And just four, four years later, the average was 216 more than double. And by 1993 it was closer to 250. Imports had turned most every commodity into a year round offering by the early 1980s and made specialties standard fare in hand. With this, per capita consumption of fresh vegetables rose 23% from 1975 to 1993, while fresh fruit intake was up 8% through the 1980s. And I believe it because I felt like mostly when I was a kid, when we would go through the produce department, it was to buy lettuce. For salads, it was iceberg, of course, potatoes and onions. We weren't over there dilly dallying with like, you know, getting some parsnips or something. Of course, the way I shop now is the produce department is where I spend most of my time at the grocery store. And so, you know, in the 70s, like I said, the produce department usually took up about 3% of a grocery store's total square footage. And by the 1990s it was more like 9%, which was, you know, a three times increase. And now it's more like 15%. And you know, because now, I guess I read grocery store industry blogs. Someone was quoted as saying in one of the things I'd read like, you know, you used to be able to say about your grocery store, the way of the meat department goes is how the whole business goes. Meaning like the meat department is the most important part of the grocery store. And now forget it. It's like if you're, if your produce is performing, your whole grocery store is performing. So produce has become the most important department. According to the U.S. food and Drug Administration, 55% of fresh fruits and 32% of fresh fresh vegetables are sourced from outside the United states. Thanks to 1990s trade deals like NAFTA and the WTO agreements, US food imports surged. Fresh vegetable imports nearly doubled. And today about 90% of avocados and over half of non strawberry berries come from Mexico. And oh yeah, all those things are a lot more expensive right now thanks to Trump's stupid tariffs. And it's interesting because one emerging trend I have noticed as a chronically online person is more and more people talking about how to cook well with canned and frozen vegetables. Really more frozen, because canned is tough. But more and more people are looking at frozen produce as a more appealing option because it might be slightly cheaper than fresh. But most importantly, it's going to last a lot longer. And in a time when everything grocery wise is so expensive in the United States, you don't want to waste money on things that will spoil fast. So frozen produce is becoming trendy again, a depressing trend, but still it's trendy. This is all to say that food just isn't as seasonal as it once was in the United States. And as a result, it's lost a lot of its specialness. For many of us. Strawberries are no longer just a summer thing when you can go pick them up in November and they don't feel as special anymore. And I mean, real talk, the quality of most strawberries in the grocery store are just not as good as strawberries once were. And so they're not even that exciting anymore. But because so little of our food is seasonal now, it's really easy to get caught up in the excitement of, like the pumpkin spice latte or the McRib. We don't get these things year round. Okay, I'm not sure if they even make the McRib anymore, so don't me here. But for years it was a limited time only thing. Basically, like, we're gonna drop the McRib into stores and sell them until they run out. And while I have personally Never had a McRib, but did love the Morningstar Farm version, people showed up for McRib. Okay? It is how people show up for the pumpkin spice latte the moment it launches for the year. And that makes us excited about them. A McRib or a pumpkin spice latte layer latte are 10 times more exciting because we can't have them all the time. You know, the pumpkin spice latte has even more going for it because not only is it something available during a brief window, it's also indicative of the arrival of fall. You know, it's like swapping mosquitoes and sunburn for changing leaves and cozy sweaters and the end of hot, sticky summer in favor of crisp autumn afternoons. In fact, fall is the only season that we seem to really celebrate with special food. Here in the United States, you know, it's like pumpkin everything. Put a pin in that. Apple cider donuts, the so called Thanksgiving foods like stuffing and cranberry sauce and candied sweet potatoes and green bean casserole. Over the past decade, fall has become a proper brand in itself, or at least a universally appealing marketing story that requires special clothes, special decor, and of course, special food and beverages. It means candles and new cleaning products and hand soaps and room sprays. Fall is a reason to shop. One, yeah, hashtag capitalism. But two, I honestly. And this is about to get really dark for like 15 seconds here. I think climate change has already made summers so painful in the US that we are just over the moon about the prospect of fall. And that has helped fall become a massive branding moment for everybody. Everything for our lives, kind of. And sure, Mrs. Meyers has some spring and summer scents and I actually can't resist the tomato scented stuff. And we might feel compelled to pick up some fresh local sweet corn or berries or melons for summer barbecues. And yeah, retailers want to sell us spring dresses and summer bathing suits and shorts and sandals and beach totes. But fall in all of its pumpkin spice glory is, is the only season with its own brand. And it's become pretty lucrative for just about every retailer here in the United States, lifting them out of the slump that tends to come in July and August. For any brand that doesn't sell kids clothes or school supplies, pumpkin spice and Halloween season is money in the bank. And that, that brings me to Japan. Well, literally, because I'm here right now. But of course, brands and retailers in Japan are also looking to create an emotional connection. And as I discussed in last year's Japan episodes, which seriously, if you have not listened to them yet, you should go do it. Because I was actually kind of surprised by how many listeners did not know that I went to Japan last year. And I feel like, you know, I might be fool with myself, but some of those episodes were pretty good. So go check those out. Anyway, as I discussed last year, shopping is different in Japan, mostly because shopping online just isn't as popular and that changes the entire game. To give you some context, about 16% of all shopping in the United States happens online. And if that sounds low to you, I want you to keep in mind that this is all shopping, including groceries, pet food, building supplies, plants, furniture, all the things that we actually would prefer to buy irl. And so when you think about that, that means that 16% of online, all shopping being online means that like Yeah, a lot of clothes and shoes and makeup and gifts and electronics and so on are bought online in the U.S. in Japan, it's only about 9%. People are just shopping a lot more IRL because the country has done a great job of building in person shopping into transportation hubs. Just about every train station has malls and grocery stores literally attached to it. I bought my dinner today in the basement of a train station in a grocery store. It's just so easy here to shop in person on your way home as part of your daily routine. It's actually more convenient than shopping online. You get it instantly and it's not out of your way. What that means though, with more shopping happening in real life here, it means that perceived quality matters a lot more. If a fabric feels cheap or a product seems flimsy or food looks kind of yucky, no one will buy it. So yeah, a lot of stuff here in Japan just is. Is nicer because people get to see and feel it before they buy it. Whereas when you shop online, you kind of don't know. It's often disappointing. And returning online orders sometimes just feels like it's going to require this like, herculean effort. So you just keep it. Right. It's just a completely different situation now. That said, I did see an actual, oh, I hate to say it, she in store. Like an