Source: Fodda
A measurable consumer cohort—over 70% of Gen Z and Millennials—is actively using AI search tools to avoid synthetic goods and seek pre-owned, handmade, and vintage items with visible provenance. Affluent collectors documented by Art Basel and UBS are simultaneously rotating capital toward physical mediums (ceramics, textiles) that bear unmistakable human labor marks, creating economic incentive for makers and resellers to emphasize authenticity and material character over newness. AI has made it frictionless to filter out mass-produced dupes, collapsing the information asymmetry that once let synthetic commodities pass for authentic. Scarcity and tactile proof are now the value proposition.