Day: February 12, 2017

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Just How Influential

Blogs, street style, emerging art movements and rapidly changing music genres: with the myriad of real-time references influencing fashion today, do mainstream trends really still exist? Or is each brand/retailer able to identify and cater for the demands of their own unique customer base?

We looked at data on last month’s ‘Top Movers’ (as defined by quick sell-through, no discounting and subsequent restocks) from 11 global online retailers across a diverse spread of price points. They were: Topshop, H&M, Urban Outfitters, Net-a-Porter, Bloomingdales, Forever21, Neiman Marcus, Zara, Shopbop, ASOS and Anthropologie.

Selecting the 10 quickest selling garments across all clothing categories gives a compelling insight into which trends each retailer has invested in and how their customer is responding. Comparing top 10 garments across the different retailers then gives a fascinating picture of what is going on in the industry.

And what you can very quickly see from the data is that trends are not just alive, they’re seemingly immortal.

 

Blogs, street style, emerging art movements and rapidly changing music genres: with the myriad of real-time references influencing fashion today, do mainstream trends really still exist? Or is each brand/retailer able to identify and cater for the demands of their own unique customer base?

We looked at data on last month’s ‘Top Movers’ (as defined by quick sell-through, no discounting and subsequent restocks) from 11 global online retailers across a diverse spread of price points. They were: Topshop, H&M, Urban Outfitters, Net-a-Porter, Bloomingdales, Forever21, Neiman Marcus, Zara, Shopbop, ASOS and Anthropologie.

Selecting the 10 quickest selling garments across all clothing categories gives a compelling insight into which trends each retailer has invested in and how their customer is responding. Comparing top 10 garments across the different retailers then gives a fascinating picture of what is going on in the industry. And what you can very quickly see from the data is that trends are not just alive, they’re seemingly immortal.

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Fashion trends to watch out for in 2016

The end of every year brings a fresh new start for the upcoming one. Fashion is no different, and 2014 is here with latest trends and styles one must embrace and enjoy this year. While some trends of 2013 continue to linger this year too, while for some, one will need to make room for in their wardrobe.

Baring the mid-riff and showing the perfectly trimmed abs with the obsession of crop tops is incessant this spring season. And for those who do not dare to show-off, meshes and laces can help conceal and reveal some. Colored mesh inserts and overlays will be seen in tops, dresses, and skirts in 2014.

Fuller and long skirts will remain in vogue for the spring/summer of 2014. Feminine silhouettes in tea-lengths were seen on the runway showcased by designer labels like Christian Dior, Tracy Reese, and Roksanda Ilincic. 2014 is about time to ditch the skinny tight fit denims and embrace the new trend of loose, flared, and wide legged trousers. These comfort fit pants are here to stay and adorn the spring/summer fashion must haves.

Inspired from men’s fashion, shirts with collars and cuffs in contrast colors or textures and buttoned down looks will be popular for womenswear too. Pair them up with pencil skirts and big pants for a cool casual summer look. Sheer fabrics continue to lure fashion designers in the New Year too. The runway saw separates and full sheer garments by Burberry Prosum and John Rocha.

The colors for the spring/summer 2014 are light and soothing pastels. Floral prints for this season are big and bold. Dark, dull, and solid colored backgrounds with bright pastel flowers printed on georgettes and chiffons set the mood for a fashionable summer. Art inspired print and graphical illustrations in interesting designs will be flooding the fashion market in the spring/summer 2014. Pop art influenced motifs will be highlighted in garments like T-shirts and dresses.

Fringes in drapey georgettes and rayon fabrics will also be a big trend for this year. Oriental prints and delicate embroidery will enhance these styles. One fresh trend is of the shift blouse, which is a classy version of a T-shirt. The silhouette is boxy and the sleeves are elbow length and loose. It can be worn with skirts, trousers, and even with suits.

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Sustainable can be fashionable for brands

“Yes I’m very afraid,’ admits Moussa Doumbia. ‘Sometimes I can’t sleep.’ Moussa grows cotton as a cash crop in Mali. He lies awake at night wondering whether he will be able to afford medicine to treat the malaria of himself and his two youngest children, just three and five years old. The three tonnes of cotton Moussa produces gives him an annual income of $322 less than $1 a day.

‘The cotton price is not enough for farmers to cover our needs including school fees and health,’ he says.

So Moussa also farms corn, peanuts, beans and rice to feed his 10-member family. He breeds cattle, sheep and oxen which he sells in dire emergencies. He has to rely on occasional handouts from his two brothers who work abroad one in Cte dIvoire and the other in Spain. And still it’s not enough. “I don’t want my children to be cotton farmers,” he explains. “Because they will have no future.”

Sustainability starts with farmers

Cotton farmers are the invisible foundation of the fashion industry. Transparency and traceability are now key buzz words in the industry, yet companies rarely delve deep enough into their supply chains to have any direct involvement with the suppliers of this raw material.

But ignoring cotton farmers ignores the future of fashion. The downward pressure of the clothing supply chain and the obsession with cheap fast fashion comes at a cost not only to farmers but to the industry itself.

Much of global cotton supply is grown by 35-50 million small-scale cotton farmers in developing countries, many in least developed countries. Like Moussa, most live below the poverty line, vulnerable to low and fluctuating prices lower than their costs of production, dependent on ginners and middle men.

Cotton production in developing countries has a smaller environmental footprint and costs less. Most cotton cultivation in West Africa is rain-fed, giving it with a much lower water footprint than industrialized farming. Meanwhile, it costs only US$ 30 cents to produce a pound of cotton in Benin versus US$ 68 cents in the United States. Yet it is the cotton farmers in regions like West Africa and India who suffer the most from low global cotton prices and underinvestment.

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