Mom Jeans. It's all about Mom Jeans. Laugh as you may, but these much-mocked, high-waisted denim trousers are likely to be part of every stylish girl's wardrobe come fall.
Don't believe me? Well, just recall your initial reaction to leggings. "Ew," you balked, when photos circulated of Sienna Miller and Lindsay Lohan donning the kindergarten staples a couple years back. Now, chances are you -- or at least 50 girls you know -- own a pair.
And what about the resurrection of Converse Chucks? I know many of you who currently rock the high-tops sneered at their re-debut in the mid-nineties. Today, however, you sneer no more c9 and own a pair in white, green and black.
Yes, indeed, trends are tricky little phenomena. They're elusive, and it's hard to tell what'll fly or flop.
But where do they start? Who "births" what will become the hottest new brand or the season's must-have hue? Where can one locate the Arbiters of Trends -- those very special creatures who serve as precursors to the "Next Big Thing?"
Over the past two decades, an entire sector of the economy has been conceived to answer these very questions. Such corporations call themselves trend-spotting agencies, and their livelihood and mission is predicated upon just that: spotting the latest trend.
Among the first such business venture was The Zandl Group, founded by Irma Zandl, the creator of "trend-spotting."
Irma began her career by monitoring teens and young adults -- the most common demographic early adopters or "alpha consumers," a term coined by Zandl -- as they roamed the streets of Soho and other "hip" New York neighborhoods. She also draws inspiration from what she views on MTV, and from the youth she regularly stops to talk to and "Polaroid" in the streets.
But what do Irma -- and other "cool hunters," as such professionals are known -- have to offer the broader market economy? Apparently quite a lot.
With the information and images collected on the streets of New York, Stockholm, London and Tokyo -- a few particularly fashion-forward metropolises -- trend-spotters compose weekly or monthly trend reports that are subscribed to by major corporations. The Zandl Group's bi-monthly "Hot Sheet" is purchased by Disney, General Motors and Coca-Cola, to name a few power-players.
These major conglomerates send these reports to their business analysts and marketing and production teams to aid company officials in determining what moves to make next.
The use of trend-forecasting companies has become so popular in recent years that major companies themselves, like Coca-Cola, have created in-house "cool hunting" divisions to garner information about what's hip and what's not. The goal, of course, is to predict an upcoming trend before it reaches the mainstream population; if the trend has already been embraced by the masses, then its shelf life has elapsed.
To do the job of prediction-before-proliferation, companies once again look to those innately ahead of their time -- most commonly a city-dwelling, teenage demographic. Both major conglomerates and trend-spotting agencies themselves will recruit 14- to 18-year-olds for interviews about what these young-adults are currently consuming.
In some cases, companies might even give the teens a couple hundred dollars, sending them to the streets to buy what they think is "cool." From these purchased items, further trend forecasting can be made.
This recent emphasis on predicting trends before they're trends should come as no surprise. With the competitive environment of our current economy, companies must ensure that they are always one step ahead of rivals, churning out the next must-have product while the current one is just now reaching its apex.
And because today's population -- especially teens and young adults -- tire of product offerings at an increasingly rapid rate, the trend-spotting industries have been able to thrive.
Moreover, with the rise of the Internet and the plethora of sites devoted to fashion and lifestyle interests, trend-spotting has expanded an even greater deal. Now anyone can visit Web pages like http://TheSartorialist.com or even http://Style.com to read up on the latest covetable crazes.
But don't expect to see companies like Zandl's phasing out anytime soon. In a developed nation populated with consumers who have disposable income, the next trend is always rearing its elusive head; it's just a matter of being the first to see it.
