No more dumb dad hats 2026
Plus great candles, how to wrap gifts with funky panache, Mach 3+ veg-dyed wool cushions back in stock & more
Today’s post is brought to you by Blackbird Spyplane’s Classified Tier Subscribers, who make this independent reader-powered miracle possible — upgrade your subscription if you haven’t already, and enjoy a better life in the Spyplane Inner Sanctum — Jonah & Erin
Our 2025 G.I.F.T.S. List is here.
We just published a Monumental Jewelry Intel Report in Concorde.
Mach 3+ city intel for traveling the entire planet is here.
Enjoy our definitive Spyplane guide to the Best Japanese Clothesmakers.
Our interviews with Adam Sandler, Sarah Squirm, Cameron Winter and Geese, Nathan Fielder, André 3000, 100 gecs, Mac DeMarco, Matty Matheson, Seth Rogen, Sandy Liang, Tyler, The Creator, Maya Hawke, Steven Yeun, Daniel Arnold, John C. Reilly, Conner O’Malley, Clairo, Father John Misty & more are here.
Blackbird Spyplane back once again.
Today we’ve got a special Coziness, Warmth & Illumination-themed sletter for you, featuring…
One of our favorite cushion makers has some of his best pieces back in stock
Great new candles that make the crib smell fantastic
Candles do not need their own merch, though. Why are there strapbacks promoting these?? Mamma mia. Let’s leave dumb dad hats embroidered with all-caps sans serif words back in 2022, a time when they were already bad
The way you wrap a gift can be a gift in itself
But first —
Two fleeting visions of friendship that have stayed with me:
1) Once I was walking down a New York street in the wintertime when I saw a twentysomething woman standing on the sidewalk, bundled up, luggage beside her, looking expectantly through the glass front door of an apartment building. Just then, her friend appeared through the glass, wearing slippers and a big smile as she walked across the tiles of the lobby floor to come let her in. What moment thrums with as much expectation, relief, and delight as when you find yourself on the far-flung doorstep of a friend after a long journey? You buzz their buzzer… you see their face… you feel their warmth when you hug them, and you know more warmth awaits inside, where you will sit on their couch, share some drinks, and chop it the f--k up in the heaven that is their company. What a gift it was to just witness it in passing.
2) The other day Erin and I were out driving here in the East Bay when we found ourselves stopped at a red light. We were behind a car with two dudes up front — a couple fellas chilling with the boys, beautiful, but unremarkable. Crucially, however, there were three dudes in the backseat, too. That’s a total of 5 homies packed into the vehicle, clearly embarking on an adventure together. How wonderful it is to be one of 5 friends crammed into a car at the outset of a trip, and how poignant it is that we find ourselves in this scenario less and less as the years go by…
Next up —
When we published our Home Scents Intel Blowout a few weeks back, we wrote about fantastic incense, incense holders, room sprays, lighters, aroma-infused hang tags and ceramics, even a damn candle snuffer.
We did not, however, include any candles, because we hadn’t come across any new ones we felt compelled to salute beyond the handful already included in our B.L.I.S.S. (Beautiful Life Improving Spyplane Staples) List.
That changed the other day, when we discovered an NYC fragrance studio that makes excellent perfumes and candles.
They draw on a wealth of Artisan Olfactory Expertise honed in none other than Grasse, France — the world’s “perfume capital.”
We bought two of their candles and recommend them highly.
The only 👃 off note 👃 worth flagging on our end: What’s up with talented perfumers who feel compelled to sell bad embroidered dad hats, too?