Youth Culture 2021

We unpack some of the big ideas and cutting-edge developments that will shape youth culture in 2021, from the swelling influence of NFTs to quiltcore and the rise of squad investing

Quentin Humphrey 03.11.21 · 20 minutes

Team Rolfes Analysis

In this report, we explore the key ideas and themes set to impact youth culture in 2021 as young consumers evolve in the era of coronavirus.

A year aer the coronavirus shook society to its core, it has become abundantly clear that the lockdown has psychologically and materially shied the behaviour of young consumers worldwide. In 2020 youth across the globe lost economic opportunities, missed traditional milestones and forfeited relationships at a pivotal time for forming identity. A report by the Center for Generational Kinetics found that since the start of Covid-19, 36% of Gen Z are feeling stressed about saving money while 35% are stressed about supporting their basic needs. While this unprecedented time has brought on endless setbacks, it has also given rise to new movements, communities and brands. As we look ahead to a post-pandemic era, many are predicting the next few years could see young people compensating for the experiences they missed out on. As a result of the pandemic, youth have a renewed appreciation for friends and family and will carry this deep need for connection through as a defining characteristic. Second Life Youth culture in 2021 will be marked by 'micropreneurship', (the process of building small-scale entrepreneurial endeavours enabled by a new generation of technology platforms and tools), authentic community engagement, creative experimentation and alternative means of instruction.

1 Index

From a growing interest in snail mail to the rise of a new creator economy, this report identies the six key themes:

1. NFT power: a resurgence in cryptocurrency gives rise to digital collectibles

Michael Thorpe LaTurbo Avedon 2. Tactile language: the creative renaissance evolves DIY behaviours 3. Social finance: a new wave of fintech turns finance social 4. Cultural teleportation: curious and inclusive youth dive into global cultures 5. Streetcare: streetwear takes on a deeper approach to social justice and charitable efforts 6. Nostalgic media and grey93 @skylarhand communication: youth build new connections with nostalgic mediums

2 NFT power

Cryptocurrency-powered NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have quickly become one of the most discussed topics in 2021, fuelling a new creator economy and pushing society closer into the metaverse.

NFTs are one-of-a-kind digital collectibles that represent a unique good or asset typically minted on the Ethereum blockchain. The bounds of these collectibles are limitless and include everything from decentralised domain names and virtual gaming items to tweets and memes. Similarly to trading cards, todayʼs NFTs can be bought and sold by collectors. The most prevalent NFTs today are digital works oen referred to as crypto art. Explosive adoption: a recent report by DappRadar found that NFTs had their best sales month ever in February. Digital art sales grew by 2,800% in 2020, with the total value of the NFT market reaching $250m. Niy Gateway, a popular NFT marketplace, publicly launched in March 2020, helping creators sell more than $12m of digital art and collectibles. Digital ownership revolution: NFTs are bringing more young creators and consumers into the digital asset world than Bitcoin has so far. NFTs are giving rise to digital drop culture, which combines multiple kinds of cutting- edge business models and technologies including digital scarcity, drop culture, blockchain and cryptocurrency – into direct-to-fan transactions Nifty Gateway that makes real money for artists involved. NFTs also make it possible for super-fans to make money by owning content that can appreciate in value, evolving the passion economy.

3 Community care: NFTs can be used for Digital drop culture: an emerging app called Eco-NFTs: Ethereum, the second-largest community campaigns as well. In November Aglet has been likened to "the Pokémon Go for cryptocurrency in the world by market value, 2020 Calvin Liu, investor at Divergence Ventures, sneakerheads". The platform allows players to operates via a proof-of-work consensus model, bought an NFT from CGI influencer Lil Miquela collect virtual sneakers by walking around which incentivises burning huge amounts of to raise more than $82k for the Black Girls Code outside, and plans to eventually allow its users energy in order to “mine” new tokens. In charity. In January, cryptocurrency evangelist and brand partners to launch their own virtual March Zora, a popular NFT marketplace for Mai Fujimoto, known commonly as Miss Bitcoin, retail stores in the app. This new model could musicians, announced it was starting to combat partnered with blockchain gaming ecosystem have serious implications for the growing Ethereumʼs emissions cost through a dedicated Enjin to launch Japanʼs first NFT charity project. metaverse. carbon offset. This will be a crucial addition for artists interested in fighting the climate crisis.

