Ideas that shape how brands are built.
A newsletter, podcast, and IRL community for entrepreneurs, brands, and investors at the intersection of heritage, technology, and culturally intelligent brand building.
We exist for two reasons: to document the technological shifts and subcultures from the Global South that are reshaping global commerce, and to protect authentic storytelling in the age of AI.
Stories move the world.
Subject Matter IRL is the heartbeat of Subject Matter Labs—a Paris gathering building the future of brand strategy in complex markets. We bring together marketers, founders, and cultural strategists who believe marketing requires cultural intelligence, creative vision grounded in data, and honest collaborative thinking. In beautiful spaces, over wine, we're creating the conversations that reshape how brands are built.
In an age where AI generates content, we gather to remember: humans create culture, and culture writes the stories that ultimately move the world.
Podcast
Custodians of Crafts spotlights the intersection of heritage, business, and innovation across the craft and fashion ecosystem.
With special focus on the voices from the Global South, our mission is to spotlight real challenges and innovations and uncover rich narratives that go unheard in mainstream fashion discourse.
These conversations get into messy, fascinating reality of keeping craft alive and profitable in the age of AI.
We deliberately seek our perspectives from regions overlooked by mainstream fashion media. We looks beyond the usual design capitals to find stories reshaping craft and fashion.
Newsletter
Subject Matter is a bi-monthly newsletter about the cultural forces reshaping global commerce and the stories of their origin.
What we love to write about:
Culture leading commerce, especially in the world’s youngest, fastest-growing regions, which now set the tone for what people buy, value, and trust.​ The Global South is our focus; we love to hear stories from this part of the world and how they impact the world around us.
Most of all, we love talking about Culture.
Culture now functions as core infrastructure for growth, shaping trust, pricing power, and long-term brand equity.​
Knowing where movements start, how they spread, and what they say about shifting consumer values is exciting for us.
Ep. 8 Why India’s Heritage Textiles Are Becoming the Future of Fashion: Inside Jiwya’s Plant-Based Studios
Ep. 7 Inside the Mind of the Founder Challenging Fashion’s System: Ahmed Zaidi | Hyran Technologies
Ep. 6 Adeyoola Adenusi on Nigeria: Past, Present and the Future
Ep. 5 From Tunisia to the World: Craft, Diaspora & Fouta Harissa
Ep. 4 Inside COP, Culture & the Climate Fight from the Global South
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SHEIN Arrives in France: A Brand Strategy Blunder or A Paradox Between Cultural Ideals and Economic Reality?
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Fast-fashion Players Are Leveraging "Sustainability" Credentials To Launch Premium Collections
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Apple TV's 'Severance' is a Masterclass in World-Building
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What International Brands need to know about Indian Consumers: To sell in India is to deeply understand it's Colonised Legacy
Advisory
Subject Matter Labs Advisory provides data-driven consulting and bespoke strategy for brands and creative enterprises aiming to grow in multicultural and rapidly evolving markets. Leveraging a proprietary market intelligence tool, currently in development, the advisory arm surfaces emerging consumer trends, informs go-to-market plans, and equips clients with actionable insights for success across boundaries of culture, commerce, and technology.
Our Vision
We believe true impact happens when business honors tradition, marketing carries meaning, and technology uplifts the voices too often overlooked. Our mission is personal: to inspire empathy, ignite curiosity, and build bridges between commerce and creativity—empowering every artisan, strategist, and entrepreneur to transform not just markets, but lives and legacies.