Rapidly Trending Topics, Insights, and Analysis Update on 2022-10-19

Gorpcore

Gorpcore is a streetwear trend heavily influenced by hiking and other outdoor activities.

Many consumers spent significant amounts of money on outdoor gear during the pandemic. They’re now wearing this apparel in their day-to-day lives as a way to “get their money’s worth” out of them.

Also, several celebrities (Bella Hadid, Frank Ocean, Hailey Bieber, etc.) have been spotted wearing gorpcore apparel, adding to the recent spike in interest for this style.

Now brands are looking for ways to capitalize on this increased interest.

For example, Gucci recently partnered with The North Face to release a high-end gorpcore collection.

What’s Next

Gorpcore is part of the Functional Clothing meta trend.

Functional clothing (anti-sweat, cold-resistant, anti-odor, etc.) is a fast-growing market within the apparel space.

This increased interest is illustrated through search patterns (searches for “functional wear” have almost doubled since 2018.)

Data Augmentation

Data augmentation is the process of artificially increasing the amount of data from existing datasets.

This technique is seeing increased adoption in image classification and NLP machine learning algorithms.

Image classifying ML algorithms require a large dataset containing various images. However, in many cases, the datasets available are very limited which can lead to “data overfitting”.

(Data overfitting is a statistical error resulting from limited datasets).

Blurring, rotating, and padding images via data augmentation enables the creation of more images from an existing dataset.

What’s Next

Data augmentation is part of the Alternative AI Training Datasets meta trend.

Training AI models is getting more expensive, largely due to expenses related to obtaining robust datasets.

For many startups and other smaller institutions, the cost of gathering real-life AI datasets often exceeds their entire computing budgets.

This has created the need to find alternative ways to generate the datasets required to train AI models.

Synthetic data is an example of a trending technique used to generate cheaper datasets.

In fact, Gartner forecasts that by 2030, synthetic data will become the primary data source used to train AI models.

Living Building Material

Living building material is construction material designed to mimic live organisms in some way (for example, by self-repairing).

Often, actual living bacteria or fungi are added to the materials to achieve this effect.

And there’s even early research looking into using bacteria to create building materials from scratch.

In addition to the practical benefits, like self-repair or self-replication, many of the organic processes in living building materials actually draw in CO2 from the atmosphere. By contrast, traditional concrete is responsible for up to 8% of global emissions.

But the technology is still largely at an experimental stage. One major hurdle is keeping microorganisms alive in inhospitable environments like concrete. Even the most successful projects only see a survival rate of about 9-14% of bacterial colonies after 30 days.

What’s Next

Living building material is part of the Sustainable Construction meta trend.

The construction industry as a whole is forecast to be worth $10.5T by 2023. And we’re seeing a growing interest in sustainable tech in this space.

For example, searches for “sustainable concrete” have grown by 41% in the last 24 months, whereas “sustainable cement” searches have increased by 166% over that same time period.

Statement Candle

Statement candles are purely decorative candles that aren’t meant to be burned.

This product category initially gained traction during the pandemic. Today, due to their high price tag of $50-$100, statement candles are trending largely because they’ve become status symbols on Instagram and TikTok.

In fact, statement candles are forecasted to be the main growth driver of the candle industry through 2028.

Examples of trending statement candles include the female body candle, the cube candle and the bendy candle.

What’s Next

Statement Candles are part of the Statement Home Decor meta trend.

Statement home decor pieces are items that are designed to be one of the first things that catches someone’s eye when entering a room.

According to a survey conducted by Furniture Today, Millennials and Gen X consumers consider home decor more important than baby boomers. Which is why they’re investing more into statement home decor products.

Weighted Stuffed Animals

Weighted stuffed animals are plush toys that weigh significantly more than traditional stuffed animals (typically between 2 and 5 pounds.)

Certain studies suggest that heavy stuffed animals can initiate a relaxation response, which can help children with ADHD and anxiety. This use case is the main reason that this product category is taking off.

In fact, one highly-rated weighted stuffed animal generates around $58K/month on Amazon.

What’s Next

Weighted stuffed animals are part of the Deep Pressure Simulation meta trend.

Around 10% of US children suffer from ADHD, whereas another 7% suffer from anxiety.

And parents are increasingly turning to deep pressure simulation as a natural treatment option.

Sensory swings and sensory socks are examples of trending deep pressure products.

Text Classification Model

Text classification models use machine learning, NLP and AI to automatically classify and organize text.

This makes the process of text analysis faster and significantly more efficient.

Interest in this technology is increasing primarily among B2C companies.

Specifically, classifying and organizing text is being used to help B2C brands understand consumer preferences at scale.

MonkeyLearn and Heat Intelligence are examples of trending text classification tools.

What’s Next

Text classification models are part of the Text Analytics meta trend.

Text analytics is a method of identifying patterns and trends from large amounts of text-based data.

Social media analytics is currently the main use case for text analytics software.

However, the technology is increasingly used for internal use. Specifically, organizations are starting to use text analytics to understand how employees interact with each other.

This can supposedly help pinpoint inefficiencies and points of friction within the organization.