4 The images on the left are some of the most relevant NFT use cases in recent months.

A new creator-friendly economy: NFTs are accelerating the trend of creators monetising directly with their fans. These blockchain collectibles create a decentralised marketplace for creators without platform intermediaries taking a sizeable cut of earnings, ownership or Axie Innity even controlling how the digital work is @loganpaul Rarible An NFT in the guise of a plot of virtual land on distributed. Marketplaces powered by In February, Logan Paul partnered with peer- Actor and entertainer Lindsay Lohan minted blockchain marketplace and gaming platform NFTs open up new revenue streams for to-peer exchange Bondly to sell 1,772 NFTs and sold her rst NFT, dubbed Lightning, for Axie Innity sold for a record-breaking $1.5m for approximately $3.5m in sales more than $50k via the Rarible platform (888.25 Ethereum) in February creators; anytime digital work is resold the original creator automatically gets a percentage of those secondary sales. Authenticity awareness: importantly, all NFT transactions are public, transparent and governed by code on the blockchain – a big shi from the creator economy we know today. Several platforms are emerging to assist artists on their NFT journey. Verisart for instance is a blockchain verification

NBA Top Shot Kings of Leon platform for artists. Other web platforms Beeple like OpenSea and Rarible allow the In 2019 the NBA partnered with Vancouver- Kings of Leon became the rst band to release based blockchain company Dapper Labs to a new album in the form of an NFT. The album, In February, British auction house Christie's budding crypto community to connect, launch NBA Top Shot – collectible NFT titled When You See Yourself, was unveiled via hosted a sale from the artists' collection, transact and authenticate their assets. highlights that have garnered $230m as of three types of tokens as part of a series called marking the rst time NFT art was sold at an March NFT Yourself auction house 5 Tactile language

A new set of tactile and craft-focused youth are emerging, as quarantine hobbies evolve into new lifestyles and rituals.

The global cras market is expected to value $48bn by 2025, as DIY design continues to seed itself deep into the lives of curious and creative youth. Rise of sew bros and crochet queens: the creative renaissance birthed by the pandemic has given rise to a growing cohort of tactile, cra-focused youth. Many young consumers took this opportunity to make masks while stuck indoors, and got submerged into the art of sewing. As lockdown measures loomed, Google searches for "sewing machines" jumped 400% in the US, with department store John Lewis reporting that sales of them had risen by 127% in April 2020. The r/sewing community on Reddit is steadily growing and becoming increasingly diverse. One reddit user u/SanneChan shared “Good to see more attention for the wastefulness of fast fashion and how sewing can be more sustainable. I hope more male sewists will lead to more high quality masculine sewing patterns.” The recent movement has broken free of historical stereotypes that sewing, embroidery, and needlepoint are exclusively done by women. The future of Michael Thorpe sewing will move beyond gender roles in favour of appreciation for the cra and understanding of its alignment with slow consumption.

