Our solutions resonate on a local level
For over 22 years, Fashion Snoops has been a pioneer in trend forecasting, catering to clients in over 50 countries across various industries including fashion, accessories, home décor, beauty, wellness, and beyond. Fashion Snoops equips clients with the insights necessary to identify and comprehend signals of change within their markets. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, VP of Content Strategy Jenna Guarascio provides insights into the future of fashion and consumer trends.
With representation in 15 countries, how do you ensure a cohesive global strategy while catering to regional trends and cultural nuances?
At Fashion Snoops, we have developed a centralised framework to maintain consistency in overarching goals while forming cross-cultural teams that bring regional insights and understanding. Hiring local experts in different regions was very important to us in ensuring our offering aligns with diverse and often unique market demands. This approach fosters open dialogue and has cultivated a team that is not only culturally attuned but also capable of creating solutions that resonate on a local level.
With the rapid digital transformation in the fashion industry, how has Fashion Snoops adapted to new technologies and platforms to disseminate trend information?
Fashion Snoops has always been at the forefront with technology — we were among the first digital platforms created to provide trend insight. As a company, the pursuit of new ideas and innovative ways of working is at the heart of our ethos, driving us to constantly seek out new opportunities. We have integrated AI over the years, including a seasonal runway colour report powered by AI, and we continue to explore its potential in novel ways. Through our deep understanding of how our clients work, we have pioneered new tools like Create, which allows clients to customise our Fashion Snoops’ reports on our platform, and our ‘Live’ suite, an AI-driven aggregation tool that pulls images from curated retail and social media sources into live and continuously updating feeds that clients can tailor to their needs. During the pandemic, we pioneered a new series called Fear into Fuel, launching webinars and content geared towards helping our clients navigate this new reality.
Could you provide some insight into the personalised experience Fashion Snoops offers, especially regarding the personalised notes and market-specific coverage?
One of the foundational pieces of how we work at Fashion Snoops stems from our seasonal Pitch Day. Our global team comes together over Zoom to pitch ideas, concepts, colours, anything and everything to help form the basis for our overarching forecasts. Those concepts are then translated into market-specific design direction by our team of market experts. Our clients receive tailored trends that resonate with the unique needs of their market, ensuring that they know what the trend is but, equally importantly, where it came from. Although our origin lie in the kids market, we have expanded to covering women, men, youth, active, intimates & swim, beauty, home & wellness, and accessories. We also offer reports tailored for each market, enhanced by additional insights from our pattern & graphics, materials, colour, and visionary markets, providing beautiful and actionable direction.
In terms of apparel and textiles, what specific guidance does Fashion Snoops offer, and how do you stay ahead in these fast-evolving sectors?
From bite-sized trending content to industry-leading trade show recaps and multi-layered material shift reports, the breadth and depth of apparel and textiles-related content at Fashion Snoops is extensive and always targeted at helping businesses incorporate forthcoming innovations and processes into their strategies. Our reports detail the leading fibres, constructions, and finishes that will influence these fast-evolving sectors, tracking newness across overarching design drivers such as craft, wellness, sustainability, expression, and technology.
In the realm of home décor, how does Fashion Snoops predict future trends, and what impact do these trends have on the industry?
Our multifaceted approach to tracking trends provides a clear pathway from culture to product. We offer high-level home design shifts and seasonal assortment reports, as well as category-specific market files and trade show recaps, delivering actionable insights into home décor themes. Our reports detail the material innovations, shapes, colours, and more that influence newness season after season.
How does Fashion Snoops analyse and interpret evolving consumer behaviours, and how does this understanding inform the trend curation process?
At Fashion Snoops, we approach consumer behaviour trends from both ends, covering overarching narratives as well as segment-specific changes over time. Utilising a blend of primary and secondary data sources, we track emerging trends as they enter the zeitgeist and capture them through point-in-time reports such as our New + Now’s. These reports often serve as the foundation for larger reports that evolve over time and require confirmation from multiple markets. Our report hierarchy enables us to connect seemingly disparate concepts over time, such as mapping macro trend influences through our consumer insights reports. Collectively, these strategies enable us to curate the most actionable, relevant, and long-term trends.
