#trendforecast

Feb 25, 2021
1 min

Supporting Black Creatives: New Cultural Collaborators & Content Hubs

In fashion’s expanded and more diverse new reality, brands have more options when it comes to choosing cultural collaborators and should approach collabs with an open mind, recognizing the value of once-outsiders like rappers, graffiti artists, athletes, and beyond to influence a new generation of consumers. It’s important that brands give their BIPOC collaborators the space and resources to truly make a difference, making long-term investments in communities and upcoming cre

Feb 22, 2021
1 min

Supporting Black Creatives: Grassroots Creator Culture

A movement towards handmade, one-of-a-kind, or custom clothes and accessories taps into how much Gen Z values uniqueness, sustainability, and being the first to discover something new online. What’s more, as talented non-white designers continue to shake up the homogeneity of the fashion industry, social media and peer-to-peer selling platforms like Depop give extra power to the small, independent designer. This has created a new path forward for young designers to follow, sk

Feb 20, 2021
2 min

Happy National Love Your Pet Day! Poshmark Adds Pet

Poshmark adds pet supplies category to resale site If you’re finding that your pandemic puppy needs so many more supplies than you expected — or you just want her wardrobe to be as extensive as yours — you can now search for secondhand style for your pet on Poshmark. Poshmark has launched a pets category for animal owners who are seeking a sustainable way to shop for and sell pet supplies ranging from collars and outfits, toys and grooming supplies to beds, bowls and habitats

Feb 14, 2021
2 min

Savage x Fenty Releases Valentine’s Day Campaign Featuring Lulu Bonfils, Alek Wek, Miguel and

And of course Rihanna makes an appearance. It may be a topsy-turvy year, but Rihanna‘s still Rihanna — and she’s not putting her many business endeavors on pause. Savage x Fenty is back with a Valentine’s Day collection featuring pieces for both men and women, shoppable today on the brand’s website. The campaign, shot by photographer Dennis Leupold, features Miguel, Nazanin Mandi, Alek Wek, Chinqpink, Lulu Bonfils and of course Rihanna. The spreads consist of a magazine-colla

Feb 12, 2021
4 min

How Fashion Is Celebrating Year of the Ox

2021’s Lunar New Year will commence on February 12th, marking the start of the Year of the Ox. Chinese urban myth says that those born in their given zodiac year must wear red to ward off bad luck every single day of the New Lunar Year, believing they will encounter more troubles than usual in their zodiac year of birth. While red underwear is the default way to wear red, fashion brands have launched a slew of capsules consisting of red apparel and accessories dedicated to th

Feb 11, 2021
2 min

Happy New Lunar Year 2021 of the Ox!

The Year of the Ox becomes an even more important shopping holiday in an increasingly globalized, intrapandemic world. From February 12 through the 26, the new year is celebrated by millions of consumers in China and all over the world as a time of cleansing, gift-giving, and good luck. This year, as New York Fashion Week continues to diminish in importance and China’s economic recovery surges ahead of the west post-covid, brands are prioritizing the APAC consumer. According

Feb 9, 2021
1 min

$76,000 Birkinstocks Made From Actual Birkin Bags?

Warning: Neither Hermès nor Birkenstock has approved this product. On the second Monday in February, the Banksys of consumer culture struck again. Full Story at New York Times Fashion and Style… Check us out on IG Merchandising and Design Experts (MADE) specializes in trend forecasting and market positioning foresight for the fashion and retail market. Delivering researched and highly relevant insight on market conditions, emergent opportunities, and key products. MADE bespo

Feb 9, 2021
4 min

CFDA unveils New York Fashion Week calendar with 84 brands – some of them to show in Paris

The CFDA has unveiled its calendar for this month’s New York Fashion Week, with a grand total of 84 brands listed, albeit some of them expected to show as far away as France. Due to the pandemic, the main season will take place over just four days – from Feb. 14 to 17, with 72 brands. Though the CFDA, or Council of Fashion Designers of America, also lists a further 12 brands – including such notables as Gabriela Hearst, Carolina Herrera, Thom Browne and Coach – with digital p

Feb 8, 2021
1 min

Supporting Black Creatives: the Power of Politics

2021 has already provided the fashion industry with the hope of new beginnings; among them Kamala Harris, America’s first female, first Black and first Asian-American Vice President. The Biden-Harris inauguration was not just an important day for politics, but a timely reminder of the symbolic power fashion holds, and the power of political figures to help establish new designers. Kamala Harris in Christopher John Rogers. Image courtesy of AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Harris

Jul 16, 2020
5 min

For Paris Men’s Wear, the Next Stop Is California

Men’s wear shows in Europe this lockdown season may be virtual, but the dominant California vibe is very real. We have seen the future of European fashion, and it is California. Peering out from behind the curtain of a long lockdown, designers in Paris and Milan seemed unanticipatedly hopeful during the digital shows this past week. It was not so much that they were willing to forgo the inimitable theater of the fashion show as ready to embrace the accelerated alterations in

Jul 1, 2020
1 min

Could This Trend Replace Bike Shorts?