6 The tuing boom: artist Tim Eads, Instagram accounts like Quiltcore: the quilted patchwork He shared with Esquire: “Sewing who operates Tuing Gun, shared @imakerugs, @locarpet_cra, movement in fashion has been has been very beneficial to my with Vice in August 2020 that his @unwelcome.mats and @rugg.ratz championed in recent seasons by mental health. Donʼt get me wrong, business has grown three times are building sustainable businesses brands like Greg Lauren and Emily some projects can be draining and since lockdown began in March through commissions for their Bode. Newly established brand annoying. But when Iʼm creating 2020. This stems from established textile work. Stan, launched in 2020 by 23-year- something, I donʼt have to really and emerging fibre artists, Today #rugtiktok has more than old artist and surfer Tristan worry about any outside noise. Just furniture designers, entrepreneurs, 202m views, while #tutheworld Detwiler, is also building on me and my machine is a perfect and influencers who are all has passed 33m views. 22-year-old fashionʼs move toward upcycled combo.” fuelling a tuing boom. Claire Molenda has become a clothing and has already drawn Quiltcore is also informing artistic Creative brand builders like Sean #rugtiktok sensation for her comparisons to Bode with its one- pursuits. 27-year-old Brown and Bailey Goldberg kicked surrealist rug designs. Her rug- of-a-kind quilted garments. Massachusetts-based textile artist off the rug rush prior to the making videos have received more The power of quiltcore lies in its Michael Thorpe produces large- implementation of lockdown than a million views to date, and in ability to marry sustainability and scale portraits using quilting measures. A thriving rug December 2020 she produced a storytelling. The repurposed techniques he learned from his marketplace has quickly developed tued coat and an oversized textiles are oen storied, giving the mum. Pictures of Thorpe's quilts on Instagram, where budding bucket hat. 2021 will see the tuing style a deeper meaning beyond its regularly rack up hundreds of likes textile designers and DIY movement flourish as artists and aesthetic. Those participating in on his Instagram feed and he has enthusiasts share and sell their DIY enthusiasts evolve the medium the quiltcore movement may be been profiled by The Boston Globe custom wares to thousands of beyond custom rugs in pursuit of doing so for therapeutic purposes. for his quiltwork. followers interested in adding flair more individualised garments. 20-year-old Ishmael Jasmin, who In 2021, quiltcore will encourage to their floors. launched his own label dubbed young consumers to think of their @anguish.LA in March 2020, cras clothing as objects to maintain streetwear-esque pieces with woven rather than mere grails to cop. blanket materials.

7 Social nance

The intersection of social and nance paired with shifting attitudes around what youth share about money online has given way to an ambitious new set of communities online and a wave of nancial products.

Fintech is becoming increasingly prevalent in today's social fabric. In March, fintech platform Square acquired a majority stake in Jay-Z's music streaming service Tidal, pointing to a broader shi at the intersection of social, popular culture, and finance. The rise of social investing and squad wealth: it is no longer taboo to talk about money in social spaces. Micropreneurs and budding investors are now connecting on new social fintech platforms to share knowledge, support fellow retail investors, and build community around a collective goal of making money. It is safe to say we are now entering the era of SoFi. Personal finance communities have been taking off even more since the beginning of the pandemic. Reddit's r/WallStreetBets has increased from 778k users in January 2020 to 9.5m in March of this year. With the help of new plug-and-play financial tools, squads are becoming more economically and socially resilient. Individuals may have limited Kard access to compounding returns, but groups have greater flexibility to move along the risk-reward curve. By risking together through information sharing, a scrappy group can gain access to multiplicative yields, solidifying the path to squad wealth. In 2021, a social fabric built on collective progress paired with emerging fintech will unleash a wave of bottom-up economic experiments including P2P borrowing, anonymous lending pools, collective insurance, and meme ventures.

8 Addressing community Rise of fin-fluencers: Gen Zs are Social equity and Filling a void in personal finance concerns: the growing interest in turning to a new generation of fundraising: youth will continue to education: a recent FINRA social finance presents a way for young financial influencers, such apply new community-centric Investor Education Foundation brands to engage with niche as @makerealcents, Taylor Price fundraising models to secure study found that there is a clear communities and underserved and Amanda Frances (known capital. Human IPO is a pioneering trend of declining financial groups. Visaʼs Fintech Fast Track online as the Money Queen), who marketplace for investing in literacy among current populations Programme, launched in speak their language, distill people. Similarly, ACE, short for in the US. On average, young November 2020, aims to support complex principles into digestible Artist Crowdfund Exchange, allows Americans couldn't answer most LGBTQ+ consumers by addressing formats, and educate users based rising entertainers to seek and financial literacy questions community-specific financial on their own mistakes and lessons receive funding from the correctly, yet each of us must make decisions, such as gender learned. community of supporters. On ACE financial decisions daily. From transition. Another new US-based Many successful content creators the community can invest in the managing a budget, consolidating banking service, Simba, is and social influencers are young budding creators and entertainers savings, financing a purchase, or designed to help immigrant and havenʼt had the opportunity they know and love to grow their preparing for retirement, our lives communities through financial yet to build up a strong credit own capital on a secure, intuitive, are paved with financial decisions education programmes, savings profile. Karat hopes to fill that void inclusive digital space. that are still poorly informed. This clubs, and free international as the first bank card reserved for Budding platform Fairmint also void is surfacing an engagement money transfers. Challenger banks top influencers, granting access allows startups and creators to opportunity for platforms like and other communities of financial GoHenry, which teaches finance to based on oneʼs social metrics. The offer its users the possibility to support will serve as launchpads average Karat Black Card support the company by investing adolescents with its card and for young consumers in search of pocket money management cardholder has over $100k in the during its early stages of financial freedom. bank and one million combined development. application. followers on popular social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Twitch and TikTok, says founder Will Kim.