actual brick and mortar she in store in Harajuku last week. I'm still upset about it. I saw people walking around with Shein shopping bags everywhere. I might have to go in there when I go back to Tokyo just to know. But I'm speculating that the stuff in the Shein store is probably the nicest stuff that Shein has to offer. Because a lot of those fabrics and stuff that you get from Shein that I see at the thrift store. Yeah, there's no way that's that's selling if someone has to see it in real life before they pay for it. What all of this in person shopping also means is that the way companies lean into emotional branding is a little bit different. When the goal is to get someone to come into your actual store versus clicking add to cart online. Some of the techniques that they're using here in Japan will sound familiar to you with maybe a little bit of a remix. Others are going to have you wondering, why aren't western brands doing this? Welcome to Clothes Horse, the podcast that after close to two weeks in Japan, is really dying for some Mexican food right now. I guess I didn't realize that I eat Mexican food. Low key almost every day when I'm at home. I'm your host, Amanda and Kyoto Kara. Konnichiwa. Which means in my horrible American accent hello from Kyoto, Japan where I am recording this episode literally hunched over a strange coffee table. This is episode 249, part 7 in an ongoing series about brands and how they influence our identities and drive consumerism. Please go listen to the rest of this series. I am very proud of my work on this so far. And guess what? A lot of this series was ideated last year while I was in Japan. It turns out that getting away from home is good for my brain. Seriously friends, I am semi ashamed to admit that I am low key. A workaholic shut in when I'm at home. When people ask me how I can afford to come to Japan for a month, it's for a few reasons. One is that I am low key. A workaholic shut in. Which means I'm super thrifty. In my day to day life. I rarely eat out. Most of the food I eat was either grown by me or bought from the many locally owned grocery outlets in Lancaster County. Seriously. Hashtag blessed. I share a 20 year old car with my husband. I don't drink alcohol. I shop secondhand first. And yeah, I'm just thrifty. And I'm actually also really good at finding cheap plane tickets and hotel deals. And I'm super thrifty while I'm traveling. And of course I actually work the whole time that I'm here so I usually wake up at 5am I work until noon, I take the afternoon off to do something cool and then I'm back to the hotel to work for a few hours before bed. And I know it sounds bad, but it's actually awesome. I'm having the best time ever. And you know, at home it's like I'm either working or doing housework. And now I get to like go to museums and go. People watch and see cool stuff and look at clothes and think about stuff while I'm out in the world every afternoon. Whether I'm looking at art or strolling through through a mall that is, you know, fine tuned for a teenage customer or wheeling my suitcase through yet another train station. I'm thinking about what I can learn here that will help my clients and or drive the conversation here on Clothes Horse. And when I was here last year, I started thinking about how much I wanted to dissect emotional branding and branding as a whole. Before we jump back into the conversation about emotional branding here in Japan. I do have one bit of big news to share with y'. All. Or at least big news to me, which is, well, okay, so I love npr. Like Dustin and I always joke that we're an NPR family. We literally listen to NPR every day. It has kept me informed and provided comfort through some really difficult times in my life. And even here in Japan, I have been listening to NPR every day. It helps. I don't know, it helps keep me grounded. The moment I had the financial stability to become a sustaining supporter, I signed up to make a recurring donation. I still do that, and currently I am a proud, sustainable, sustaining member of WITF in central Pennsylvania. So I love npr. And by the way, for those of you who are like, what the heck, NPR is National Public Radio. I should have mentioned that a minute ago. Anyway, I love it. Imagine how excited I am to say that this week I am a guest on Embodied, which is a show slash podcast from WUNC North Carolina Public Radio distributed on NPR stations across the country. This is a big dream come true moment for me and I have it. I have heard a rumor that Mr. Dustin Travis White, who, trust me, does not listen to clothes. Horse listened to the entire episode of Embodied because he was really excited about it too. This is like a big deal. Even from just like an emotional perspective. It feels like a big moment for me because believe it or not, there are still people in my life who view my work on clotheshores as a silly hobby. And we know it's never been just clothes. But trust me, I get a lot of messages about how I am squandering my talent on something kind of trivial. Hearing about this kind of stuff on NPR makes people take it a lot more seriously and I'm proud to be considered an expert in in this space. Like, let's make this conversation more mainstream. In this episode I talk with host Anita Rao about my journey as a fast fashion buyer, how fast fashion uses emotional branding to keep us shopping, and why we are an important part of breaking the fast fashion system. I also explain how fast fashion became the business model for making and selling just about everything. And I unpack what Anthropologie and TJ Maxx have in common. You can stream Embodied anywhere. You listen to podcasts. You can also listen locally. And I know that no one reads the show notes, but I will share the link there just in case.
- [35:43]
Dustin Travis White
Lets take a moment to thank some of the incredible small businesses who keep clotheshorse going via their generous Patreon support. Slow Fashion Academy is a size inclusive sewing and pattern Making studio based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designer and fashion professor Ruby Gertz teaches workshops for hobbyists and aspiring designers so that anyone can learn the foundational skills of making, mending and altering their own.
- [36:06]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Clothes several times per year.
- [36:09]
Dustin Travis White
Ruby offers her flagship Sloper Workshop, an.
- [36:12]
Amanda Lee McCarty
In person two day pattern making retreat where you will learn how to drape.
- [36:16]
Dustin Travis White
A set of basic block patterns that capture your unique shape and proportions. You can also use these basic block or sloper patterns as a foundation for infinite styles of garments that are custom made to your body's one of a kind contours or compare your slipper to commercial patterns to see where you might.
- [36:34]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Need to alter the shape. No more guessing at full bust, flat.
- [36:37]
Dustin Travis White
Seam or sway back adjustments. Start with a foundation that fits. Ruby also provides professional design and pattern making services to emerging slow fashion brands and occasionally takes commissions for custom garments and costume pieces. She has also released several PDF sewing patterns for original designs under her brands Spokes and Stitches and Starling Petite plus. I just want to also add here.
- [37:01]
Amanda Lee McCarty
On a personal note that right now Ruby is actually working with me to create a one of a kind unique to me special dress that I will be wearing for all future clothes horse.
- [37:11]
Dustin Travis White
Events including live episodes later this year.
- [37:14]
Amanda Lee McCarty
In the Pacific Northwest. I am so excited to work with Ruby because she is so talented and.
- [37:20]
Dustin Travis White
So knowledgeable about all things clothing creation. Check out the schedule for upcoming workshops, download PDF Sewing Patterns and learn about additional sewing and Design Services at www.slowfashion.academy. and it's important for me to tell you that that's slowfashion.academy Selena Sanders, a social impact brand that specializes in upcycle.
