Most of the year is about momentum. The holidays are about orientation.

Earlier this week, I shared Five Bets I’m Staking Aistetic On for 2026. This isn’t a follow-up to that.

It’s something quieter. Yvon Chouinard once described progress like this:

“Turn around and take one step forward.”

The end of the year is one of the few moments we actually get to do that - pause, reset perspective, and choose how we enter what’s next. Which mountain will we climb? Why? And how?

So instead of trends, here’s a short list of holiday reading that helps you think differently about 2026 before it starts.

None of this is urgent. But it's important.  That’s the point.

Holiday Reading to Get Ahead in 2026

These aren’t trend reports. They’re perspective shifts.

To rethink discovery and visibility

The State of Fashion 2026 - BoF x McKinsey

Open the report (PDF) →
Why it matters: AI is changing what even gets seen. Incomplete products don’t rank lower - they disappear.

To understand where value is really forming

Luxury Redefined 2025 - Highsnobiety x BCG

Open the report (PDF) →

Why it matters: proof, craft, and cultural credibility are replacing price as the growth engine.

To see why resale is no longer optional

2025 Resale Report - ThredUp

Open the report (PDF) →
2025 Resale Report - The RealReal

Open the report (PDF) →
Why it matters: resale has moved from experiment to infrastructure, reshaping acquisition, pricing, and trust.

To understand what actually scales

Resale at Scale: The Operations Bottleneck - Aistetic

Open the report (PDF) →
Why it matters: the unglamorous work - data, workflows, and operations - is where leverage really comes from.

A few of these directly shaped the bets I shared earlier this week. Most of them simply changed how I think.

A small change heading into 2026

As we head into the New Year, I’m also evolving how I share insights:

• Fashion Tech Briefing → Monthly
  Fewer emails, deeper thinking.

• [New] Resale Ops → Weekly
  Practical insights for operators dealing with reality, not theory.

Same thinking. With more intent. You’re currently on both lists. If you’d like to adjust what you receive in 2026, just hit reply and let me know.

Wherever you’re reading this - on a train, on a sofa, or halfway into switching off - I hope at least one of these helps you turn around, and take a better first step into 2026.