9 Case study

These brands are serving youth in new ways as young people express a growing interest in the nancial sector.

Gamified finance: in 2021 gamification will be the social card of personal finance and stock trading. Taking on

meemo financial challenges is becoming more Greenwood @publichello appealing for youth, with tools such as Meemo is a personal nance application that Greenwood, a new digital bank co-created by Public is part investing app, part community, functions as a gamied digital wallet, providing TillerHQ promoting 30-day challenges to rapper Killer Mike, prioritises Black and Latinx where users can share ideas and collaborate personalised insights and rewards alongside regain control over your finances. consumers, and specialises in nancing with other investors. The app also allows new recommendations and social validation from a entrepreneurial projects investors to purchase fractional shares user's friends Fantasy Invest also gamifies the stock market experience, giving players the thrill of sports competition combined with the ups and downs of the stock market. The mechanics are similar to Fantasy Sports games, where players assemble virtual teams of real-world athletes.

Laguna MoneyMail Ensydr Laguna has been likened to the OnlyFans for Powered by memes and backed by dollars, investment portfolios, allowing users to Ensydr presents itself as the "e-sport of MoneyMail allows users to create their own generate a dedicated page that can be shared nance", inviting users to predict, play, and win money and digital goods to engage their on different social networks, especially on coins for accurate predictions. The objectives community Twitter are intended to be fun and educational 10 Cultural teleportation

Today’s online youth are now choosing to virtually teleport to opposite ends of the world, peeping into the lives, sights and sounds of complete strangers and unfamiliar cultures.

The phrase 'cultural teleportation' surfaced in a February tweet from David Pogue, when the tech writer discovered Radio.Garden. Although the global radio platform is not new, it lends itself to the growing movement of sonic social. Now the desire to immerse oneself in an unfamiliar culture is picking up steam, particularly with a growing set of young Conductors. International instruction: in January, streetwear vanguard Slam Jam unveiled its new community and think tank Circle, which seeks to evoke a strong sense of cultural teleportation. The aim of the platform is to provoke vibrant conversations based on multiculturalism and inclusiveness, using Milan as a launchpad. When travel shut down in March 2020, Culture Trip kept its community of young travellers connected by offering virtual cooking classes via Zoom with various chefs from across the globe. Experienced chefs from Mumbai to Kraków offered lockdown youth a chance to socialise with other quarantined travellers and foodies while picking up culinary techniques from different cultures. Young people are also taking it upon themselves to Slam Jam Circle fill the knowledge gap around their cultures online. This knowledge- sharing is becoming especially popular on TikTok. For example, 20-year-old Kymon Palau has built a 310k following for her content on her Navajo and Tongan heritage, accumulating 8.3m likes.

11 New and established cultural teleportation platforms are adding texture to the great indoors.

New global connections: youth are sharing and soaking in culture across borders and via distant connections. Spotifyʼs Culture Next Report 2020 found that despite differing backgrounds, 61% of Gen Zs and Millennials are friends with someone from a different country Window Swap Radio Garden online. In a post-pandemic world,

