Mike Litman

The Pattern

News EN ↓ 137 episodes

Before it's obvious. A daily briefing scanning 150+ sources across fashion, design, tech, brands, and music. Finding the patterns others miss, every morning at 8:30am UK time.

Author

Mike Litman

Episodes

No. 12: Pentagon patronage splits Silicon Valley along new ethical production lines 08.03.2026 4:51

Culture Pulse: 78. Pentagon deals fracture AI talent, Asics buys marathon platforms, Iran targets Gulf datacenters. The pattern: infrastructure capture is the new moat. Before it's obvious. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-03-08.html

No. 11: Brands are buying the infrastructure, not just selling the product. 07.03.2026 4:57

Culture Pulse: 76. Asics bought the marathon. Anthropic beat ChatGPT by saying no to the Pentagon. Netflix killed celebrity branding. Control is moving upstream, not downstream. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-03-07.html

No. 10: Big luxury's creative crisis meets sportswear's data land grab for consumers 06.03.2026 4:57

Culture Pulse: 72. Big luxury can't define sexy, healthcare can't define wellness, defence can't define risk. Into each vacuum: data infrastructure or crowd-sourced alternatives. Before it's obvious. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-03-06.html

No. 9: Financialisation reaches physical objects as watches become tradeable assets like stocks 05.03.2026 5:13

Culture Pulse: 68. Rolex gets futures contracts, Dover Street Market opens a spa, and creators are out-convening Vogue. Everything solid is becoming liquid. The Pattern, March 5. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-03-05.html

No. 8: Luxury financialisation reaches its logical extreme with Rolex derivatives trading 04.03.2026 5:26

Culture Pulse: 68. Rolex derivatives, Sony's console retreat, and Dover Street Market spas: when the object matters less than the system it plugs into. Everything is infrastructure now. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-03-04.html

No. 7: Meta Tests AI Shopping Research Tool to Rival ChatGPT 03.03.2026 4:37

Culture Pulse: 82. Today's Pattern: Meta Tests AI Shopping Research Tool to Rival ChatGPT. Culture Pulse at 82. 110+ sources scanned. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-03-03.html

No. 6: Creative directors inherit empires then immediately soften the product 02.03.2026 6:37

Culture Pulse: 78. Creative directors inherit empires then immediately soften them. Streaming platforms merge. Apple wants Google servers inside its data centres. The next consolidation wave looks like succession, not disruption. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-03-02.html

No. 5: Fashion's identity crisis goes institutional whilst AI arms race plays defence 01.03.2026 5:53

Culture Pulse: 73. Fashion asks 'who are we?' whilst AI asks 'who do we answer to?' Both face the same crisis: define yourself before someone else does. The Pattern for March 01. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-03-01.html

No. 4: Today's top signal comes from fashion & style 28.02.2026 4:24

Culture Pulse: 80. Today's Culture Brief: Fashion & Style dominates. Culture Pulse at 80. 110+ sources scanned. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-02-28.html

No. 3: Being late to AI now costs sixteen times more than being early 27.02.2026 4:56

Culture Pulse: 87. Amazon's paying 16x Microsoft's OpenAI price for no exclusivity. Netflix exits the WBD bid. Demna casts Elon's estranged daughter for Gucci. The cost of being late just became quantifiable. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-02-27.html

No. 2: Fashion houses are building AI hardware businesses faster than tech companies 26.02.2026 4:35

Culture Pulse: 76. Tech companies are courting fashion brands because they've realised: the hard part isn't building AI glasses—it's getting humans to wear them. Hardware wars just moved to Milan. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-02-26.html

No. 1: Luxury's quiet revolution: pragmatism over spectacle is winning. 25.02.2026 3:39

Culture Pulse: 76. Chiuri strips Fendi of monograms. Google makes AI functional. Paltrow auctions her closet. Luxury's quiet revolution: pragmatism over spectacle is winning. Read the full edition: https://thepattern.media/editions/2026-02-25.html