All of this is why the text analytics tools market is forecasted to triple in size over the next three years.

Avocado Oil Spray

Avocado oil spray is a type of plant-based cooking spray pressed from avocado pulp.

Avocado oil is highly touted for having the highest smoke point among all cooking oils (470°F).

By comparison, other oils commonly used in the US have notably lower smoke points, including olive oil (374–405°F) and canola oil (400°F).

Sales of avocado oil have experienced double-digit growth over the past few years (one of the few oil categories with significant growth).

Avocado oil has a forecasted CAGR of 6.5% through 2024, reaching an estimated market size of $1.1B.

One of the major brands in this category, Chosen Foods (which makes a wide range of avocado-based products, including cooking oils, sprays, and mayo), has seen a 40% CAGR over the past 3 years.

What’s Next

Avocado spray oil is a part of the alternative oils meta trend.

Besides a growing number of single-ingredient alternative oils (like help oil and pumpkin seed oil) we’re also seeing more alternative oil blends hit the market.

For example, New Zealand-based Cocavo built a specialist brand by combining coconut and avocado oil, along with flavors like lime, ginger, turmeric, and chili. The startup has generated more than $12M in revenue to date.

Beard Roller

A beard roller is a tool that consists of a cylinder-shaped head made up of microneedles.

The tool is rolled across the face, resulting in small punctures to the skin.

Some studies have suggested that this process encourages collagen production, which can stimulate beard growth.

Interest in this product category is trending largely because beard rollers have gone viral on TikTok.

In fact, videos mentioning the product have generated over 336 million views on the platform.

What’s Next

Beard rollers are part of the Beard Growth Products meta trend.

The market for beard care products is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 6.7% in the next four years.

But beard growth products are estimated to grow at approximately twice that rate.

Examples of trending beard growth products include beard growth serums, beard growth oils and beard growth gummies.

We’re also seeing increased interest for beard growth kits (searches for “beard growth kits” have increased by 1400% in the last five years).

Seed Paper

Seed paper is paper made with embedded seeds.

The paper can be planted directly into soil, which can eventually grow into live plants.

Interest in seed paper is growing as manufacturers are starting to use the material to create eco-friendly, plantable packaging for their products.

For instance, Grow-a-Note is a startup that manufactures various types of seed paper: seed cards, seed gift wrappers and seed envelopes.

What’s Next

Seed paper is part of the Plantable Packaging meta trend.

54% of US consumers say that sustainable packaging plays a significant role in their purchasing decisions.

And plantable packaging is becoming a practical option, thanks to a growing number of companies that offer plantable packaging solutions on an enterprise level.

Reverse ETL

ETL, short for “extract, transform and load”, is the process of transferring data from an application to a data warehouse.

(For example, from a CRM like Salesforce into a data warehouse like Google BigQuery).

Reverse ETL, as the name suggests, is the inverse of that process.

The reverse ETL process makes warehouse data actionable by feeding that data directly into third-party tools that an organization uses.

For example, someone using Salesforce can quickly gather data about a group of customers sent into their workflow.

Interest in reverse ETL tools has skyrocketed ever since the first batch of reverse ETL tools (like Census) were launched late last year.

What’s Next

Reverse ETL is part of the Operational Analytics meta trend.

Operational analytics is the process of using data analytics to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

The rise of new technologies (like reverse ETL) is why the operational analytics market is forecasted to 3x by 2027.

Lip Plumper Gloss

Lip plumper glosses are products that make the lips appear fuller and plumper.

The product has gone viral on TikTok, with videos mentioning lip plumpers amassing over 465 million views on the platform.

Interest in this product category initially began when Mikayla Nogueira, a popular makeup artist and influencer, posted a review video of the Derol lip plumper gloss.

This video quickly gathered over 15 million views and over 3.4 million likes on TikTok.

What’s Next

Lip plumper glosses are part of the TikTok Makeup meta trend.

TikTok has become home to a vast makeup community.

Searches for “TikTok makeup” have increased by 6300% in the last five years.

In fact, the hashtag #makeup has over 300 billion views on the platform.

Lip glow oil, contour wands and hair perfectors are examples of trending makeup products that were put on the map thanks largely to TikTok.

Cloud Visualization Software

Cloud visualization software allows organizations to visualize their cloud infrastructure.

This is helpful as visualizing cloud infrastructure enables businesses to better understand cloud resources and pinpoint cost inefficiencies.

It also helps to demonstrate compliance and identify potential compliance violations.

Fugue and LucidScale are examples of trending cloud visualization tools.

What’s Next

Cloud visualization software is part of the Cloud Cost Monitoring meta trend.

Approximately 82% of organizations say that implementing cloud systems turned out to be more expensive than initially thought.

A large chunk of this cost comes from inefficiencies and mismanagement of cloud infrastructure.

For example, last year companies wasted over $26 billion on idle cloud space and “always on” resources.

Which is why a growing number of companies are actively looking for ways to mitigate these costs.

In fact, according to one survey, 61% of organizations consider cloud cost optimization and monitoring their #1 cloud-related initiative.