Mr. Thread

The US government spent $225 million on furniture in September. One month. Every year. The government database with every open contract is public. Incredible opps everywhere you look. sam.gov Amazing how many creative businesses don't know this exists. Now you do!

AD just ran a series on how good design can help you live longer. It's science, if designed right... your bedroom, your lighting, your paint colors can add years to your life. Imagine telling a potential client your work extends their life. Think about how good that could be for business?? Work that messaging in to your marketing and watch the money flow...

Prada used AI in their Spring campaign and customers predictably hated it. I do too. Luxury is supposed to be intentional, expensive, human. AI is fast, cheap, and built on other people's work without asking. The customer's subconscious picks up on this. When you see AI, you just think fast, lazy, unoriginal. Come on Prada... do better.

The top 10% of US earners now drive 50% of consumer spending. That's a record going back to 1989. At my company, the wealthy are still buying. War, rates, tariffs — none of it has slowed them down. Middle-market designers are fighting for scraps. Learn how to market to where the money is.

Find your pack. mrthread.com

I spent years trying to build this kind of community in New York City. Some of it worked. Some of it almost destroyed me financially. That chance is gone. The need isn't.

I got back from LA this week with one thought stuck in my head. Designers are desperate for community. I walked the Pacific Design Center. All three buildings. Green, red, blue. Then I saw how empty it was. That image hasn't left me. 🧵

Mr Thread is now the fastest growing weekly journal on the business of design. Our team pours in hundreds of hours finding the relevant news and insight to help design businesses grow. It means a lot to have that effort rewarded. Grateful to all the readers who have supported us so early on!! We're just getting started.

It takes 10-15 years to become a master upholsterer in any tradition—French, Italian, American. IMO, to preserve quality craftsmanship in furniture, we need to make it easier for people to enter these trades: - Subsidized apprenticeships at established ateliers - Tax incentives for workshops hiring trainees - Cultural shift: treat skilled trades as the lucrative, durable and valuable jobs they are

From the commodification of quiet to AI fatigue to who becomes our first unicorn—subscribe to Mr. Thread: mrthread.com

More than 40% of the UK population suffers from harmful noise levels. 84% of US consumers now factor noise into purchasing decisions. Should acoustics be a core design principle, not an afterthought?

If you missed this week's Mr. Thread, here's what actually mattered. 👇 This week I covered: • Why silence became a $26B industry • Fashion's AI revolution as our preview • The condo crisis creating opportunities • Why skirted sofas are back (24%!) • How AI might actually save human craft • LA fires: a year later, almost nothing rebuilt • Who becomes design's first billionaire • Why the wallpaper market is chaos

January is brutal but we're resilient. Here's what I'm watching as the industry wakes back up: mrthread.com/p/dry-january-…

The design industry lost Pam Katch and Thomas Britt this week. Complete opposites—Pam was quiet mastery, Thomas was bombastic legend. Who's replacing this generation of greats?

"Limitation has always been a feature, not a bug. Editing is a form of respect for the designer, for the client, and for the work itself." — @MrThread on why the wallpaper market is flooding but designers are drowning mrthread.com/p/dry-january-…

I just listened to Dennis Scully interview Stacy Waggoner from Studio Four on his podcast. If you're not listening to Dennis, start now. No better education than hearing from people who've actually done it.