Turns out no one really needed a life-sized replica of King Tutankhamun’s burial mask with a secret compartment to store his valuables. It’s no surprise to me that SkyMall, that publication that can be found in every backseat pocket on every airline flight, has filed for bankruptcy.

Think about it. If you’re a regular airline travel desperate enough to flip through the pages of SkyMall, my guess is that you’ve been stuck on the tarmac for at least two hours. Or, if you fly into Newark like I do, you’re waiting for a towrope to pull you up to the gate so you can get off the damn plane after a 14-hour flight from Narita. But this editorial isn’t about asinine airline travel, it’s about stuff nobody needs. SkyMall was chock-full of absolutely nothing anyone could ever need…ever.

Sadly, the same thing can be said about a lot of retail shelves today. Many of the new products being rolled out are me-toos at best, with nothing innovative about them. But that all can change when marketers and suppliers team up to create something exciting. Take a look through our Buyer’s Guide that makes up the bulk of our February issue. You might just find a supplier or a raw material that can help your SKU stand out from all those tired products found on mass market shelves and in department store display cases.

But there’s more to this issue than raw materials, packaging components and services. Christine Esposito reports on the fast-moving device segment (p. 48) and Melissa Meisel writes about the changes taking place in the multibillion-dollar hairstyling business (p. 55).

Clearly, there’s enough in this issue to get you through a flight delay without having to reach for that last issue of SkyMall.

Now, if somebody can just put that smug Chester Karrass out of business, the skies will truly be friendlier.

Tom Branna
Editorial Director
[email protected]