Consumers were busy shopping during the last quarter…and they’ve got quite the taste. Just look at Lyst’s Q1 hottest brands and products index, which ranks and measures the hottest fashion brands every quarter based on data acquired from 200 million consumers. (The index takes into account social media mentions, user searches, and product sales to curate its rankings.)

Atop the hottest brands list (which includes 20 brands) was Prada, followed by Miu Miu, and Moncler. Brands like Skims and Diesel also made the list. A $20 Uniqlo shoulder bag topped the hottest products list, followed by some usual (luxury) suspects like some Rick Owens sunglasses and Bottega Veneta earrings. (An honorable shoutout to the MSCHF Big Red Boots that came in fourth on the list.)

So, what exactly makes certain brands and products hot or not? Katy Lubin, VP of brand and communications at Lyst, told Retail Brew the biggest takeaway from the report this quarter was the heady mix of affordable and luxury brands. She believes the reason for the brands’ popularity is the current cost of living crisis and inflation. She noted that Q1 wasn’t “fully dominated by expensive luxury products” and instead saw several more affordable items on list, “which I think is an interesting trend to see if that continues or if it was kind of a one-off moment.”

Katie Thomas, who leads the Kearney Consumer Institute, an internal think tank at Kearney, noted a mass casualization movement that is reflected in consumer purchases across categories, including clothing and accessories. She said people want products to be accessible yet unique. Case in point: Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims, which earned a spot both on Lyst’s hottest brands as well as products list.

Keep reading here.—JS

Remember when Dunkin’ was “Dunkin’ Donuts”? Even with a new identity, coffee lovers can still spot the beloved establishment from a mile away. From football teams to pancake mixes, a lot of household names have opted for new monikers over the past few years.

Whether branding has been tweaked or scrapped completely, learn why top companies have decided to change outdated or offensive logos and names. Also, find out how big names maintain brand recognition through visual design cues and placing value on a strong customer relationship. Read the story from Marketing Brew.

Barbiecore has taken over fashion, beauty, and even rugs and Maseratis. Now, it’s coming for beverages.

This week, zero-sugar lemonade and iced tea brand Swoon is debuting Barbie Pink Lemonade in collaboration with Mattel (a collab we first spotted at Expo West in March). It’ll be sold in 4,000+ retail locations across Target, Whole Foods, and Publix for the rest of the year, with 10% of net sales benefiting the Barbie Dream Gap Project.

Swoon was founded in 2015 by Jennifer Ross, who has Type 1 diabetes, and Cristina Ros Blankfein. The two created a monk fruit-sweetened beverage to help limit sugar consumption. Mattel resonated with “this idea of taking a personal challenge and turning it into something positive,” Ross said, while the brand aligned with Barbie’s women’s empowerment ethos.

Ross said the two know the consumer “advocacy and awareness” that come from pop culture collabs—the brand debuted a matcha lemonade with Emma Chamberlain’s Chamberlain Coffee last year—and they have learned a thing or two about establishing and making the most of a collab since then.

Pretty in pink: So how did the small brand secure a partnership with the iconic toy maker?

“Jen and I just scoured our network and just really tried to figure out who has ever worked at Mattel [or] with Mattel,” Blankfein said. The two sent an email to Mattel in July (around when Barbiecore first started gaining steam). They said Mattel passed it around from team to team, and with many layers of approval to go through, discussions were taking a while, and the two got antsy.

“One of the things we don’t have as a newer company is patience,” Blankfein said.

Keep reading here.—EC

“The word ‘authentic’ gets thrown around a lot in marketing. For former marketer Christina Dorr Drake, co-founder and CEO of Willa’s Oat Milk, that concept seemed just as important when it came to the product itself,” writes Marketing Brew’s Katie Hicks:

While Dorr Drake left the agency world in 2018 to co-found Willa’s with her sister, she said her past work experience still informs the brand’s marketing, which has meant getting “really, really scrappy with a tiny marketing budget” in order to compete with much larger oat-milk competitors.

Read the whole story here on Marketing Brew.

Today’s top retail reads.

If the shoe misfits: Adidas is contemplating its next steps as it’s left with a whopping $1.3 billion in unsold Yeezy shoe stock after parting ways with Ye in October. (HuffPost)

Hard times: Nordstorm is shuttering two of its stores in San Francisco as a dip in foot traffic and concerns around crime create challenges for retailers there. (the Wall Street Journal)

Time for change: An investor group is pushing brands to overhaul their purchasing practices in a bid to employ better supplier relationships and factory standards. (Vogue Business)

Retail revamp: Manhattan Associates’ Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail offers one-of-a-kind insights into retailers’ capabilities with search and discovery, cart and checkout, promising and fulfillment, and lots more. See how industry leaders leverage them.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Three of the stories below are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake?

1. An American couple was busted by Israeli authorities for trying to smuggle 375 pounds of Fruit Roll-Ups into the country.
2. Hundreds of pounds of cooked pasta was found mysteriously dumped in the woods in New Jersey.
3. Spirit Airlines will install a champagne fountain on select flights as part of its collaboration with Veuve Clicquot.
4. A group of Dutch nuns are desperately trying to get rid of over 60,000 bottles of wine.

Keep reading for the answer.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• How Topicals is building a brand ambassador ecosystem on the blockchain
• Can digital resale platforms catch up to actual resale storefronts?
• How air-fryer influencers helped the appliance heat up