TR.BIZ: 12.9.2025
From Pinterest Predicts to Elon Musk art, this is your early-mid-week check-in ✨
Welcome to The Trend Report: Business Edition™, a midweek look at top stories, trends, and more of what’s happening online and off by Kyle of The Trend Report™. Today, we’re breaking down Pinterest Predicts, the viral gay hockey show, and a special dessert from Ina Garten.
👀 Trend Watchers: Pinterest’s vision of 2026
(Mariah Carey voice) It’s tiiIIIIIIIMMMMMmmme: the 2026 Pinterest Predicts has officially landed. If you know me — and if you’ve been reading this newsletter long enough — you know I love Pinterest Predicts as it’s one of the more inspired forecasts out there, especially one made by a brand. Before we dive in, make sure to look under the hood at how Pinterest crafts these reports via an interview I did with Sydney Stanback, Pinterest’s Global Trends & Insights Lead. It’s super informative! The new report boasts 21 trends across fashion and food and home, and I want to point out the ones I feel are most pressing and most now, tying a few together as we survey this new landscape.
Unlike the dog whistling Pantone, Pinterest is seeing “Cool Blue” as their color for next year. They refer to this as “glacier-inspired” and “icy” which is very interesting given how boy-coded this blue is. Food for thought, given how pink-for-boys has recently sent the right into hysterics. Is this a subtle way to subvert? Stay tuned.
If we need some anti-tech proof, look to the Pen Pals and Poetcore trends, two items tied to the theory that books are the salve of these times. The pen paling is literally that, as evidenced by searches for “cute stamps” going up 105% and “snail mail gifts” up by 110%, both paired with handwriting searches. The poet item is somewhat literal as the “poet aesthetic” saw a near 200% search surge speaking to performativity but also that appearing as if you are offline isn’t just a flex but a mentality when paired with handwriting.
Lace Up and Glamoratti aesthetics both get at seeking opulence in non-opulent times, hinting at maximalism and secondhand thinking given both of these are based in bygone styles. The lace one is particularly timely as this was a subject I waxed on about following this year’s Copenhagen Fashion Week.
Home design like Afrohemian — fun and funky afrocentrism — and Neo Deco — Art Deco via young people — and Fun Haus — bold circus patterns — similarly emphasized maximalism while looking forward and backward. All of these looks and ideas can be procured secondhand too and all of them tap into patterns and globular shapes.
Throwback Kid sees two things fusing: adults not-growing up (Kidification!) and adults wanting to get offline, which is expressed as parents of a certain age (And grandparents too!) bequeathing yesteryear and analogue items to kids. This has been heavily buzzed about in recent months, which we discussed a few weeks back as it relates to charms and choosing the human. (Given the lace item and the pen pals…are you sensing an anti-tech theme? I am!)
Gimme Gummy is and isn’t about food, as “jelly candy” and “gummy bear” aesthetics both saw big increases which reflects on a socio-political candy shift that is defining the 2020s: climate change reshaping sweets like chocolate means gummies have stepped up as the “it” candy of our times (Hello, Nerds Gummies!) as cocoa is suffering a multi-tiered collapse.
While the Mystic Outlands trend has a similar feel, the Darecations trend captures how vacationioning in the 2020s — a time when you can see the whole of the world through your phone, a time when overtourism is pushing people away — is about having a mission and doing something versus simple “sightseeing.” As sports and adventure seeking rises, such a shift is in direct response to global hegemonic culture too, where too much access to physical place and all cities becoming “the same” calling for “You had to be there (and be able to do it).” flexes tied to vacations. Your body as key to access, etc.
Another great batch — and you can explore the full list here. Tell me what you think! Briefly, a few other end-of-year predictions and recaps of note: Google Year In Search was a huge joke as the masturbatory Gemini topping their list inspired an instant closing of the tab; Whole Foods’ 2026 predictions felt like I was reading a blog from five years ago, given the inclusion of tallow, designer products, vinegar drinks, and “mindful” sweets: that stuff is all very 2018; Airbnb’s predictions mirror a lot of Pinterest’s, in that appointment trips and offline culture rules — but their list of cities growing in popularity is questionable. Send me any and all round-ups like this, please!
💥 Soft Powers: Heated Rivaly
If you’re not watching Heated Rivalry, are you even alive? The show is a gay Canadian hockey drama that feels like Challengers minus Zendaya and steeped in the longing glances of Brokeback Mountain. It’s a filthy and sexy romp that is — as Bobby Aaron Solomon declared during our watch — “basically soft core porn.” And it is! A lot of fine asses, a lot of sweaty topless men, some pantomimed fellatio, some sports pageantry — and it’s become a TikTok hit, the social network’s horniest, hotest topic as the stars are quickly making the rounds and stealing hearts. Heated Rivalry is a cock-shaped missile that hit the ripe bullseye of girls-and-gays audiences, sparking theories and revelations about the the making of the show. Why did none of us know about this? And how? The Crave show — which is now on HBO — has essentially pulled a Kpop Demon Hunter hat trick by coming out of nowhere, making instant stars of its leads. The appeal is clear (It’s very sexy! And stylish!! And an adjacent woke story!!!), which is crossing through diverse viewerships to show the power of a non-hetero-male-gaze in media. “Women are culturally starved for depictions of sex between equal partners,” Jessica Valenti observed of the show. “Women don’t get that when it comes to depiction of sex…There is always a massive power imbalance.”
👁️🗨️ Listen In: Are Facebook Groups the future of social?
I am a very staunchly anti-Facebook person, considering how dirty and long-term politically sticky Mark Zuckerberg is. But here’s some food for thought: as the “niche social networks are becoming the new social networks” idea evolves, it’s going to crash into rethinking pre-existing social networks like Facebook — and that’s why Facebook Groups is poised for a breakout. “You’re missing out,” Ainhoa Marzol shared with Ben Dietz and I, pointing out groups like New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens and that’s it, I’m wedding shaming and A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony as proof of social networks within social networks. “They are so specific and so great…Facebook Groups have something we can bring back because it really feels fresh and it feels good — and I think it’s mostly because no one can become an influencer.” That’s due to these groups not having any “leaders,” making the point sharing with each other versus watching each other. A best case scenario group project! “It makes you wonder if the natural state of the internet is egalitarian,” Ben hypothesized. “Because of the rise of slop and bots and overseas propaganda farms, at a certain point you have to throw away the notion of influence and take information at face value.” “I hope so,” Ainhoa replied with a sign. I hope so too! Not that I’m gonna sign up for Facebook. What do you think? Catch the full convo about the state of social, how your body changes in your thirties, and why Gen X are poised for a mentorship moment, all on Spotify and YouTube.
📲 Tech Talk, I: Ready for AI ads in shows?