Window Swap allows users to peek into the views of different locations Dutch nonprot radio platform Radio.Garden live-broadcasts more than cultural teleportation will continue to across the globe, inviting them to “open a new window somewhere in 8k global radio stations 24 hours a day, offering transnational appeal to young Conductors, who the world” at the click of a button encounters and sonic escapism demand new experiences. Post-pandemic staying power: although cultural teleportation may be a symptom of the pandemic, its staying power lies in its ability to give youth without the resources to travel the chance to soak up and participate in various global cultures. Brands will need to evolve their CQ (cultural intelligence) into cultural fluency to survive and thrive with Highsnobiety I Miss My Bar youthful consumers. In 2021, the interest Highsnobiety's ongoing digital exhibition Not In Paris is brings the in new communities and lifestyles via excitement of fashion week to the virtual stage, connecting audiences I Miss My Bar aims to recreate the ambience of a crowded spot via with brands, artists and creatives in lieu of cancelled fashion week audio. Tracks containing the sounds of bartenders working, people cultural teleportation will boost the festivities talking, and drinks being served can be controlled individually demand for transcultural products by young consumers from their favourite 12 brands. Streetcare

A fresh crop of socially conscious, politically active and community- driven labels are building brands focused on giving back, evolving their fashion from streetwear to streetcare.

At its core streetcare is anti-hype and pro-community. It's centred around helping communities and consumers that show support by purchasing and wearing the brandʼs products. Streetcare provides a much-needed turning point that is distinguishing streetwear labels from luxury fashion houses, who are typically slower to stand in solidarity with social justice movements like BLM. An altruistic push: in 2020 Supreme donated $500k to a list of social justice charities, while Brain Dead collaborated with recording artist Dev Hynes on a T-shirt drop that raised over half a million dollars for Black and LGBTQIA+ communities. In May 2020 London-based Palace launched a collection dubbed NHS Tri To Help and sent profits to support the work of the NHS's official charities.These highly reactive efforts point to a growing culture of kindness, and charitable collections are becoming more commonplace in the streetwear ecosystem. At a more grassroots level, rising streetwear label Renowned LA tapped anticapitalist activist Angela Davis for a capsule collaboration in December The Kickback 2020. A portion of the proceeds from the drop went to Underground Grit, an organisation centred on prison reform and decriminalisation for incarcerated youth. In 2021 we will continue to see limited-run products that funnel donations into a number of community initiatives that nod to the push for altruism in streetwear.

13 From social signalling to signal boosting: previously the streetwear Consolidating ethical efforts: with an acute understanding of community centred itself on social signalling via co-opted logos and cheeky greenwashing and its adverse effects, youth are imploring brands to take a graphics. In 2021 signal boosting, the act of amplifying a message, typically deeper dive into the meaning of climate health to build a more circular done by resharing information online, will take shape IRL via streetcare. streetwear ecosystem. Launched in January, FUTUREVVORLD aims to Interest and action around social justice will continue to grow in 2021 as provide a space for the environmentally conscious fashion set to gather youth prioritise radical inclusivity. and learn, while striving to improve the streetwear industryʼs awareness and In March, Ruba Abu-Nimah and Philip Lim's NY TOUGHER THAN impact on the planet. EVER project produced a series of #StopAsianHate keychains, with 100% of In March, New York-based label NOAH introduced its all-new Not Dead Yet net proceeds going to AAPI grassroots organisations. Youth today are initiative, which allows customers to exchange old and unused brand items intrinsically aware of and active in social issues, so look for increased signal for store credit. The label is known for its eco-friendly ethos and sets the boosting from established brands and bedroom designers alike. bar when it comes to sustainability in streetwear. In 2021 youth will to take action to protect the environment through streetcare programmes.

14 Nostalgic media and communication

Inundated with big tech, social media and excess screen time, quarantined youth will seek alternative methods to build connections in both URL and IRL.

Pandemic penpals: keeping in touch via snail mail has grown in popularity as an answer to Zoom fatigue for youth seeking alternative methods to build connections. On TikTok #penpal has more than 158m views and #snailmail has surpassed 48m views. New communities have also emerged to put ambitious penpals in contact with each other. Penpal exchange #Penpalooza was launched in 2020 to connect people during the pandemic, and now has over 10k members from over 75 different countries. Snaily-mail is another newly established Tumblr blog dedicated to helping youth find new penpals and acting as a trusted source to get advice about maintaining penpal relationships. The community is very much a part of the cottagecore ecosystem, as depicted by the siteʼs mushroom and plant aesthetic. Increased interest in the slow communication of letter writing has also spiked interest in decorated stationery, delicate calligraphy, colourful collages, vintage paper and rubber stamps, as well as tactile wax seals. These motifs are very apparent on Instagram where #penpalswanted has @skylarhand more than 369k posts. Young creatives are also building separate profiles for their letter writing endeavours, offering links in their bios to penpal forms. Some of the most exciting penpallers include @penpalsophiee, @snailmailhannah, @skylarhand and @shacee.

