Arc’teryx embraces sensory restraint in brand storytelling
Global – In an increasingly noisy world, high-performance outdoorwear brand Arc’teryx is reframing mountain sports as a meditative form of presence, suspension and sensory quiet.
A new short film, Tune In, Out There, features Canadian snowboarder Spencer O’Brien moving through alpine landscapes in slow motion, accompanied by a reflective voiceover: ‘This is what it feels like when everything dissolves and time stands still.’
Rather than emphasising speed or technical performance, the film centres on stillness and reduced stimulation, aligning with a wider cultural desire to step outside of the attention economy. As digital noise intensifies, consumers are increasingly drawn to environments that allow for mental decompression and heightened awareness.
The campaign echoes themes explored in our Designing Silence report, which identifies silence as a strategic design tool rather than an absence. From retail to hospitality and media, brands are beginning to engineer quiet moments that support focus, emotional regulation and deeper connection.
Arc’teryx’s film positions sensory restraint as a marketing advantage, showing how silence, slowness and reduced stimulation can be deliberately designed to hold attention, deepen emotional impact and signal premium value in an overcrowded media landscape.
Strategic opportunity
Design moments of deliberate restraint across brand output, reducing sound, speed and stimulus to create focus and signal lasting presence within the attention economy
Clair introduces continuous monitoring wearable for hormone health
US – Clair is a new start-up from Stanford University building what it calls ‘life-stage intelligence’: a non-invasive, continuous hormonal health monitor.
Available from November 2026, the wrist-worn device combines 10 biosensors with AI to interpret skin temperature, heart rate, heart rate variablility (HRV), respiratory rate, electrodermal activity and sleep data, generating real-time estimates of oestrogen and progesterone, alongside luteinising hormone (LH), which triggers ovulation, and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which matures eggs in the ovary.
Tested on more than 40 women across 127 menstrual cycles, producing over 5,000 days of data, Clair reports 94.1% accuracy in classifying cycle phase from wearable signals. LH surges were detected with 87% sensitivity and timing accuracy within 1.2 days. The company says performance remains consistent for women with irregular cycles and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
Clair’s launch aligns with key themes from our Future Forecast 2026: Sport, Health and Wellness report. As self-responsibility reshapes attitudes to wellness, consumers are increasingly receptive to passive, always-on technologies that deliver early, practical insights with minimal friction. At the same time, persistent gaps in access to clinically proven interventions for women are driving demand for self-monitoring tools, making Clair a timely addition to the wearables market.
Strategic opportunity
Build health solutions that evolve with consumers over years, anticipating needs linked to hormonal changes, metabolism or life-stage transitions, making wearables a companion for long-term wellbeing
Stat: Why decarbonisation without finance is stalling fashion’s sustainability transition
Global – As global temperatures breach the 1.5°C threshold, a new roadmap is urging fashion brands to pay a fair share for the energy transition in Bangladesh, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable manufacturing hubs.
Published by Stand.earth, Oxfam in Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS), the report exposes a widening gap between brand climate pledges and conditions on the factory floor.
Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest apparel exporter, yet only six of 42 major fashion brands assessed in Stand.earth’s 2025 Fossil Free Fashion Scorecard reported providing any decarbonisation finance to suppliers and just one offered non-loan funding. None provided clear evidence of financing or training to support climate adaptation for workers, even as factory temperatures reach 40°C.
The roadmap warns that unfair purchasing practices, inaccessible finance and policy barriers are pushing climate risk onto suppliers and workers. Without corrective action, brand-led compliance could accelerate factory closures, job losses and consolidation across the sector.
Keep an eye on our Fashion sector for insights into how climate accountability is reshaping global supply chains, alongside emerging opportunities for innovation in Sustainability.
Strategic opportunity
Strengthen supply chain resilience by absorbing climate adaptation and decarbonisation costs into core business models, rather than externalising risk to suppliers and workers