|  My latest product obsession is not a handbag or a shoe, or a face mask or a liquid potion. It's a box of square, thin crackers, which come stacked up in a tall package designed in the past-its-prime-but-still-cute Memphis Group-inspired style that has pervaded visuals for the past few years. For just $9, you too can experience Aida's crunchy, Maldon-flaked, nearly see-through-they're-so delicate wafers, which come in rye and sourdough. (If you live in New York City, you can also try them at Lois, a wine-by-the tap bar in Alphabet City owned by the folks who also own Aida.) I would say I prefer the rye, but the sourdough is equally complex and delicious, and neither requires any sort of dip or cheese or meat to enjoy. Usually, crackers are a vehicle for something else: I'd go so far to say that Aida crackers are better when they're free of embellishment.
I am a freak for these crackers, buying four or five boxes at a time when I see them at a specialty food store. I gave them as gifts over the holidays and now bring them to dinner parties instead of a bottle of wine. I desperately want other people to experience the crackers, practically force feeding them to my friend Claire in the hopes that she may mention them in her popular weekly newsletter, which she publishes with her gluten-free work wife Erica. Speaking of gluten, I suppose the greatest proof of my devotion to Aida crackers is that I eat them freely around the house, despite the fact that my husband is severely allergic to the protein and a mere crumb could set him off. My solution is to clean up the crumbs with our hand-held vacuum after every single snack session, or just eat them over the sink.
If you haven't already ordered these crackers online I seriously do not understand what's wrong with you! Which brings me to the point of this self-indulgent essay: Every brand, no matter what they're shilling, needs crazy evangelists like me to get the word out. This is more important than ever as retail further scatters. So many brands in the industry I cover, fashion, have never had a direct relationship with their customer: they've always sold to other retailers who manage the relationship with the shopper. But now, people shop from everywhere: from Instagram, from Amazon, from Stitch Fix. The only way to break through is to deliver a product so good that a lunatic like me will make it part of her mission in life to convert others to its brilliance.
If I put on my reporter's hat, the next question to ask is whether Aida has the potential to scale. Will I see my beloved crackers — and the brand's turmeric cookies and nut mixes, too — in Whole Foods nationwide? Or, perhaps, in the ultimate, ridiculous symbol of upwardly mobile, the-way-we-live-now shopping: Los Angeles' Erewhon Natural Foods?! I'm not sure. It's a nuanced product: the crackers aren't even in thickness; some are saltier than others; they taste homemade. If they do become a thing beyond my rarified world, I sincerely hope that those quirks remain. The most successful brands are able to maintain at least some of that intimacy no matter how big they get.
What I Wrote So Far This Year, Features: What I Wrote, News: What I Wrote, Opinion: - New York Fashion Week's Got the Blues
- Reviews: Adam Selman, Rag & Bone, Jason Wu, Monse, Eckhaus Latta, Brandon Maxwell, Prabal Gurung, Rosetta Getty, Carolina Herrera, The Row, Gabriela Hearst, Rosie Assoulin, Esteban Cortazar, Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta
What I Read: - The Best Credit Card For Earning Points Towards Free Travel (Points Party)
- The Queen of Less (Frieze)
- Jenni Avins' Quartzy Newsletter: Subscribe!
- The Michelle Obama portrait is striking — and so is the gown she wore for it. This is its story. (Washington Post)
- The Case for Impeaching Clarence Thomas (NY Mag)
- What the Death of Daywear Means for the Brands That Peddle It (Business of Fashion)
- I Asked a Bunch of Industry People: What’s the Point of Fashion? (Man Repeller)
- How Union Pool Became the Horny Utopia of 2000s Williamsburg (NY Mag)
- The Rockefellers vs. Exxon (NY Mag)
- They Only Look Casual (NYT)
- The Definitive Guide to Oaxacan Cuisine in Los Angeles (Eater)
- The Moral Responsibility of Restaurant Critics in the Age of #MeToo (NYer)
- How Laundry Gets Done at the Olympics (Racked)
- “I’d Rather Watch My Parents Have Sex”: Inside the Final Days of Time Inc. (Vanity Fair)
- Roseanne Returns: Is TV Ready for a Trump-Loving Comic With "Nothing Left to Prove"? (The Hollywood Reporter)
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