- [37:45]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Clothing using only reclaimed, vintage or thrifted.
- [37:48]
Dustin Travis White
Materials from tea towels, linens, blankets and quilts. Sustainably crafted in Los Angeles, each piece is designed to last in one's closet for generations to come. Maximum Style Minimal carbon footprint Shift clothing out of beautiful Astoria, Oregon with a focus on natural fibers, simple hard working designs and putting fat people first. Discover more@shiftwheeler.com late to the party Creating one of a kind statement clothing from vintage salvaged and thrifted textiles they hope to tap into the dreamy memories we all hold. Floral curtains, a childhood dress, the wallpaper in your best friend's rec room. All while creating modern, sustainable garments that you'll love wearing and have for years to come. Late to the Party is passionate about celebrating and preserving textiles, the memories they hold and the stories they have yet to tell. Check them out on Instagram. Latetothepartypeople Vino Vintage based just outside of la. We love the hunt of shopping secondhand because you know, never know what you might find. Catch us at flea markets around Southern California by following us on Instagram Vino Vintage so you don't miss our next event. Dylan Paige is an online clothing and lifestyle brand based out of St. Louis, Missouri. Our products are chosen with intention for the conscious community. Everything we carry is animal friendly, ethically made, sustainably sourced and cruelty free. Dylan Page is for those who never stop questioning where something comes from. We know that personal experience dictates what's sustainable for you and we are here to help guide and support you to make choices that fit your needs. Check us out@dylanpage.com and find us on Instagram Ylanpage Life and Style Salt Hats Purveyors of truly sustainable hats, Hand blocked, stick sewn and embellished in Detroit, Michigan. Find us on Instagram Althats Thumbprint is Detroit's only fair trade marketplace. Located in the historic Eastern Market. Our small business specializes in products handmade by empowered women in South Africa making a living wage creating things they love like hand painted candles and ceramics.
- [40:08]
Amanda Lee McCarty
We also carry a curated assortment of.
- [40:11]
Dustin Travis White
Sustainable and natural locally made goods. Thumbprint is a great gift destination for both the special people in your life and for yourself. Browse our online store@thumbprintdetroit.com and find us on Instagram ThumbprintDetroit Vagabond Vintage DTLV is a vintage clothing, accessories and decor reselling business based in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Not only do we sell in Las Vegas, but we're also located throughout resale markets in San Francisco as well as at a curated boutique called Lux and Ivy located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jessica, the founder and owner of Vagabond Vintage DTLV recently opened the first IRL location located in the Arts District of downtown Las Vegas on August 5th. The shop has a strong emphasis on 60s and 70s garments, single stitch tees and dreamy loungewear. Follow them on Instagram vagabondvintagedtlv and keep an eye out for their website coming fall of 2022.
- [41:19]
Amanda Lee McCarty
I'm not sure that I've mentioned it before, but there are and they're amazing. Epic collections of 70s, 80s and 90s commercials available for watching on YouTube. Yes, there are people out there, just angels, who have harvested all of the commercial breaks from old VHS recordings of primetime TV shows, digitized them and compiled them for all of us undeserving jerks to watch on YouTube. And yes, Dustin and I will periodically spend Hours just watching old commercials together. It is strangely, perhaps disturbingly, comforting. We'll laugh, we get nostalgic. We talk a lot about how marketing and branding has changed. And the fast food chain restaurant commercials are kind of my favorite because everything is available for a limited time only, like the mcdlt, which so much Styrofoam. And for all of you who blocked the McDLT or didn't grow up in the United States or are too young to know, let me explain the MCDLT for you, which, fortunately, was available for a limited time only. So basically, it was a hamburger, maybe a cheeseburger. There might have been a slice of cheese on there. If it was, it was definitely bright yellow, as McDonald's cheese is. And so here it was. It was a hamburger with lettuce and tomato on it. Yeah, that exciting, guys. I know. This is like what a hamburger is now, right? Okay. It was a different time, right? And the gimmick of the MCDLT is that it came in this huge styrofoam package that had, like, was divided in half, right? And one side of it was where one half the bun and the hamburger would be. So the hot sauce side and the other side was where the other part of the bun was, and the lettuce and tomato, the cool side. And this Styrofoam was supposed to keep your lettuce and tomato fresh and crisp and cool until you were ready to eat it. And as I am explaining to this to you right now, knowing that there are gazillions of McDLT Styrofoam packages in the landfills right now that future generations of humans might excavate and wonder about. Man, what a silly idea. But it worked. People loved McDLT. Fortunately, like I said, it was only available for a limited time only. So the Styrofoam problem could be worse. But that was how restaurants and fast food restaurants sold to us. Then. It was a limited time only. This gimmick will only be around for a while. Whether it was, strangely, when you think about it, the most basic hamburger just split into elaborate packaging or shamrock shakes, or the free glasses and other gifts that you might get at Hardee's or Burger King, or even just the rotating prizes in a kid's meal, everything was only only for a short time. The implication was, go get it now or miss your chance forever. This is what marketing people call the call to action, or cta, which I used to think only stood for the Chicago Transit Authority. And imagine the first couple years I was working and buying, seeing CTA and emails and being so confused about where and when people were taking the L. The whole idea of this call to action is like how do we get someone to not overthink something and just buy it? Well, what if we told you that it will be gone soon or we might just run out? That's actually how big sale events and shopping holidays like Black Friday work. The CTA is scarcity. You don't want to miss your chance. Now as I mentioned in last year's Japan episodes, I am a big fan of the Konbini, which is convenience store and I love conbini food here in Japan. And if that is freaking you out because you think I'm living off of nachos and hot dogs, then yes, you need to go listen to episode 217 ASAP because that will explain it all to you. And yeah, I love the conbini food and I'm particularly a fan of the tiny little parfaits that you can get there. In the spring they're strawberry focused. In summer, it's all about peaches. Fall comes and the focuses on pumpkins, sweet potatoes and persimmons. I gotta tell you, I've got a dried persimmon problem. It started last year when I was here in November and I ate dried persimmons like every day. In fact, we got. When I got home, I told Dustin the thing I miss most is dried persimmons. And we went to an H Mart in Maryland to see if they would have them. And I will you tell, tell you, I am not. I'm. I'm slightly ashamed to admit this. Despite my thrifty nature, I spent $12 on a bag of dried persimmon because I miss them so much. And yes, every time I ate a piece, it made me so happy and it brought me, it brought me back to here actually. And that that was a good thing. So yeah, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and persimmons here in the fall. By winter, Chestnut takes over. Don't knock it until you tried it. It's good. And you can't get a strawberry parfait at the Komini in December. You certainly can't get peach either. And there's no pumpkin custard in August. So I came to Japan for the first time nine years ago on my honeymoon with Dustin. It was the trip I'd been dreaming of my whole life. And even though I was in the early stages of a six month battle with mono at the time, it was horrible. And yes, even though every day I Coughed until I threw up. Yeah, it was a really sexy honeymoon. I still had the best time ever. Like I said, it was a lifelong dream come true to be here. And