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In a fast-moving global industry how does anyone know what the next trend will be? To answer this question, fashion professionals engage in a systematic, analytical process to predict and understand changes in society and consumer behavior. Forecasting companies and developers collect information related to culture, the economy, politics, and technology that may influence future trends. Gleaning information wherever they can, online or from books, arts, music, movies, fashion, and architecture, fashion forecasters research cultural indicators that signpost new ways of living, shopping, and designing. Fashion Trends offers a clear pathway into the theory and practice of forecasting fashion, using professional case studies to demonstrate each technique and concept. This revised edition includes expanded coverage of social media, crowd sourcing, digital influencers, and the use of technology such as augmented reality, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and big data. With the rise of individualism, the authors also walk you through the “end of fashion” and what comes next, including clothing subscription and rental services, the circular economy, transparency and traceability, and the role of forecasting in provoking the desire for a sustainable lifestyle.

How do fashion designers design? How does design function within the industry? How can design practices open up sustainable pathways for fashion’s future? Designing Fashion’s Future responds to these questions to offer a fresh understanding of design practices within the sprawling, shifting fashion system. Fashion design is typically viewed as the rarefied practice of elite professionals, or else as a single stage within the apparel value chain. Alice Payne shows how design needn’t be reduced to a set of decisions by a designer or design team, but can instead be examined as a process, object or agent that shapes fashion’s material and symbolic worlds. Designing Fashion’s Future draws on more than 50 interviews with industry professionals based in Australia, Europe, Asia and the United Kingdom, with case studies and examples from North America and China. These diverse perspectives from multinational retailers and independent and experimental contexts ground the discussion in contemporary industry practices.