You may have turned up your nose at the bike short trend before realizing they are a summer appropriate version of your favorite leggings, so don’t let the track short trend pass you by. Light, airy and often made in a moisture-wicking fabric, these simple shorts will be your go-to all summer long. In a style that’s acceptable for more than just working out, the light technical or performance fabric of these shorts makes them perfect for summer, whether you’re prone to jumpin

May 26, 2020
3 min

How Growth For Indie Retail Is Forecasted Post Covid-19

The COVID-19 crisis is forecasted to make major changes in the retail business, and, when the dust from the crisis settles, some of the entrepreneurs best positioned to start over and make a connection with consumers will be independent retailers, according to a handful of industry watchers. The crisis has changed people’s lives and their needs. They’ll be looking for retailers who will reflect their needs, said Paco Underhill. As founder of the market-research company Enviro

May 26, 2020
3 min

The Future of Luxury Is Freedom

Beyond goods, services and experiences, freedom will become the ultimate signifier of status. In essence, luxury is about status, playing to that fundamentally human need to communicate who you are and how you fit into the social hierarchy. Through the ages and across cultures, status has been expressed in a multitude of ways, from the tone of one’s complexion to the size of one’s kingdom. But fundamentally, signalling status has long been about possessing something that is w

May 26, 2020
3 min

Could Antiviral Fabrics Take Off With Luxury Shoppers?

A leading Italian manufacturer has perfected an antiviral fabric, one of the first of its kind. Vogue Business unpicks the potential. Can your clothing protect you from Covid-19? A leading Italian luxury manufacturer says it has developed an antiviral fabric that may, and major luxury brands are snapping it up. Albini Group, best known as a dress shirt fabric supplier to companies including Kering, Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna and Prada, has developed new ViroFormula fabrics, cr

May 26, 2020
4 min

Direct-to-Consumer Brands’ Average Sales Revenue is To Soar 85% by 2020

Direct-to-consumer upstarts like Dollar Shave Club and Kylie Cosmetics sold stakes in their businesses to Unilever and Coty, respectively, but most DTC brands are not seeking billion-dollar valuations or quick flips to bigger incumbents, new research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau found. According to the research from the IAB, digital advertising’s biggest trade group, an overwhelming majority of DTC disruptors (90%) report they are profitable, are looking to expand

May 26, 2020
5 min

‘Squad Shopping’: Share, Ask, Interact – Shop Online With Your Friends

A new platform developed by a former L’Oréal brand manager wants to make e-commerce social by letting users shop online in groups. Key takeaways: More than $413 billion of goods will be sold through social e-commerce in China by 2022, an almost fivefold increase from $90 billion in 2017. Squadded Shopping Party hopes to bring this concept to the West by letting its users go shopping together on fashion e-commerce sites, as if inside a virtual mall. Online group activities lik

May 26, 2020
5 min

What Comes After Legacy Mid-Market Retail

J.Crew, Neiman Marcus, JCPenney. In May, the whispered demise of some of America’s most storied retailers abruptly became a reality with a final push from Covid-19. With the coronavirus pandemic ravaging US apparel and accessories retail sales (in April revenues fell 88 per cent according to the US Census Bureau) and traditional bricks-and-mortar retail already struggling with too many stores, heavy debt loads and little digital presence, the future of the middle market is li

May 26, 2020
3 min

What Will Post Pandemic Progression Look Like?

There’s no denying the Covid-19 pandemic has caused huge disruption, devastation and uncertainty about our future. Daily routines have shifted as everyone and everything tries to adjust, but we wanted to know if this really is the dawn of something different or just a momentary blip before it all goes back to business as usual? So we asked our community, what are you really going to change? This report explores the long-term attitudes – not short term reactions – that brands

May 26, 2020
11 min

After Covid-19: What Changed For (the) Good?

Sales could fall up to 35% this year, but companies can still emerge stronger, more innovative, and more purposeful. From the earliest stages of the pandemic, the luxury industry has been highly attuned to the spread of the coronavirus—and its massive implications for the sector. Luxury brand owners felt the first rumblings of the storm when Covid-19 spread through China, the country whose citizens accounted for 90% of global luxury market growth in 2019. When the virus reach

May 21, 2020
1 min

Covid-19 & The Retail Industry: An Overview

MADE Trends introduces "Covid-19 & The Retail Industry". In this new report, MADE Trends explores a post-COVID future for retail, where brands and consumers alike will be forced to collaborate and evolve in creative new ways. After years of "retail apocalypse" predictions, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown the industry into truly uncharted waters where it feels like only the strongest will survive. But when the dust settles, we suggest there is an opportunity for a retail r