Retailers depend on fashion forecasters to tell them what’s going to be hot in the coming year. Fashion forecasting must be performed well in advance of the actual buying season because purchasing departments place orders months ahead of sales. Forecasting isn’t an exact science; successful forecasters rely on history, recent fashion trends, economic conditions and their own instincts.
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Why is fashion forecasting important?
There aren’t many areas of business that don’t use forecasting, as it plays a huge role in dictating brand direction and the creation of new products or services. Fashion is one of the most crowded, and therefore competitive, industries there is – there are thousands of brands and retailers all battling to have consumers wear their products. Staying on top of what’s hot, and what’s not, is vital to retaining attention and custom.
The modern consumer goes through clothes quickly and wants to be able to copy the trends they see. Subsequently, trends come and go much quicker than ever before. Forecasting needs to provide designers and retailers with fresh ideas constantly, otherwise they fall behind the competition.
Gather Cultural and Social Insights
Fashion forecasting relies on a wealth of social and cultural information to make predictions about where consumer tastes will head. To cover all the bases, fashion forecasters often bring together groups of professionals from various backgrounds for brainstorming sessions. The group may include social psychologists, interior designers, economists and color experts to add depth to the intuitive abilities of the fashion forecasters.
Market Surveys and Consumer Research
Designs that nobody buys are useless. To ensure their marketability, fashion forecasters often rely on consumer surveys to perform market research. By asking consumers directly what they would buy, how much they would pay and where they look to find fashion direction, forecasters can better gauge the marketplace for fashion buyers. Consumer research performed through telephone surveys, online questionnaires and direct customer feedback adds statistics about buying trends that tell forecasters what colors have sold well, what demographics are most likely to make purchases and which products suit customer tastes.
Track Social Media and Internet Action
Trend forecasters spend a considerable amount of time tracking what’s being looked at online and who’s doing the looking. These forecasters look at which websites attract certain demographics and what pages are being explored. They track the movements of celebrity trendsetters and underground early adopters to see what fashions are being promoted and worn. They read blogs and popular interactive trending sites for the latest gossip and filter through the images and files receiving the most attention. They include trends promoted by popular designers to come up with their predictions.
Fast Fashion to Satisfy Consumer Desires
Because fashion shows and the latest trends are widely available to the public via multiple mass media platforms, consumers demand the latest runway designs immediately after viewing them. In response to this desire for instant gratification, fashion manufacturers have developed a strategy called “fast fashion,” which aims to deliver copies of the latest runway shows in as little as three to six weeks. The quick turnaround eliminates the need for long-term forecasting and instead relies on short-term forecasting based on real-time data to make buying decisions.
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