This Week’s Coolest Drops, From Watch-Nerd Bait to Pho Soup Dumplings

Good afternoon, my perfect potstickers. Rev your engines (or at least microwave a nice big mug of bone broth), because with the advent of February 2024, it’s time to dive headfirst into this week’s coolest drops. Welcome back to our curated list of things you never knew you needed, possibly because they weren’t even available for public consumption until now. From a John Mayer-sanctioned G-Shock watch to pho-filled soup dumplings, we’ve got an eclectic bunch of things this round that you (probably) (maybe) can’t live without.

Lunar New Year is now just around the corner, meaning the limited-edition stuff for the Year of the Dragon (sick) is still coming around the bend. Last week, we scoped GANNI’s rad dragon-centric capsule, the Fly by Jing x Our Place Hot Wok Set, and the ginormous Valentine’s Day collection from SKIMS that broke the internet thanks to Lana Del Rey’s incredible photo campaign. February is the time when your resolutions start to fade away and that Equinox membership card starts to collect dust. But thanks to this week’s array of designer bodycare, women’s workwear, and bougie, artist-designed Moleskines, your resolutions will be back on track faster than the amount of time it took for that Instagram trend of posting photos of yourself at 21 to become really annoying (which is to say, very fast). Let’s go! 

It’s no secret that Carhartt is the legacy brand for timeless workwear (and has been since 1917), so it’s almost surprising that the purveyor of iconic beanies and duck coats took this long to go deep on womenswear—more specifically, women’s workwear. The new collection includes practical, lightweight sweatshirts and tees, durable overalls, and breathable layers, as well as layerable coats and even this steezy pair of sneaker-boots. 

Founded in Paris in 1987, A.P.C. is best known for making really nice jeans and other affordable luxury goods, but now the brand has expanded into self-care with a collection of six skincare—or, more accurately, body care—products. Each thoughtfully crafted formula carries the signature orange-blossom-centric Cosmos scent, and while it can be enjoyed as a straightforward cologne, it’s also found in A.P.C.’s hand and body soap, lotions, and lip balm. 

The third and final installment of John Mayer’s curatorial collaboration with G-Shock and Hodinkee is this week’s release with Hodinkee founder Ben Clymer. Meta? Sure. There are a bunch of watch-nerd Easter eggs in this model, including the “NYC TYO ATL” emblazoned on the dial, which is a shout-out to the cities where the Hodinkee and G-Shock headquarters are located. The backlight reveals Hodinkee’s ‘H’ logo when pressed to illuminate the watch face, and the double “Casio” text right below the digital screen is an homage to Rolex’s first Daytona watch, which had “Swiss” on it twice. If you’re a watch nerd, this is your watch. “I don't get scared of any watch,” Clymer told GQ. “I've been doing this for 16 fucking years. Not much can phase [sic] me at this point and stuff.” 

Blue Bottle Coffee needs (pretty much) no introduction, since the brand has become both beloved and ubiquitous. But its new capsule for Lunar New Year includes two new offerings: the Jade Porcelain Mug, inspired by traditional Chinese tea mugs and weaving art, and the Lunar New Year Set, which features two signature Robusta blends and pays homage to two of the of most-loved Blue Bottle locations: Shanghai and San Francisco. 

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of christening a brand new Moleskine journal, right? If you’re looking for a fancy gift for someone who loves journaling, doodling, or collecting unused Moleskines and never writing a single word in them, the Moleskine 3 Artists, 3 Countries Collection is here, celebrating the work of “three very different artists from three very different countries in East Asia,” according to Moleskine. Yes, there’s a Lunar New Year angle here; Zeng Fanzhi, a Chinese painter based in Beijing, and Ahn Sang Soo, a typographic designer from South Korea, both celebrate the Year of the Dragon with their designs; meanwhile, Japanese manga artist Momoko Sakura, the creator of beloved manga character Chibi Maruko-Chan, focuses on sakara (cherry blossom) season. Their respective Moleskine designs are available for purchase individually, or in a gorgeous fabric-covered box with each of the three notebooks neatly stored in its own drawer. 

Our team has long been obsessed with MìLà’s delicious soup dumplings, which can be enjoyed at will from the convenience of your own freezer. Today, the brand launched a limited-edition version of its signature dumplings (yes, for Lunar New Year), this time filled with slow-simmered beef pho. The brand partnered with Seattle’s oldest pho shop, Phở Bắc, to make sure the recipe was juuust right. The result is what MìLà calls “a rich, comforting cross-cultural creation perfect for celebrating Lunar New Year.” The garlic! The scallions! The cilantro! We want to fill our whole freezer with these bad boys and enjoy them for the rest of the winter. 

Get ready for the avalanche of Valentine’s Day drops coming this way. We’ll see you in the chaos! 

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.