Friction Meets Inconvenience

Friction is everywhere right now. And it’s not the thing that slows us down anymore – it’s the thing that pulls us in. That makes us linger. That makes things matter. Resistance has turned into encounter, engagement and connection.

Alongside our Friction Formula – helping brands think about how friction actually works – we identified five ways it’s currently showing up in culture:

1. Tactility – the real, the physical, the touchable.
2. Imperfection – human error, desirable and deliberate.
3. Inconvenience – effort, struggle, the scenic route over the fast lane.
4. Nuance – slow thought in a world drowning in hot takes.
5. Ambiguity – mystery, seduction, the thrill of the unknown.

Inconvenience

Here, we’ll look at the third pillar, which is all about choosing the harder path, honouring craft, relishing the challenge. Forget instant gratification – friction asks you to lean in. Olympic double gold figure skater Alysa Liu puts it best: “I love struggling, actually. It makes me feel alive.”

That same pulse runs through our SEEDs. In Too Viral, we explore how virality is becoming a liability. In an always-on culture, when everything is optimised for smoothness, meaning stops sticking.

Notes on Resale shows us the primal thrill of the hunt. As Protein’s head of strategy Joanna Lowry writes: “Online shopping today is hyper-optimised. Often, it’s efficient but sterile. Resale reintroduces friction, awakening something primal: the hunt.”

Piracy’s Back takes it further. Streaming is easy. But scrolling through servers, digging for what you want, downloading it, owning it – that’s friction in its most satisfying form.

Case studies

Koyia, a Swedish fragrance brand, opened its first store in the woods. GPS coordinates required. Pay by spending 599 seconds in nature, or 599 SEK online. It’s extreme, yes, but the effort is the point – intrigue over convenience.

Story MFG makes slow fashion an art. The Sun Faded Capsule took six years to naturally dye and fade. Their Indigo collab evolves with wear. Customers are invited to “ruin” garments, to celebrate process over perfection. Effort becomes beauty.

Saint Laurent’s Spring/Summer 2025 campaign is slow, tactile, demanding. Anthony Vaccarello commissioned Italian artist Francesco Clemente to paint portraits, including Zoë Kravitz. Friction is in every brushstroke, in every layer, in every texture. It resists immediacy. And that’s what gives it meaning.

At its heart, friction is effort. Respect for craft. A reason to slow down and really see. If you want to watch the recording of the BRAND BRIEFING and discover how friction can be a productive tension that stops people in their tracks, become a MEMBER today.