Fashion Forecasting

Know your Customer!!

Government sources of information Business publications Resident buying offices Non-competing stores Vendors and manufacturers Observations and counts Competition Electronic systems Personal contact!!!!

The fashion director for a leading

department store was asked,

“What departments within a retail store are influenced by

fashion?”

The reply:

“All departments.”

Basic Fashion terms

Fashion Style Fad Silhouette Detail Good taste Classic Haute couture

Fashion

A distinctive method of expression that has been accepted and adopted by a number of people as the result of common thought Not universal May be divided by the group to which they appeal

High-fashion Mass fashion

Style

• unique manner of construction

• the distinctive quality of an art form that makes it different from other art forms in the same category

Fad

a minor fashion adopted by a group of people for a short period of time

Silhouette

• the overall shape or contour of a costume is called the silhouette. It is the basic ingredient that changes slightly with each new season

Details

•design lines that are held within the silhouette

•may include the waist, neckline, or bodice treatment and trimmings and decoration

Good taste

implies knowledge of the proper use of materials, design, and color.

Classic

those styles which remain in good taste over a long period of time may be referred to as classic. These usually appeal to a great number of people for a long period of time

Haute Couture

Refers to an expensive original style created by a French fashion designer or manufacturer in limited editions for a group of people considered leaders of fashion.

Why Fashions Change

Boredom Outstanding and dominating events Dominating ideals Social groups

Five Principles of Fashion

Consumers establish fashions by accepting or rejecting the styles offered.

Fashions are not based on price. Fashions are evolutionary, but rarely revolutionary

in nature. No amount of sales promotion can change the

direction in which fashion are moving. All fashions end in excess.

“Revolutionary fashion”

Fashion Cycle

Variations in the Fashion Cycle

Fashion Buying Cycle vs. consumer use

cycle

Theories of Fashion Adoption

Trickle down (downward flow) Trickle across (mass market theory,

horizontal flow theory) Trickle up (upward flow, subculture theory)

Trickle down

Oldest theory of fashion adoption Premise: fashions are accepted by lower

classes only if, and after, they are accepted by upper classes, and upper classes will reject a fashion once it has flowed to a lower social level

Implications

Trickle across

Fashions move horizontally between groups on similar social levels rather than vertically from one level to another.

Trickle up

The young, particularly those of low-income families and those in higher income groups who adopt low-income lifestyles, are quicker than any social group to create or adopt new and different fashions.

Applications

Chain store Boutique Small Store Specialty store