Fashion forecasting is one of the basic jobs in the fashion industry and is essential to know what fashion items are advantageous to be created and what would not last in the market in the next period of time.
This is usually based on a detailed analysis of lifestyles changes, immigration, development of new technology, changes in raw material prices and the direction in which the fashion industry is heading, analysis of the market conditions and lifestyles of the consumers, the study of sales statistics, assessing popular designer collections, observing street fashion and examining fashion publications.
You don’t have to be an experienced fashion forecaster to do a little fashion forecasting yourself when you want to update your wardrobe or make a radical style change.
Fashion forecasting tools
Various communication media tools are used in fashion forecasting. These include magazines,
press, newspapers, fashion shows, cinema, and window displays.
It also includes things like:
Market research
Consumer focus groups
Consumer research
Fashion Trends
Surveys
Shopping
Sales records
In-store informal interviews
Evaluating the collections
Target markets trends
Fashion forecasting means also; Identifying the prophetic fashion trends, making assessments on which segments of the market will accept a particular fashion and establishing for how long and at which particular times these fashions will be acceptable to target customers.
Key Areas in Fashion Forecasting
Colour Forecasts
They determine moods and the attitudes of a particular season. Colour trends are immediately
connected to consumer moods and goals. Ensuring the shade of colour is spot on can lead to quite an
increase in sales.
Lifestyle Materials Forecasts
Inspiration for interiors, homewares and certain other areas of product design require a lifestyle
materials forecast.
Knits & Jerseys
Knit and jersey forecasts foresee new ideas and key trends that are having an influence on street style,
runways, knitted materials, trade shows, retail and vintage. All areas are covered and these would
include things like texture and stitch visuals, yarn, knit patterns and how to apply silhouettes.
Non-woven and Leather
Early trends and predictions for skins and non-woven fabrics is what the forecasts aim for in this area.
Prints and Graphics
Women’s Apparel
Women’s wear Accessories
Women’s Footwear
Men’s Fashion
Children’s Fashion
The Fashion Forecasting Process
Trend Forecasting Companies. French companies based in Paris have traditionally dominated fashion forecasting. Some better-known trend forecasters include WGSN, Style Sight and Trendstop.com.
Consumer Research. Manufacturers and retailers may ask consumers directly about their buying preferences. Consumer reactions are compiled and tabulated to find preferences for certain garments or accessories, colours
or sizes and so on, or products to fit specific consumer tastes.
Colour Forecasting. Stimulating sales is the driving force behind colour forecasting. Colour grabs the customers’ attention,
makes an emotional connection and leads them to the product. Even when the basic product stays the
same, changing the colour gives a sense of something new
Sales Forecasting. Forecasting is relatively easy, straightforward and usually accurate for products with long lifetimes and steady sales. However, the fashion apparel business is one of the most volatile, because it creates
products that are new, highly seasonal or have short lifetimes. In such situations forecasts become
increasingly inaccurate.
So fashion prediction is not such a difficult process. If you feel you would like to work in this field here is my article about jobs in the fashion industry.
https://fashonation.com/do-you-want-to-work-in-fashion/
And if not, you can just try some short time fashion forecasting once in a while, when you want to reinvent your look, discover new styles and clothing trends or add new elements that resonate with your style. All you need is a minimum of three different sources of information that are current, but also a bit older and a little bit of imagination.
By Paula Radu
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