yes, I ate a parfait every single day. And since then, I've returned to Japan almost every year. And I split every trip between visiting new parts of the country and revisiting familiar ones. I was thinking about this a lot, actually, a couple days ago as I was walking around Kyoto and I was thinking about how, I don't know, we are so driven to always be doing something new, new and new, go new places, do new things, not repeat things. And I don't know if this is like a social media thing that has made us this way or if it's like fast fashion just changing the way our brains work, you know? Like when I was a kid, my family went on the same vacation every year to the beach, right? Like, I knew people who, because they were rich or whatever, who went to Walt Disney World every year. Like, things like travel were actually traditions, but we don't do that anymore. And people are always like, to me, why are you going to Japan again? And I'm like, well, why wouldn't I go to Japan again? I think we get too hung up on every experience having to be new when there is so much value in revisiting places, seeing how they change, and enjoying the comfort of familiarity far away from home. Like I said, I'm in Kyoto right now, a place I have visited on every single trip to Japan. I still haven't seen the whole town. And Kyoto has changed a lot. And there's something that makes me feel connected to the people of Japan because I can see the change and what it means. And it kind of just reminds me that change happens everywhere, gentrification happens everywhere. The impact of a lot of humans showing up in one place happens everywhere. And it's just one more thing. Thing I don't know, that proves to me how humans are humans and we all have a lot more in common with one another than we usually let on. And I think knowing that when you fully understand it, I don't know, it makes you even more so want to fight for everyone else on this world to have a good life. You know, no one is a stranger and no one is different from you in an overall sense. Humans, we all want the same things. And revisiting places helps remind me of that. So over almost a decade of traveling to Japan, I've been able to experience every season here. And I'm here to say that while Spring and the cherry blossoms get all the attention and trust me, they are worth seeing. Although my allergies are insane when I am here in the spring, I actually think the best season is fall, specifically November. Cooler weather, primarily dry days full of sun and blue skies and this like full palette of fall leaf colors. And of course the cafes and combini and food halls and restaurants are full of fall delicacies, available only until winter. And those winter items will be gone when strawberries take over in February or March. And stores will advertise it as like a limited strawberry fair with a clear end date. And if you miss it, no strawberries for you until next year. Nature really does dictate what available for a limited time only means. Nature is like, here's your call to action. It's gonna be winter soon, so stop dilly dallying and eat this peach ice cream. AKA you snooze, you lose. And as a marketing message, it works. People line up for that special peach ice cream. They literally make plans around eating limited edition strawberry parfait that weekend and they will bring friends along with them. So it's an entire social experience. Now I will tell you here and there in the cities there are like these very expensive fruit restaurants that year round will give you a thirty dollar fruit parfait. But that fruit is a luxury item because it is flown in from somewhere else and it's not a part of most people's day to day life. Taking this idea of nature dictating what's available, of creating its own cta, taking it one step further, every prefecture and city in Japan is known for its own food specialties. Okayama is known for its peaches and they also have really great like peach liqueur. Hokkaido is known for its cheese. Beppu, a town I visited last year and I plan on traveling to again this year, is known for a specific custard called Hell steamed custard pudding that is cooked over natural steam vents from the hot springs that fill the area. It's so renowned that there are even vending machines around Beppu where you can buy them and take them home or eat them in your hotel room. And when you visit any of these places, naturally you have to bring food back from them, so they're even more limited. The call to action here is, hey, leave without this and you might never have it again. That's, that's intense. As we talked about back in part two of this series, the idea of scarcity, AKA available for a limited time only is a powerful form of Emotional branding. If something is hard to get or at least feels rare, you're likely to make a purchase without thinking too hard about it. And here's an example I'm going to give you. Okay, so last year when I was here, you know, I hung out with my friend Christine of Lady Hog Vintage for a big chunk of the trip. And one of the first times we went to, I think, Don Quixote, which, if you don't know what that is, you gotta listen to last year's episodes. Okay, we went to Don Quixote, and she bought this pink toothpaste that is a peach mint flavor. And she was like. The next day, it was like, this toothpaste is awesome. You should try it. So I bought a box, opened it up, used it the next morning, and I was like, holy shit. I have never said this before, but this toothpaste is amazing. And so before I left Japan, I bought two more boxes of toothpaste, which felt wild to me. I was like, amanda, you're the only nerd on earth who buys toothpaste as a souvenir. But listen, this is. Toothpaste is good. So I went home now. I had the tube I'd already bought in Japan and was using. And then I had two more boxes, and I gave one box to Dylan because I was like, you've gotta try this toothpaste. Well, of course, I ran out of toothpaste in a couple months, even though I was, like, trying to conserve it as much as possible. I would even be like, okay, you can only use this toothpaste every other day, and you have to use your regular tooth, David's toothpaste, on the opposite days to make the pink toothpaste last longer. And then it was gone. And I kept thinking about it. I didn't talk about it to anyone, because who wants to hear me talk about toothpaste anyway? I was like, okay, you know what? Maybe I'll order some online. And this. This gave me a lot of angst thinking about shipping toothpaste overseas just because I. I need this pink toothpaste. And then I looked at it, and it was super expensive with shipping. And then the tariffs is gonna be like $20 a tube. And I was like, nope, nope. You're sticking with David's, and you'll learn your lesson. And the next time you go to Japan, you're gonna buy a lot more pink toothpaste. And if you're all like, what in the hell is this pink toothpaste? I promise I'll try to share a Photo on social media this week. So a couple weeks ago, someone was like, what's the thing you're most excited to do in Japan? And I said, well, it's kind of embarrassing, but there's this toothpaste there that I really like, and I'm excited to buy it and use it again. And let me tell you, within 12 hours of arriving in Japan, I bought a tube of this toothpaste. And, you know, going back to this idea of scarcity kind of like making you not even, like, think it through very much, I didn't shop around for the best price on the toothpaste. I didn't even, like, look for the most convenient place to buy it. I just went to the place I knew had it because I'd bought it before. And I can guarantee you it was more expensive there than it would have been somewhere else. But I needed my peach mint toothpaste. Scarcity creates that call to action that makes us kind of like not think about convenience and price as much as we might normally. But even more so, this idea of scarcity or rarity also affects how we feel as the purchaser and then owner of these things. Because if a brand or an item seems rare, you get the additional feeling of being in the know and part of an exclusive club, even if it is just a club for people who love pink toothpaste. But this idea of being in the know, being part of an exclusive group, it's what makes people loyal. Maxinistas or first in line when supreme opens. So, yeah, you'll want to be the foodie who knows about the specific cheese from Hokkaido. So you're gonna bring it back for all of your friends so they know that you're this super cool foodie person. And