what is fashion forecasting and why is it important
What is Fashion Forecasting and Why is it Important?
There's something about which we all are alarmingly conscious about all time - fashion. Nobody wants to put a fuddy-duddy show anywhere as the ignominy that comes along with a faux pas is too much for the modish mortal to bear. Did you ever muse over as to why for some season a Bomber Jacket is plumped for than a Varsity Jacket? The answer is fashion forecasting. In this Buzzle article, know what is fashion forecasting and its importance.
In Simple Terms
Fashion forecasting is trend-driven and not fad-driven. It, thus, makes a tall order for the fashion forecasters to know if something is a mere flash in the pan or if something is worthwhile and there to stay in for long.
If you thought the trends du jour are all products of whims and fancies of fashion designers, then you have been cherishing a fallacy that will gain you scathing criticism from fashion deities. Every item that features on the runway (however grandiose or minutiae) is all preordained―right from the appropriate shade of a color to a specific print; a fashion trend is never a result of fortuity, but a systematic gleaning and compiling of information that is contingent on different fields and aspects. To put it simply, everything that you see, hear about, or wear is a result of diligent research and arduous efforts of the trend forecasters and analysts.
- Art
- Design
- Technology
- Socioeconomics
- Lifestyle
- Food
- Travel
Hence, just knowing what is going to be 'en vogue' isn't adequate, and one must be perceptive about shifts in consumer preferences as well. The confluence of these developments are elements that help fashion forecasters get a wider, better, and clearer picture of trends that will emanate for a particular year.
Qualitative fashion forecasting happening at a buyer's end is all math, where he analyzes trends based on specific brands, target customers of the brands, decides the number of items per style and per color, and sets an overall goal for a brand or company to achieve.
Methodology employed for fashion forecasting are varied and different for every brand. Whatever be the modus operandi of buyers, it always starts with perusing magazines, scanning fashion literature, Internet, catwalks, street observations, traveling to fashion capitals of the world, attending trade shows, et al.
Timing is incontrovertibly associated with a designer's or brand's success, and this is where fashion forecasting assumes a decisive role.
Be it a merchandiser, designer, buyer, retail executive or anyone involved in this capricious business of fashion, if he/she loses his mojo, they lose everything. While riding on the statistical data alone may seem normative (and it doesn't necessarily spell success), the real trick is about considering variables, and not basing your assumptions on a singular factor.
Despite fashion being a ubiquitous phenomenon, it is not same for all. What appeals to the populace in the United States may not jibe with the aesthetic sensibilities of those in Asia. Hence, trends are modified as they reach different parts of the world.