15 The return of periodicals: we previously noted the rise of new Initially, the only way to get a copy of the newspaper, without knowing the experimental publications that go against the grain of the typical duo, was to physically pick one up from a newspaper cubby that they had content manifesting in the form of anti-publications and quaranzines. This repurposed, located on Canal Street in the Lower East Side. However, their momentum will carry into 2021 as the accelerated news cycle and adverse recent boom in popularity has allowed them to scale up to ship nationwide. effects of doomscrolling continue to prompt creative and industrious youth Another budding quaranzine, High Fashion Talk, produces news to build to publish their own physical news mediums. brand awareness. It offers analysis and insight as well as opinions that In 2020 recent graduates Claire Banse and Gutes Guterman proved that prove the value of fashion. According to the site, 59% of its community are print is not dead when they launched The Drunken Canal – a newspaper between the ages of 18-24. Look for more community-led print projects in for the in-crowd of Downtown New York. The newspaper-esque project 2021 as consumers fight misinformation with hyper-local slow news features eclectic classifieds from locals, baking recipes, columns, publications. horoscopes, and love letters.

16 Nostalgic social media: in 2021 behaviours like internostalgia will continue to influence how youth congregate in digital spaces. In December 2020, 18- year-old German student An created SpaceHey, a carbon-copy of 2000s platform MySpace. The platform recreates a simpler nostalgia-inducing form of social networking with custom CSS profile pages that were popular in the early days of social. There are no newsfeeds or algorithms vying for attention, and no pressure to perform for likes or retweets. The result is an experience that feels less addictive than Facebook or Twitter. In a nod to MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson, An automatically befriends every new user who creates a profile on the site. In a tweet, An explained that while he never experienced MySpace firsthand, he had heard plenty about it on the internet and from older friends. Anʼs sentiment confirms the steadfast interest youth have in Y2K anemoia. In February, shuttered UK-based social network Bebo relaunched, 12 years aer ceasing its operations. Bebo is currently in closed private beta and available to join by invitation only. On the site the founders note that this new iteration is “an experiment to reimagine what a social network can be today", and that all original accounts are long gone and unrecoverable.

SpaceHey

17 Action points

Drop a digital Create a zine Speak the tactile Implement micro- Facilitate escape at collectible language moments of home nostalgia

Embrace blockchain Consider how your brand Embrace audience Nostalgia shows no signs Leverage interests in technology and capitalise can empower its creativity by building an of slowing down, and teleportation and DIY 1on the resurgence of 2community to make a 3element of cra into your 4screen fatigue is poised to 5homemaking to help cryptocurrency. Partner short-form zine that brand's products and keep analogue activities young consumers build with an emerging crypto elevates and educates your services. Tap into the hyper-relevant. Recreate spaces that bring them creator or established customer base. Combat growing interest in sewing, nostalgic aesthetics in peace and tranquility entertainer to produce a doomscrolling and fight tuing and quiltcore with contemporary formats, while allowing them to branded collectible item the accelerated news cycle online workshops that like An's SpaceHey project. authentically participate on the blockchain. Look to with a printed zine that allow DIY enthusiasts to Brand therapy via retro- in cultures other than their the NBA's success with speaks to the moment. take a break from screens. inspired content can take own. Look to the Culture NBA Top Shot as a tried Drop your zine around a They're becoming consumers back to Trip's online cooking and tested model. cultural holiday or increasingly aware of the memories of a happier, courses for ways to foster Alternatively, pilot a moment for maximum benefits of a digital hiatus more certain time connection through branded NFT that will add impact and derive therapy from education, culture and a fresh spin to your CRM craing activities homemaking s18trategy Related reports

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