if I had all the money, y' all would be getting a tube of this pink toothpaste from me, and I would feel like the Santa Claus of dental care. I would be over the moon. Right? The seasonality and regional nature of food in Japan means that it also builds tradition. And yes, tradition is also a form of emotional branding. If you always had strawberry ice cream in the spring as a kid, you're probably going to keep doing that as an adult, and you're going to pass it on to. To the children in your life. If you always buy your mom peaches from Okayama for her birthday, you're going to keep getting those peaches from Okayama every year. In fact, the best thing any brand can do is become a part of your personal traditions, because that means you are a guaranteed customer for life. And you'll bring future partners and generations into the fold. Here's an example from the United States that has nothing to do with food, and that is Toys R Us. Earlier this year, I explained how the parent company of my last corporate job had acquired the license to open stores using the Toys R Us brand name. Toys R Us actually closed its last store in 2000 2018. But with this licensing deal, new Toys R Us stores are popping up everywhere in malls. But they aren't the same. The product is not the same. The stores are a much smaller format. They're run by a completely different company. Basically, the only things that remain the same are the logo. And yes, there are toys for sale. That's it. But the company who bought that license, and I'm sure it cost a lot, is opening stores in hopes that the mixture of nostalgia and tradition will mean that millennial parents and Gen X and boomer grandparents will bring kids into the store. Getting another generation hooked up. That combination of tradition and nostalgia can keep a brand going for decades. Now, as I said earlier, here in the United States, food has become creepily non seasonal in many ways. And it's weird when you think about it, but like the only way we can really be influenced by to buy something because it's available for a limited time only is if it's a totally weird item like a mcdlt or a Shamrock Shake or if it's somehow like on sale for a really short period of time. Yet, as I mentioned, fall has become all caps. Fall, the ultimate brand and marketing story rolled into one. And one company that has really made that work in their favor is Trader Joe's, aka the store that is like 50% pumpkin stuff in October. And it's kind of annoying, but Trader Joe's is actually a master class in emotional branding. First off, it's got this neighborhood grocery store vibe. Trader Joe's intentionally feels small, local and friendly. Even though it's a national chain with more than 600 stores. It accomplishes that by having hand drawn signs and chalkboards and store specific art and you know, Hawaiian shirt wearing employees that seem to be having a good time while while they're there. It creates this energy of a small local business that is also familiar and comfortable no matter where you encounter it. But yeah, it's just, it's actually a huge corporation. Next, those cheerful, engaged employees create an emotional association of positivity and care. So crew members are trained to chat and make recommendations, recommendations walk you to products and appear genuinely happy to help. And it Works right. Now, what's interesting about this, as, as you all know, Target is what we in the biz call in the shitter. Meaning their business is just like getting worse and worse and worse for many reasons that we have discussed here in the past. I think that there are things they could do to turn it around. You know, like fully staff their stores, bring back dei, continue supporting black owned businesses. All of these things that for years made Target special that they've walked away from completely. Well, they have a new CEO and you know what the new initiative is to bring customers back to Target. No, it's not to fully stock the stores or, you know, be a more ethical business. No, they have this new policy where I think it's called like the 5 and 10 rule, or maybe it's 4 in 10, I'm not really sure. But if a customer is within 10ft of a store employee, the store employee must smile at the customer. And if the customer comes within 5ft of the employee, the employee must start a conversation with the customer. Now, obviously Trader Joe's is doing this in some way too, but I think what makes it work for Trader Joe's is that the stores are stocked with things to buy. And while parking in a Trader Joe's parking lot is a nightmare experience and the stores are often super crowded, people generally enjoy their time there and can find what they're looking for. And I just don't think people think either of those things about Target anymore. But it works for Trader Joe's, right? Next, another part of this, like emotional branding that builds in tremendous customer loyalty for Trader Joe's is the treasure hunt experience. Here's where Trader Joe's takes a page out of the Japan playbook. It leans into scarcity and novelty by constantly rotating products and having seasonal drops and unexpected fines. Customers feel excited and they feel like they're in on a secret. There are literally Facebook groups and subreddits for discussing all of the new products and tracking down the discontinued items. We're talking a mega loyal fan base who loves that things come and go and that there's always something new to try and be an expert on. Next, there is the Fearless Flyer, which is literally just a little newspaper about all of the new products at Trader Joe's. And yet it is somehow delightful to read because it's got like whimsical product descriptions and goofy humor and made up backstories. And it just feels so human. Like this is a business that not just selling groceries, it's selling fun. And lastly, another page from The Japan Playbook. Trader Joe's is constantly introducing these seasonal products that often build off of nostalgia. So pumpkin season and holiday treats actually like create these new traditions and then invent new nostalgia based on old old nostalgia. Like, there's no way that the people driving the marketing and product strategy at Trader Joe's haven't been to Japan because it's just so on point. I'm going to add here though, while I just spent, I don't know, five minutes praising Trader Joe's and yes, I have shopped at Trader Joe's many, many times over the past few years. I've actually moved away from the the company because they, they've engaged in some pretty sketchy behavior. Union busting, poor treatment of employees and taking advantage of small food brands and like stealing recipes and ideas from small food brands, specifically brands started by people of color. It's pretty messed up. I'm going to share an article in the show notes that you should really, if you're a big Trader Joe's fan, you should give it a read because I think it's going to upset you. It upset me. And I mean, I'm going to tell you, it's Trader Joe's using fast fashion tactics. I mean, nothing. And it was shocking to me because, you know, every brand I've worked for did this kind of stuff. But you expect better from Trader Joe's because all of their branding, that emotional branding, has painted this picture of a better company, just like Target was doing for years. And so I don't know, I think reading this article and recognizing that Trader Joe's is no different than Urban Outfitters or Target, it's a big deal to recognize that. And I'll tell you, as I mentioned, there's a very engaged subreddit for Trader Joe's. And anytime someone tries to bring up the union busting or the stealing of product ideas, it gets shut down immediately because people just don't want to hear it because they are so deeply, emotionally invested in Trader Joe's. Like, the branding works. And I will watch people do any number of elaborate sort of like mental acrobatics to justify why they still shop at Trader Joe's and why Trader Joe's isn't doing anything wrong. And a lot of it, like, to be honest, it comes across as like a lot of people saying like, hey, like, I'm sorry but like, I need candy cane JoJo's. And they're like, I don't know. That's kind of like more important than like, you know, the company's impact on other humans. It's dark, right? But that's what emotional branding does to us. Now, of course. Do you think that Trader Joe's is going to show up for any of these people and like defend their honor? Of course not. Emotional branding is very much a one way linear relationship.
