Barndominiums, champagne walls, +2 more trending products right now

Exploding Topics scours the internet to find emerging trends before they take off.

Here are four of the latest developments, along with some insights and analysis to help you take advantage.

1. Barndominium

A barndominium is a large, barn-like structure with an incorporated living space.

The concept (a portmanteau of “barn” and “condominium”) differs slightly from a classic barn conversion. A barndominium retains an open-plan functional space. And the building often serves a dual function as a workshop or storage space.

One benefit of the barndominium style is the cost. For the basic structure plus incorporated living quarters, prices can be as low as $20 per square foot.

Another advantage is the relatively simple construction process. For example, Worldwide Steel Buildings sells barndominium kits designed to be DIY friendly.

The company’s revenue grew 47% last year, up to $24.3M. And the CEO Jeff Snell described barndominiums as a “hot seller”.

In fact, Snell has predicted that barndominiums will account for 40% of company growth over the next 5 years.

What’s next:

Barndominiums are part of the novel housing solutions meta trend.

Housing supply in the US tied a historic low last year. In fact, the ratio of houses for sale to houses sold dropped as low as 3.5 (and has not significantly recovered since).

As a result, would-be homeowners are getting creative. Modular construction refers to “flat-pack” housing that can be assembled on site.

The global modular construction market is worth an estimated $75.89B. And that’s forecast to grow to $114.78B by 2028.

Other fast-growing topics in the meta trend include Bobobox, living building material and 3D printed houses.

2. Titan Invest

Titan is an asset management platform for US retail investors.

The platform charges an annual advisory fee of 1% (or $5 per month for accounts with less than $10K).

Titan has hit a milestone of $750M in assets under management from 35K clients, a 3x increase in AUM since November 2020.

Following a $58M Series B led by a16z in July 2021, the company reached an estimated valuation of $450M.

What’s next:

Titan is a part of the “wealth management tech” meta trend.

Robo advisors AUM is estimated to hit $937.1 billion this year. And is projected to grow at a CAGR of 19.53% by 2025 (reaching $1.91 trillion).

Here are three growing wealth management tech startups to keep an eye on:

inbestMe: Automated investment manager based in Spain that offers investment management for accounts with at least €1K. inbestMe has raised $2.69M in funding.

Syfe: Digital wealth management with 5 different portfolio options. The startup has raised $51.9M in funding.

Cowrywise: Wealth management product for Nigerian residents. Cowrywise has raised $3.3M in VC funding to date.

3. Exfoliating Gloves

Exfoliating gloves are textured mitts designed for removing dead skin build-up.

Worn like standard mitts, the exfoliating gloves have become popular on TikTok. #ExfoliatingGlove videos have amassed 57.2M views on the app, up from just 2.2M in March.

And a single popular Amazon exfoliating gloves product generates an estimated $84.03K per month.

A handful of mainstream brands are now starting to offer exfoliating gloves. Skinesis is Sarah Chapman’s skincare brand: the facialist has counted the likes of Victoria Beckham and Meghan Markle as clients.

What’s next:

Exfoliating gloves are part of the “TikTok skincare” meta trend.

Videos using the skincare hashtag on TikTok have been viewed 64.2B times.

And consumers aged 10-29 make up 47.4% of the US TikTok audience. Within the Gen Z demographic, 60% of people have purchased skincare or beauty products before the age of 14 (compared to just 23% among those currently aged over 55).

Glow Recipe is one of the brands to have shot to prominence on TikTok.

A single video promoting two of the startup’s products received 11.7M views and 2.5M likes. Daily sales spiked 600% as a result.

Other rapidly-growing topics in the meta trend include beauty washing machines, Kopari Beauty and Freck Beauty.

4. Champagne Wall

A champagne wall is a decorative display for storing glasses or bottles of champagne, typically at a wedding.

Often, the design incorporates living wall elements, adorned with foliage for aesthetic purposes.

Some event organizers offer champagne walls. But for the most part, the product is still largely confined to the handmade sector.

And the popularity of champagne walls on sites like Etsy shows the mainstream growth potential of this trend. PartyTouchesUK, a party supply brand, currently sells two different champagne walls for around $20 each.

The store has made 159.5K total sales. And one of the champagne walls is listed as a bestseller over the past 6 months.

Higher-budget walls are also sold on Etsy. Including a champagne holder currently selling for $350-$395.

What’s next:

Champagne walls are part of the fairycore meta trend.

The aesthetic, which draws on forest imagery and other natural themes, has seen 99X+ search growth in the last 2 years. It shares similarities with the cottagecore style.

The fairycore hashtag on TikTok has grown to 1.1B views.

Related topics with strong growth include Fate: The Winx Saga (a live-action young adult remake of fairy cartoon Winx Club) nap dresses (light dresses for sleep and casual wear) and Christy Dawn (a vintage-style dress brand aiming to “honor Mother Earth.”)