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How does a trend becomes a trend? Part 1, Textile
Ever wonder how a particular look all of a sudden becomes the look to have for a particular season?
It's probably no secret that it all starts in Europe.
The fashion industry is a well-oilled machine. With the weight of responsibility for billions upon billions of consumer dollars, and the burden of having employed countless number of people across the globe, nothing happens by chance in the fashion industry.
It all begins with textile.
Intuitively, we would think that big time European designers are the ones who initiate trends every season. While this might be valid in terms of the ultimate look and feel of the the lines they produce, but the process truly starts at the manufacturing level, or to be more speciifc, at the textile plant.
Textile conglomerates in Europe pre-defines the materials and colors that would go into each new season. These plants base their decisions on first and foremost, the availability of raw materials that has the highest feasibility in production. Meaning if silk is impossible to get one year because of the lack of supply, then perhaps cotton will be the dominant choice of fabric that year. In terms of the direction of colors and patterns, they work with a handful of color and trend forecasters in Europe to have a general feel of what's going to be hot. This could range anything from data these experts collected from the streets, the archives they have of historical trend patterns, or what the overall feel of the market is; is war on everyone's mind and therefore we should do camouflage? Are people feeling light and happy so we go with bright summer colors? Whatever the choices they decide on, the textile conglomerates defines a range of fabric they will go forward with for the season, and from this collection, the designers then work to further narrow focus the trend of the season.
last modified Aug 14, 2006 at 17:12
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