Trending Stripes
Fashion Week is here and stripes are trending all over the place.
As designers knowing when, is just as important as knowing what. 2015 bold stripes kept leaping about the concept pages. It looked like an important idea to visit. The floor was full of florals, lots and lots of florals, skins, especially cat prints started to move into the fray of trending but it was the stripe, especially big bold stripes that stood out because the boldness of the stripe reflected the sweetness of the floral prints. So, it seemed logical that one of the designer trends for 2016 would move into Trending Stripes.
GO BOLD was a way of getting clients and designers looking for trend in 2015 to step into the mainstream with their collection for 2016 sales. Buyers are now looking at the designer brands this week. Stripes are trending. Did you go bold?
I once worked for a company where denim was a staple. As a denim designer, you have to go to the laundry. I repeat the trend is usually at the laundry. That year tapestry was trending on denim but it was not in the market yet, it was still in the first stages of getting the lines ready for market week. I don’t remember why tapestry was moving into style at the time but I do remember that the laundry confirmed the concept. With my collection ready, I showcased the group in our design meeting. Sales and the owner nixed the collection. I was even told “who do you think you are?” I was clear that it would indeed be a trend, explaining that major denim houses had some form of tapestry on their denim at the laundry and was pretty sure it would be a trend during market; my tapestry inspired collection was a bust, pulled from the line and replaced. Trending concepts is not always easy but as they say, a designer is only as good as their last collection.
I made a nice bonus that year, I still think of that little tapestry collection with a smile, we sold a lot of tapestry and it became a staple for the brand for a few seasons and the next trend introduced into the collection didn’t get as much dialogue from sales. I became a better designer for letting my trend die on the design room floor, only to bring it back when the buyers started asking if we had any tapestry styles.
Trending is not a concept; it is a way to move fashion forward, from luxe to mainstream, as a designer, trend has a history, finding that history is what makes trending fun.
Not every trend idea fits into the market place and a lot of them bomb out especially if it is over-saturated. The trick is to get the trend into the market as close to fashion week as possible. This way when your buyer walks in and says,
“Do you have any…”