Hoaxbusters, Parade Panties & American Unions ⛑

Why does it matter? 

Since the start of the pandemic, there has been what people are now calling an infodemic - a proliferation of hoax sites, particularly around health care. These sites don’t care about reliable news, only ad revenue. And the fake news brings them a lot of ads - especially from drug and vaccine companies. According to the World Economic Forum and Reuters Institute Digital News Report, the U.S. ranks fourth in exposure to unreliable sources of news. 

The scope of such startups: 

Google search can only give you information, but you need to have a certain smartness to access the right kind. That’s what these startups help you with: finding the right kind of information so you don’t add to the fake news wagon. 

Researchers and academic institutes have increasingly started licensing services of reliability startups. Some government agencies also subscribe to the company’s “misinformation fingerprints.”

The biggest conceivable opportunity for such startups is tech giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Twitter. Since a lot of people use these sites for direct search and a regular source of information, incorporating reliability ratings into these sites could be a huge milestone in information economy. 

There’s never been a better time to unionize than right now. 

American employees in 2022 have more leverage over their employers than they did 50 years ago. 

Reasons: The pandemic that began in 2020 prompted a widespread reevaluation about work and life priorities. Add to that macro trends of labor shortages, burnouts, and income equality, and you realise that the balance of power in the economy has now shifted from employers to employees. 

Compare this to what was happening a few decade ago. The way the law is written and has been interpreted over the last 86 years made it almost impossible, in the private sector in America, to form a union. But today, there’s a fertile ground for Americans to seek higher wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions. 

Take the Starbucks and Kelloggs unions for example. Or the ongoing high-profile unionization efforts and actions by workers at Amazon and tech review site Wirecutter. 

The new American worker - who’s been known for putting in more hours than people in most other industrialized nations - wants progress and money and a work-life balance. And now is the best time in almost a century of worker history to demand for these.

Roughly 11 million pounds of underwear end up in US landfill sites every day - equivalent to nearly 41 blue whales’ worth of waste. 

In other words, the stuff in your panties can literally pollute the world.  

Which is why so many companies are coming up with fancy ideas to create undergarments. Soma rolled out used-bra donation services, Walmart introduced plant-based bra cups, and today. And Parade - a 3-year old startup - is now setting up an underwear recycling program. 

How does it work:

• The company will send free packages, which include a biodegradable bag and a prepaid return shipping label, upon request from the Parade website. 
• Consumers will then pack up clean, gently used pairs of underwear (from any brand) and return them in exchange for store credit/discount.
• The returned underwear will be recycled into new products like insulation, furniture, and bedding.

Why does it matter?

Most would argue that they’ve been recycling clothes for years dropping them off in charity boxes around the corner. So how are recycling startups like these any different? 

For one, there are so many exposés and RFID investigations into clothing drop boxes, and most of the time, the clothes are destroyed or even sold for fuel in poor countries. A 2014 New York Times investigation found that many collection bins are in fact scams. But its hard to expect transparency reports from charity institutes. With startups like Parade, consumers can rightfully trace what has happened to their used underwear. 

Upcycled clothing has long been a part of the fashion industry. And of course, we are far away from a circular economy, but this is another step in that direction.