How Important is Fitness, Really?

Apologies! A prior version of this newsletter went out as a draft containing TKs. This is the complete version.

Welcome to Inside The Collective, a newsletter that invites you into the brains, conversations and ideas of Allison Collins and jessica ramírez, friends and cofounders of The Consumer Collective. Here, we share weekly thoughts on consumer sentiment, news, retail, fashion, beauty, business, things we like, things we don’t — and why. We hope it helps you connect the dots across the consumer world.

Don’t miss our latest consumer insights report, which highlights what consumers are spending on this summer + business opportunities.

• Hiring in the U.S. picked up slightly in June, fueled by the health care and construction sectors. Consumer sentiment is also up (for July), as consumers felt optimistic about lower gas prices, however, those gas prices have since gone back up.

• European luxury is underperforming the rest of the market this earnings season, as businesses struggle with weak consumer sentiment and inflation.

  • The Lyst index is out, and top brands include several we mentioned in last season’s most commercial trends report, and several that have new designers: Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Coach, Bottega and Celine (and more) are all on the list.

• The number of CPG companies betting on “premium innovation” to keep people spending is … all of them? It’s worth noting that P&G, the godfather of premiumization, saw flat organic sales this earnings season though it has been implementing (and re-implementing) the strategy for years. While this thinking does have roots in logic — we are constantly telling clients products across all categories have to be ‘worth it’ for the money — there’s a risk of exhausting consumer psyches and wallets here, and consumers are eventually going to have to pick and choose which “premium” products make the cut.

• This has been years in the making, but regular milk is becoming mainstream again as consumers eschew plant-based milks in favor of the cow-based stuff, which is being positioned as “naturally high protein” and more affordable.

• Some private universities in the U.S. are so desperate for students that they’re accepting people who didn’t even apply. For some of these schools, the process, called direct admissions, is helping boost diversity and reach a broader student pool, while new tools give college-goers an easier application experience. It’s also a way to combat the realities of the private college market; schools that lack name recognition and are dependent on tuition revenue have been under pressure for more than a decade.

• People don’t necessarily want to Botox away all their wrinkles anymore. It’s becoming increasingly fashionable to keep some wrinkles for character. This lines up with one of our 2026 predictions earlier this year, that cosmetic treatments would continue moving from Instagram-face to increasingly personalized.

• 500 Sephora stores are about to get an infusion of K-Beauty, thanks to the retailer’s partnership with Olive Young. K-Beauty will also be sold online, and the Sephora-Olive Young partnership will soon be taken global.

• P&G signed a $3.8 billion agreement this week to buy supplements business Thorne. The deal is meant to build up P&G’s wellness offering. Consumer interest in wellness continues, and supplements are one of the categories they spend most reliably on (paid subscribers can see details below in this week’s analysis).

• GLP-1s are becoming increasingly acknowledged as dangerous for patients with certain eating disorders.

• The new owner of Allbirds’ (the shoe company) IP says he wants to turn it into a lifestyle brand, evolving the styles, and launching wholesale accounts globally.

• More college teams are getting corporate sport sponsors. (Allison Collins)

Every Saturday night since arriving in San Antonio to look after my dad post knee replacement, I've looked forward to watching the original Batman series on Me TV. I have forever been a Batman fan — I tell my nieces he is my boyfriend — and somehow I never actually watched the original series until now. It's been refreshing to see how silly it is and at the same time how genuinely creative they were with the costumes (I became obsessed with Pinky Pinkston's outfits), sets and effects. (Jessica Ramírez)

AI Is Giving Your HR Department an Existential Crisis (Bloomberg)

Big Fashion Brands Try on a New Trend: Selling Secondhand Clothes (WSJ)

I Helped Run Lululemon. Companies Need to Stop Kidding Themselves About A.I. (NYTimes)

How an L.A. vintage boutique became a billion-dollar company (LA Times)

Early Results From Our GLP-1 Survey

Consumer & Culture Signals From the 2026 World Cup

Retail Watch List: 96 Companies Making Moves, From Aritzia to Uniqlo

The Analysis is a paid subscriber benefit. This week, we’re sharing some preliminary results from an upcoming consumer insights report on sports and wellbeing. If you’re interested in the full report, please send us a note at info@theconsumercollective.co and we’ll send you a note when it’s live. For more consumer insights, check out our consumer insights library, here.