How To Conduct Good Research

The market is constantly evolving and in order to retain your competitive edge, maintaining an informed oversight of the shapes, colours, design details, prints, fabrics, silhouettes and styles that will impact future fashion trends is critical. 

Trends are influenced by a vast and complex set of factors. Yet, despite the mystery that shrouds the billion-dollar forecasting industry, the ability to research and forecast trends is something that you can learn to do yourself as the owner of your own business and brand. 

Whether it’s setting aside time to scour social media for the latest fashion industry buzzwords or making headway into consumer research, read on to learn the principle ways of future-proofing your company.

Circular Systems™ are a material science company that have developed new fibres from waste materials. In this lesson, we chat with Linus Mueller who heads up the R&D and IP teams at the company, to find out what their fibre made from post-industrial (pre-consumer) textile waste is all about, along with what goes into the research and development of such materials as Texloop™. We also discover the importance of intellectual property and patenting for material science companies and their innovative solutions.

Following trends in the mainstream fashion industry and providing sustainable fashion do not have to be mutually exclusive practices. Fortunately, the fashion industry has shifted to embrace a greater focus on sustainability and ethical fashion from designers. While this change brings with it its own challenges, it is also possible to both follow trends and participate in trend forecasting and produce sustainable pieces at the same time.

Fashion is fast; trends change quickly. With new trends appearing on the scene every season, we have to frequently update our wardrobes to keep up. Fast-fashion design labels like Top Shop and Primark introduce hundreds of new designs every week. Customers hardly have a chance to wear a new purchase before it feels outdated. These super-trendy clothes are then quickly disposed of. This is not just because they are no longer cool, but also because they aren't sustainable due to low quality and craftsmanship.

Whether you're running a creative business or are part of a design team, it is vital to be one step ahead of the latest trends. We're not just talking about fashion design trends here - we're talking about business trends, market trends, technology changes and social networking developments. Imagine the influence you could have had if your business had been one of the first on Facebook or Twitter. Similarly, it's no good catching the end tail of a trendy fashion accessory and hoping for the best - that's a fast track way to losing money and credibility with your customer base. Have a read through the tips below so you never miss your chance again.

Crucial to our understanding of the market and our customer’s preferences, trends drive every industry in the world. And nowhere else can the direct correlation between trend forecasts and decision-making be seen more clearly than in the fast-paced world of fashion.

Even the words “trend” and “fashion” are synonyms of the other, denoting a surge in popularity for a particular product, style, or behaviour. Throughout the history of fashion, experts have debated the direction of influence in the phenomenon of clothing trends - does cause and effect work in a “trickle down” or a “bubble up” motion? Are designers influenced by what they see on the streets, or do people make their choices based on what they see in fashion marketing and stores?

Whatever direction you believe this influence moves in, the driver for changes in trends is an underlying power to shift opinion, and in time, encourage people to take action. Brands with the ability to predict what might cause the shift will, therefore, give themselves a competitive edge.

Andrew Holder-Ross is from boutique management consultancy Circus. He takes us through the importance of defining your purpose and brand strategy, and gives you an insight into how Circus manage this for larger brands - from plotting customer journeys to crafting a brand story. Andrew worked with Circus to develop and mobilise strategies for a number of major brands across vertical sectors: from retail and hospitality to financial services and property and placemaking.

Thumbnail image: Brad Neathery

Sue Barrett is the founder of Denim Forum, a creative strategy, trend and advice agency focussed on helping creative businesses and brands unlock their purpose to anchor their business for growth. In this 11 minute lesson, Sue takes you on a journey of trend forecasting, and how you yourself can profile customers to build a brand that can sell, be trusted, and be desired. Though Sue's background is denim-product focussed, the inspiring learnings from this presentation cross over into all product categories, and especially those where consumer tribes are more notable, for instance, footwear.

This webinar was edited and renamed with permission by Transformers Foundation, where this presentation originally aired as part of TransformersED, and by Malin Ekengren themself.

Thumbnail image: from Denim Forum