Fashion Predicting can be very fun but also takes a long to
and could become tricky. Next year’s trends are basically in the hands of the
people who look for patterns, news, and do research on this kind of
things. “Fashion trend forecasting
resources help predict trends in the fashion industry. Fashion & trend
forecasting is the prediction of mood, behavior and buying habits of the
consumer at particular time of season. It is no longer a question of finding
your markets or consumers by age, geography or income, but looking into how and
what they buy, based on their culture, mood, beliefs, occasion & geographic
locations, it is also dependent on fashion cycle and plays a major role in
introductory phase of recurring fashion cycles.” Fashion prediction
takes things to a deeper and more personal level for the companies they work
for, they help the brands find ways to bond with their customers.
In an interview, Shari Swan, a Trend Predictor gave some
tips on how people buy, what companies should look out for, and what the future
holds. When she is advising companies about what to look for, for inspiration
and to set new trends she tells them “I preach the gospel to brands about ‘looking sideways’ at products
and brands in markets beyond their own.” In other words look for inspiration
within other industries, such as, technology, interior, engineering, etc. She
also believes that brands will start to go back to the basics, become more
simple and uncomplicated. Companies will go back to their roots, what made them
successful in the first place. To keep being successful brands need to be
authentic, honest, and sincere. She states “Brands will struggle if
they don’t take ethical ethos and corporate principles seriously.”
Reading through Shari Swan’s interview, a few points really
stood out to me. When she talked about companies should ‘look sideways’ was a
great point. If companies want to stand out and be innovative they should look
elsewhere. They don’t want to just look at what their competition is doing of
what the other fashion trend setters are thinking of, because that would
surprise anyone or make you the top brand to look out for. Also when Shari said
“Social and ethical responsibility is now a given for doing
business in today’s environment.” This statement is very important to
all brands, shoppers nowadays want to buy from brands that are helping make a
change in the world and they also like knowing that when they buy something
that they are contributing to a great cause.
From a report from WeConnectFashion they have posted the
trends for spring/summer 2014 courtesy of Fashion Snoops (Online Fashion
Forecasting Service), Edie Sedgwick, Spice Trail, American Pie, and Grown Up
Grunge.
Citations:
Davis, M., and Baldwin, J. (2006). More Than a Name: An
Introduction to Branding. AVA Publishing. Page 153
Singh, D. Pink is out but Blue is in… Understanding Fashion
& trend forecasting? Retrieved on August 10, 2013 from www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/9/836/pink-is-out-but-blue-is-in-understanding-fashion-trend
-forecasting1.asp
WeConnectFashion. Women’s Top 4 Trend Themes S/S 2014.
Fashion Snoops. Retrieved on August 10, 2013 from www.weconnectfashion.com/fido/getarticle.fcn?&type=trends&SearchString=women’s+top+4+trend+themes&id=737870PT0000145&start=1&tr=1
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