- [70:21]
Dustin Travis White
If you're enjoying this episode, then this is a great time to remind you that my work here at Clothes Horse is made possible by the support of the listeners like you. Just like NPR and these great small businesses, please go give them your support. Blank CAS or Blanket Coats by CAS is focused on restoring, renewing and reviving the history held within vintage and heirloom textiles by embodying the love, craft and energy that is original to each vintage textile. And as I transfer it into a new garment, I hope we can reteach ourselves to care for and mend what we have and make it last. Blank CAS lives on Instagram @blankcas and a website will be launched soon@blankcas.com Located in Whistler, Canada, Velvet Underground is a.
- [71:17]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Velvet jungle full of vintage and secondhand clothing plants, a vegan cafe and lots.
- [71:23]
Dustin Travis White
Of rad products from other small sustainable businesses. Our mission is to create a brand and community dedicated to promoting self expression as well as educating and inspiring a more sustainable and conscious lifestyle both for the people and the planet. Find us on Instagram shopvelvetunderground or online at www.shopvelvetunderground. republica unicornia yarns Handmade yarn and notions for the color obsessed. Made with love and some swearing in fabulous Atlanta, Georgia by head yarn wench Kathleen. Get ready for rainbows with a side of giving a damn. Republica Unicornia is all about making your own magic using small batch, responsibly sourced hand dyed yarns and thoughtfully made notions. Slow fashion all the way down and discover the joy of creating your very own beautiful hand knit, crocheted or woven pieces. Find us on Instagram @republicaunicorniarns and at www.republicaunicornia.com. picnic Wear a slow fashion brand ethically made by hand from vintage and dead stock materials, most notably vintage towels. Founder Dani has worked in the industry as a fashion Designer for over 10 years, but started Picnic Wear in response to her dissatisfaction with the industry's shortcomings. Picnic Wear recently moved to rural North Carolina where all their sewing and accessories are now designed and cut, but the majority of their sewing is done by skilled garment workers in New York City. Their customers take comfort in knowing that all their sewists are paid well above New York City minimum wage picnic wear offers minimal waste and maximum authenticity. Future Vintage over Future Garbage Cute Little Ruin is an online shop dedicated to providing quality vintage and secondhand clothing, vinyl and home items in a wide range of styles and price points. If it's ethical and legal, we try to find a home for it. Vintage style with progressive values. Find us on Instagram utelittleruin Is there a little bit of Italy in your soul? Are you an enthusiast of pre loved decor and accessories? Bring vintage Italian style and history into your space. With the pewter thimble we source useful and beautiful things and mend them where needed. We also find gorgeous illustrations and make them print worthy tarot cards, tea towels and hand picked treasures available to you from the comfort of your own home, responsibly sourced from across Rome, lovingly renewed by fairly paid artists and artisans with something for every budget. Discover more at theputerthimble.com Deco Denim is a startup based out of San Francisco and it sells clothing and accessories that are sustainable, gender fluid, size inclusive and high quality. Made to last for years to come. Deco Denim is trying to change the way you think about buying clothes. Founder Sarah Mattis wants to empower people to ask important questions like where was this made? Was this garment made ethically? Is this fabric made of plastic? Can this garment be upcycled and if not, can it be recycled? Sign up@decodenim.com to receive $20 off your first purchase. They promise not to spam you and send out no more than three emails a month, with two of them surrounding education or a personal note from the founder. Again, that's decodenim.com.
- [75:12]
Amanda Lee McCarty
Food is sort of hardwired by nature to have its own call to action. It's got tradition built into it and nostalgia and food are intrinsically connected. But beyond food and the limited time only you know created by nature, how else do you get people to act now and think later? How do you get them to wait in line for hours to buy something lest they miss their chance? Well, you do that with an an endless array of limited edition drops and collabs. And seriously, Japan has collab madness. Like right now Family Mart, the convenience store chain. And in case you're wondering, my ranking of convenience stores in Japan is number one, 711 number two Lawson Family Mart number three. Not my fave, but I'll go there if I have to. And sometimes they do have good desserts and they've been having a lot more plant based food options which does it's pushing them up I'm starting to appreciate them more. Anyway, Family Mart right now is advertising a limited edition Collab with a YouTuber and the collection is just two different rice balls. And at the same time, Family Mart is also doing a Kirby collab. Kirby being the very cute pink retro video game character. He's a big deal here in Japan. And you know, maybe in my life I do like to play a Kirby game. That collab features a pink steamed bun and a rice ball wrapped in ham, which. All right, sure, ham is pink and Kirby is pink. Okay, go off with your pink rice ball. I suppose both of these collabs are available for a limited time only and they probably touch two different consumer bases and they get people to come into Family Mart, buy one of these rice balls and probably buy some other stuff too. But the collabs and limited edition collections are everywhere. Like for example, Sanrio. Now if I were to truly share a list of all these collabs and product things that Sanrio has going on in Japan right now, we would need an hour and we'd all be really bored with it. So I just picked a few to share with you. One, I don't know whose idea this was. It is a collab between Sanrio, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft cheeses. And the collab in all is that these products, this cream cheese is in limited edition Sanrio packaging and I am sure people are buying it. There's this coffee diner chain called Kohikon and they have some sort of limited edition hello Kitty merch. I can't figure it out either. I almost went inside, but then I was like, what if I have to sit down and eat something and I'm not ready? And anyway, I promise I'll scope it out more. I saw at hands the other day in the stationery section that Sanrio also has a collab with another character brand called Brunch Brothers. And in the Kyoto station right now, there's this space that is always a different pop up for like a collab or limited collection. And right now it's some other hello Kitty and character collab that's very pink. And then there's just like all these different limited edition product collabs with fashion brands and sunscreen and makeup and toothpaste, mouthwash, you name it, it's all out there. And yeah, people are gonna show up and buy that limited edition toothpaste even if it's not pink and peach mint flavored, which is scandalous. There's even an airport it's called Oita that has temporarily rebranded as hello Kitty Airport with of course limited edition merch to get people to use that airport. How do you get limited edition merch at an airport? Well, you gotta book a ticket that flies in or out of there, right? So it works. It's not just brand collabs and it's not just rice balls wrapped up in ham. It's pop up stores and cafes. They're all over the place. I like. Right after I got here, I went to a limited cafe in Shibuya that was in partnership with this cute brand Swimmer. And I ate adorable food that was actually also very delicious. And