The branded home

3Bd Condo for C$5,350,000 in Vancouver, BC // 1289 Hornby St #5701

Do brands or labels matter in the home? Or, to put it differently, do the materials that are in our home undergo the same scrutiny as our morning cup of coffee?

A bit of backdrop on our relationship with brands.

Some have claimed that the brand era is over, but the finer point is that brands are stronger than ever, and our relationship with them has simply evolved.

In the days of the big brand era, companies like Proctor & Gamble and Coca-cola poured money into creating a relationship with their customers. 30 second ads ran to remind everyone that “choosy moms choose JIF”, or that you can’t enjoy the heat unless you have a coke, “the official drink of summer”. These brands created indelible links to our everyday lived experiences, and the companies behind them enjoyed the margin that strong brands create.

But then the large incumbents were shaken by young, energetic startups, like Dollar Shave Club, that established a foothold in an otherwise impenetrable market by creating a viral YouTube ad. Other direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies, like Warby Parker, continued to operate on slim ad budgets, causing some to believe that the brand era was over.

During this time, brands made a shift in parallel with social media’s rise to reflect values that individuals wanted to be identified with. DTC clothing company Everlane stood for transparency in the manufacturing process, alongside of ethical labor practices and sourcing of materials. Companies like United By Blue and New Belgium maintain B Corp certification, which measures their overall impact to workers, community, environment, and customers to go beyond a simple bottom line performance. Why do they do it? In part because customers demand it.

So, coming back to the original question. I began to ask reflexively, do I know where the wood in my hardwood flooring was sourced, or even what country it was made in? Or, what about the drywall on my last bathroom reno? I’m more likely to know the farm my morning coffee beans are sourced from, than know any of the materials that make up my home. Does that matter?

This Vancouver condo sits high above the city, and contains an exhaustive list of materials for those discerning buyers with $5 million to burn.

The condo’s impressively detailed fact sheet includes all of the things you’d expect for a high-end Vancouver condo:

• Gaggenou appliances: “a brand chosen by the world’s top 50 chefs”
• European designed kitchen with Caesarstone backsplash and waterfall island countertop
• Italian Zucchetti hand polished chrome bathroom faucets and shower bar

Also, the building itself is LEED Gold certified, which means it passed a series of tests for its energy consumption and sustainable building practices.

The fact sheet implies “limitless luxury”, but even at this price point, we still aren’t privy to the source of materials used for flooring, or what type of labor practices were used to build the condo.

As one of the largest purchases we’ll undertake over the course of our lives, housing seems ripe for this kind of transparency. Will it ever get there?

Further Musings

We wanted to share a few articles we’ve been pondering as we approach this long labor day weekend. Enjoy!

The Origins of Sprawl The haunting beauty of New Orleans — a gallery

Photos courtesy of Faith Wilson Group

Originally published at https://buttondown.email.