"Longevity" is the latest buzzword on every wellness brand's lips (and marketing materials). As so-called biohackers use high-tech wearables to optimize their routines with and everyday consumers look for better ways feel healthier, the $6.8 trillion + global wellness industry is entering a new era of longevity-focused solutions. Transdermal vitamin patches are stepping into the spotlight as a result. Of course, transdermal patches — or stickers that gradually diffuse preloaded substances into the user’s bloodstream — are nothing new. You've likely heard of nicotine patches, which were first developed in the 1980s to help people quit smoking, or birth control patches, which have been an approved hormonal contraceptive since 2001. Transdermal drug delivery goes back millennia (think medicinal plants and oils), but the stick-on patches we know today stem from the first iteration approved in 1979 to treat motion sickness. Now, the expanding global transdermal patch ...
"I thought it was a scam," designer Kuai Li recalls of the DM she received from Kylie Jenner's stylist , Mackenzie Grandquist, in 2023. In her defense, most people in her position probably would, too. At the time, Li was a first-year graduate student pursuing an MFA in fashion design, with little experience and limited industry attention. The odds of Jenner's stylist coming across her work? It was too good to be true, she thought. But before deleting the message, Li did some research. "It turned out she was exactly who she said she was," Li says. Grandquist had seen a design of hers and "really wanted to bring some new things to Kylie Jenner." Kuai Li. Photo: Courtesy of Quine Li It only takes a quick glance at Li's work to see why Grandquist was so impressed. The Brooklyn-based designer has established a distinct de...