there was cute music playing and cute decorations and everybody gets to eat their lunch with a big stuffed animal. I sat with a cat. It was nice. I enjoyed it more than I'm making it sound like I did. And of course that cafe, which was just in this permanent space in the Shibuya 109 mall. I think that's what it's called. It's a permanent pop up space. It's that restaurant right now, but in a few weeks it'll turn into something else. In that restaurant there's also a gift section, but you could also go up the street to the Tokyo like main flagship location of the chain Hands, which I love Hands so much. Like it's hard to explain what it is. But imagine a store that sells craft supplies, pet supplies, beauty stuff, travel woodworking stuff, the best stationery and paper party supplies, all these different product categories. No clothes, no furniture, no throw pillows, nothing like that. And everything that they carry is like the best version of whatever that thing is. That's Hands. Okay. And Hands right now, just down the street from this pop up restaurant also has a limited edition product assortment from Swimmer. So you could make a whole day of just buying and experiencing limited edition things related to this brand. And like I said, you know, there's a permanent pop up space in Kyoto Station. There's a permanent pop up place in Shibuya 109. In fact, there's multiple spaces in that mall. All of these places have permanent spaces that are reserved for a rotating array of short term pop ups stores and events. Whether it's a special Katamari Damacy restaurant that I'm sad I missed, that was at another mall called Parco. Maybe it'll be a J Pop merch store, a Sanrio Collab. There's always things rotating in and out of them and there are always people waiting in line for them. And I think it's interesting because in addition to these pop up spaces and these Limited edition collabs. The other thing that I've noticed here in Japan is just like anywhere else, there are tons of chains, right? Chain restaurants, chain stores, and even from location to location, these stores will have things available in one location that you can't get at another one. And last year, you know, I was here for a month and I was thinking about some specific gifts that I wanted to get Dylan and Dustin to bring back. And I would be like, okay, so note to self, go to Hands and get that calendar for Dylan or those pens for Dustin, they're at loft, etc. And I would go to another location of Loft or Hands and they wouldn't have them. Because even these stores create this sense of the cta, right? The sense of scarcity. Like, like if you don't get it at this store, you might never see it again. And that drives consumerism too, because you don't want to miss your chance. All of this is super interesting to me because I have to say that for the most part here in Japan, fashion trends have remained kind of static over the past few years with just like tiny tweaks. I mean, I will say there is two things that I'm seeing right now that I didn't see last year at the same time that I'm not a huge fan of. One is sweatpants that have a little tiny built in miniskirt on top of them. Maybe I'll come around to it. And the other thing which I'm not going to come around to is faux fur everything. Faux fur, you know, as a trim on any number of garments. Faux fur jackets and pants and skirts, faux fur sneakers. I don't like it. I don't like it, guys. I don't want a faux fur purse or a wallet. I don't want to be shedding microplastics everywhere I go. There's a lot of faux fur here this year, whereas last year it was a lot of sweaters with like fuzzy yarn. It's. It's definitely a shift. But overall, and of course those sweatpants with the mini skirt, but beyond that, things haven't really changed that much. And you know, every company, every brand, every retailer out there, whether they are in the United States and Canada or London or Australia or Japan, are all operating under the same guiding principle, which is to do more sales this year than last year for eternity, right? So of course, if fashion trends aren't really shifting as fast here, how do you drive people to keep shopping and possibly shop more? It's all of this limited edition merchandise and experiences. And you know what is the ultimate limited time only marketing story? Christmas and Black Friday. And yeah, I know it sounds weird, but every single store and mall in Japan. Oh yeah, and restaurant, all the places, all the places you have to go, puts up Christmas decorations and starts playing Christmas music on November 1st. I saw it happen last year and it is in full effect right now. And like, I, I have heard just so many weird covers of classic Christmas songs in the past few weeks. It's kind of like breaking me. I just don't need to hear more Christmas music. Although I did, strangely, at the grocery store today between Deck the Halls and Rocking around the Christmas Tree, both covers in between, they played oh, Canada. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. Anyway, Christmas is a marketing story here. And every restaurant has a Christmas menu. Every convenience store has special Christmas foods and other gifts. And every store has a limited edition Christmas collection. And what about Black Friday? Yeah, every store right now is having a Black Friday sale. And for reasons that I cannot understand, 7 11, the convenience store has a limited edition collection of Black Friday pastries. And yes, I'm going to make Dustin try one of them when he gets here later this week because I need to know why they exist and if it's good that they exist. I don't, I don't know. Okay, yeah, I do know why all this stuff exists. Whether it's, you know, a Christmas collection or a Black Friday pastry, it is because it sells stuff. And strangely enough, Christmas and Black Friday are not only a novelty, they are also a tradition for so many people around the world, apparently even here in Japan. And you know what else is kind of at the intersection of limited edition and only people in the know Western brands, not like, you know, the Wild West. I'm talking like brands from the US and Canada and UK and Europe and Australia. I literally saw 50 people in line waiting to get into a HOKA store in Harajuku last week. Yeah, Hoka, the basic running shoe company in another shopping mall that same day. It's called laforette. And it's like the heart of emerging fashion and indie design. Not just in Tokyo, but I feel it kind of in Japan as a whole. And like, it is one of those things where I take the elevator all the way up to the top and I walk the whole way through each floor because it's so interesting to me. It's where I see the coolest stuff. It's where I see trends beginning. Definitely saw some of those sweatpants with the built in mini skirts. It's also where there are a lot of Lolita brands. So it's just like a really enjoyable day for me to stroll through there. And word on the street is that the Mexican restaurant that's in there, which I've never visited is actually pretty good. So I might try to go there when I go back to Tokyo. We'll see. I feel like by then Dustin going to want Mexican food too. So anyway, I was in La Ferrette, this legendarily like globally known super cool mall and there were people who had been waiting in line all day, easily 100 people so that they could buy a phone case from that brand. Skinny dip London. I was like what? People who wait for sneakers, they'll wait for phone cases but they'll also wait for Gap and Nike and they Ikea, man, IKEA is a big deal here too. I'm totally serious. Like people use those blue bags like status symbol purses. And I do need to pop in the Ikea in Harajuku because I just want to know if they have the same menu items in the cafe. Don't you want to know too? But like people love Ikea here. It is exciting. Also New Balance, Ralph Lauren, Coleman, Starbucks, KFC, Hooters, Taco Bell, Mr. Donut, Tully's. I