Codes of Culture | Issue 85

Culture, code, and climate collide across this week’s sharpest innovations.

Welcome back to this mid-week’s Codes of Culture. This Friday will be our last weekly newsletter as we take a much-needed break and return to regular programming the week of August 18th.

As sustainability narratives collide with retail reinvention, we’re seeing fashion, tech, and design rewire both aesthetics and infrastructure in real time.

In this week’s roundup: Bravest Studios turns packaging into wearable satire, Lone Design Club launches an Airbnb-style platform for IRL retail, Dover Street Market pivots from curator to creator, and Crocs gets a tactical makeover via Aries. Plus, a major spike in fashion’s emissions reignites scrutiny over polyester, Phlur’s scent-driven rise attracts new investment, and Figma gears up for a billion-dollar IPO.

From AI-fuelled shopping shifts to Arctic mythologies in UK art, these stories signal a cultural economy in flux, philosophical, commercial, and increasingly climate-conscious.

Scroll on for ten stories shaping the week in innovation, fashion, beauty, and design.
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