Can you elaborate on the process of researching macro trends and cultural shifts? How do you determine which trends will have a significant impact on consumer decisions?
Macro trends and cultural shifts are a year-round effort at Fashion Snoops, typically resulting from months of synthesised research, surveys, and articles. While the genesis of a line of research may vary from one topic to another, some trends originate from concrete changes, whether that be census data or economic shifts. Identifying the best predictors and outcomes of this data is achieved through theory and behavioural research. We prioritise trends likely to have the greatest time relevancy for the forecasted season based on multiple factors, including cyclicality, known external forces, and market expertise.
Facing information overload in today’s market, how does Fashion Snoops deliver clear and actionable trend forecasts that stand out?
The challenge for creators today is not a lack of information but rather an overload of it. That is where we step in. Instead of simply providing more data, we offer our clients incisive, inspiring content that is easily accessible and prompts action. Our unique sorting and filtering algorithms make it enjoyable and effortless to identify trends and discover inspiration. Brands are no longer just expected to react; they must anticipate and interpret trends for future assortments. While it may seem like a never-ending race to constantly create and react, the solution is not working faster but working smarter.
Regarding the deliverables and benefits of your services, how do you measure the success and effectiveness of your trend forecasting?
At Fashion Snoops, we consistently track our trend predictions as they manifest in the market and evolve throughout the season or year. After posting our seasonal forecast, our team offers confirmation and provides any necessary updates sourced from runways, social media, trade shows, and retail. We maintain close collaboration with our clients to assess the success of integrating our forecasts into their assortments and marketing strategies. This ongoing monitoring ensures our insights remain relevant and actionable in real-time.
How are emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality influencing trend forecasting and product development in fashion and home textiles segments?
Similar to how e-commerce brought speed, convenience, and choice to the shopping experience, the proliferation of AI tools in the next few years will dramatically elevate those expectations within the fashion and home segments. At Fashion Snoops, we have been utilising artificial intelligence (AI) for several years. As a powerful predictive analytics tool, AI enables us to analyse extensive datasets encompassing social media trends and consumer behaviour, and to curate personalised insights tailored to our clients. Currently, we are most excited about how we can push the limits of our imagination and empower our clients to create, think, feel, and understand the world in new ways.
With the rise of social media and influencer culture, how has the process of identifying and capitalising on emerging trends changed in recent years?
Social media has democratised the trend lifecycle. No longer is it a top-down approach; trends today are increasingly dictated by consumers and influenced by multiple sources, from niche influencers and internet-first brands to celebrities and designers. Social media has amplified the acceleration of trends, making it difficult to anticipate their trajectory and lifespan. While the traditional adoption rate used to be 1-2 years, today trends can go viral in just a few weeks, with a varied shelf life ranging from several years to a couple of months.
If you know where and how to look, social media can be leveraged to help you better predict your consumers’ expectations and make more informed decisions at each stage of the product development process. That is why we developed our AI-powered SOCIAL-LIVE tool, specifically designed with all the features you need to track trends on social media across different markets and regions.
How do you see the growing interest in cultural and artistic heritage impacting future trends in fashion and home décor?
There is an ongoing need for consumers to connect with their communities and the storytelling of their heritage. We look to the past to authentically shape future aesthetics. Indigenous wisdom and craft practices are enriching design with meaning and purpose. Consumers are becoming more mindful of the pieces they choose to fill their homes and their wardrobes, shying away from overconsumption and fast fashion.
What role do you believe data analytics and consumer insights play in the development of trends in the fashion and lifestyle sectors?
Data and consumer insights are invaluable in understanding the trend landscape when used correctly. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that while analytics can tell you ‘what’ is trending, they often fall short in revealing the complete narrative behind ‘why’ something is a trend or ‘how’ that trend will evolve. While data serves as an informative tool in our research methodology, we recognise that the true catalyst for successful products and designs is unlocking human creativity and intuition.
20230103183907.png)