could go on and on. All these places are always packed, they have lines for them. People love these western brands. And there are also American brands that were bought and like reborn here in Japan. Ex Girl and X Large, Dean and DeLuca aka the home of $10 strawberries, Tower Records, they're all relevant here. They're busy and they're thriving. And it's interesting because you know, like I said, I like revisiting Japan and revisiting places in Japan over and over again because I like to see how they've changed. And secondhand shopping was, you know, it was Pretty Big Deal 10 years ago the first time I came here. But I have seen it pick up more and more momentum with lots of buy sell trade stores and consignment stores. And I have seen former fast fashion ish stores turn fully secondhand. And there are secondhand book and electronic stores everywhere, secondhand toys, secondhand collectibles. It's incredible like and it's just super mainstreamed, right? This is what I want for us back home I even went to a mall in Kana Sawa where one floor was just different vintage sellers. The fact remains though here when it comes to vintage clothing, the majority of the vintage stores here are proudly selling Exclusively secondhand clothing from the U.S. canada, and Europe. Like, it's on the signs. It's. It's a cool thing here, right? It's kind of like, I don't know, we get excited back home about a trip to Daiso or Kinokuniya. In Japan, people get excited about finding a secondhand Hard Rock Cafe T shirt. Seriously, There is a Hard Rock Cafe in Ueno Station that I always joke about going to. Maybe someday I will. Anyway, if you buy something from one of these Western brands or get that sick secondhand Hard Rock Cafe T shirt, it's going to show the people around you that you're a cool person who has, like, global interests. And that's a pretty cool identity to have. Yeah, it could be cool to wear a Hard Rock Cafe T shirt. Another way that Japanese brands build an emotional connection with their customers is by turning shopping, which, remember, is predominantly in person. Here, they turn it into a longer social experience. For example, Muji is a brand that you might be familiar with because it does have some locations in the United States, and it's known for, like, clever home goods, affordable minimalist stationery items, and basic but nice clothing. Here in Japan, it is everywhere. Every mall and train station has a Muji, and they also carry a nice assortment of grocery items. Not unlike a Trader Joe's, to be honest. And of course, right now at Muji, they have a seasonal assortment of Christmas cookies and snacks and tea and coffee. But the bigger Muji stores also have a Muji Cafe. So maybe you'll go shopping with your friends and spend a little bit more time there, because you can have a dessert or lunch. In fact, you might like the food or the coffee that you had at Muji so much that you'll make Muji and its cafe a part of your regular routine with your friends. And if you're going in there just for a coffee or a piece of cake and to hang out, you'll probably make a purchase every time. Or maybe you'll get to the store, you'll walk around, you'll not be sure if you want to buy something, but then you'll sit down for a coffee, maybe a sandwich, and then you will decide to buy something. Also, if you're there with your friends, it is true that watching your friends buy something usually leads you to buy something. Now, this idea of getting people into your store, having them come with other people and make it a social experience, and keeping them in the store as long as possible, this is not a new concept at all. In fact, it was Pioneered by the earliest department stores who did everything they could to get people under their roof all day long by selling any category of product possible. Having restaurants, some of them had libraries, they had patios where you could just sit outside and get a little break. They had lounges, they had childcare and everything under one roof in hopes of getting you there all day so you spent more money. It's not as prevalent now in the United States because we don't shop in real life as often. And department stores, I mean, they're kind of going the way of the dodo, right? But think about how Target, before it started to suck, put in all those Starbucks, they usually had a Pizza Hut. They were trying to get you to spend a little bit of extra time there, or maybe being like, hey, do you want to meet up for coffee? Why don't we just meet up at Target and then we can stroll around afterwards and maybe make some impulse purchases. Here in Japan, just about every major chain has stores that include a restaurant or a coffee shop. All designed to keep you in the store longer and get you to come in when you aren't really planning on shopping. That also helps make your time with that brand more of a social experience. Now, I will say brands back home do want you, if you're going to come into the store, to stay as long as possible because every extra minute that you're in the store makes it that much more likely that you're going to buy something. But here, the department stores especially have taken it to the next level. They are all inclusive. They'll have, of course, clothing and cosmetics and home goods. They'll usually have a dozen or more restaurants, a full grocery store in the basement, a flower shop and plant store, a coffee shop and a salon. All designed to make that department store just a part of your day to day life. And remember, convenience and reliability are also forms of emotional branding. For many people. Being able to take care of many things under one roof is enough to build loyalty. If you can run all your errands and get some lunch and maybe have a coffee with a friend in one building, you're going to do it. And you're going to think less about how much things cost, or even if they're the best versions, or even the best options because it's there and that's good enough. At the end of the day, capitalism and consumerism aren't just a western thing. They are everywhere. And that means that everywhere we go, someone is trying to sell us something. Often by targeting our emotions, our memories, our social connections and unfortunately, our insecurities. Sometimes all at once. Even I Amanda Lee McCarty, I am trying to sell you something. I am trying to sell you the idea that you don't need to associate stuff with happiness. That convenience is an illusion that makes us compromise our values and standards. That there is a better future for this world, but only if we work on it together. And whether you choose to buy all of that is up to you. But I will tell you something that occurred to me yesterday as I was walking through the Kyoto Botanical Gardens, which, by the way, brands itself as a museum of living plants. And I love that there is no brand out there that will ever be able to sell us anything that is even half as magical as the world living around us. And I guess that's the other thing I'm trying to sell you. Here's hoping I got the branding right. Thanks for listening to another episode of Clotheshorse. Written, Researched, Edited, Hosted all the things by me, Amanda Lee McCarty. If you liked what you heard, please leave a Rating A Review Subscribe, Follow Share Share all those things and tell your friends if you'd like to support my work financially, there are many ways you can do that. You can find them in the show notes and in my bio on just about every social media platform. And thanks as always to my other half, Mr. Dustin Travis White, who will, by the miracle of technology, despite being more than 6,000 miles away from me right now, will mix and re upload this episode so that then I can download it and upload it for you. Wow. Isn't technology great? All right, I'll talk to you all soon. Bye.
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Dustin Travis White
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