Fashion Forecasting Stages 4b4v6k

Ranjan Kumar Saha Associate professor NIFT-Mumbai [email protected] (For classroom Presentation)

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Colour Forecast

COLOR FORECAST

Colour forecasting of a particular season for fashion industry starts 18 to 24 months before that season starts. Lifestyles, culture and attitudes – acceptance or rejection of collective color directions. Indirectly mass media also helps integrate and translate individual and cultural tendencies, differences between segments remain

Color Services 

Color projection services include the ICA-International Color Authority (British); Essential Colours and Colorace (German); Orizzonti (Italian); L.A.Colours (Dutch); The Color Box, The Color Marketing Group; Concepts in Color; Colorplay; D3 (Donegar); Huepoint, etc.

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Fashion and textile industry professionals meet at least twice a year to pool their knowledge of color cycles and preferences to project color trends for the future. Forecast, including yarn colors or swatches, are sent out by the color services in time for designers and merchandisers to plan their color stories and purchase fabrics. Some fiber companies also supply color forecasts for their customers. Color systems are another type of color resource. These companies such as SCOTDIC (Standard Color of Textile Dictionaire Internationale de la Couteur) and Pantone, keep a permanent library of dyed colors in color families. They distribute color cards to their customers who use the samples as standards for choosing colors for merchandise and dyeing fabrics. SCOTDIC has a library of 6000 colors and Pantone’s package has 1701 colors.

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Analysis of current trends : Newspapers, magazines, television and other sources to identify trends Analysis of current colors: Analyze fashion across women’s & men’s apparel, interior design and automobiles; identify colors and create swatches of current colors Image Analysis: Collect pictures of current images across women’s & men’s apparel, interior design, automobiles ( package design, corporate images and environmental design) and create categories of soft/hard, grayish /clear, warm/ cool to detect pattern Analysis of current and Emerging Lifestyle: Develop hypothesis based on the above about directional lifestyles and consumer tastes Analysis of color preferences by consumers: Using questionnaires and color projection techniques to explore the psychology of color and consumer preferences.

Design Concepts and Style Directions Interpret meanings by creating visual core concepts (Semiotics – Science of analyzing signs and symptoms ). For this a forecaster must be conversant with the visual sources and the symbolic meanings of fashion. • Concepts Referencing for the past •Concepts Referencing Ethnic Sources •Concepts Referencing Sports •Avant garde

Forecast: Create the forecast using images, themes and colors.

 Filo

Yarn show (Milan)  Texworld (Paris).  Europian Preview (USA)  Tissue Premier fabric Show (Lille)  Pitti Immagine filati yarn show (Florence) (Mainly for Knits).

 Based

on the colour forecasting, some forecasters Such as WGSN prepare colour Palette available for clients much ahead of the season.  WGSN prepare swatch board for fabric and yarns.

 Continuing

the sequence, specialist product trade shows are held after the fabric shows are segmented according to broad sector, such as men’s or women’s wear, and by the specialist product category, including sportswear or lingerie.

 Magic

show in Las Vegas (USA).  Bread and Butter in Barcelona & Berlin.  Pitti Immagine Uomo (Florence).

 Based

on the Fashion Trend forecasting Designer create their new collection.

 The

final “fashion look” for a season comes out to be the result of the combine views of forecasters, textile shows, product trade shows, designers, buyers, RTW shows.  Like a collage the final picture emerges after the various layers comes together.

 RTW

shows have a very little impact on some last minute high street and fast fashion ranges, there major impact is mainly on directing final views of trends close to or within a season.

 The

extensive coverage of the RTW show by the fashion media provides the consumer the first hand information about the new season’s look and the fashion trend.  Celebrities participate in fashion shows.  Press & Television journalist report headline stories emerging from the RTW shows on daily basis.  Influential fashion magazine report in details about the RTW show some months later.

 Significant

and structured Trend coverage of the RTW shows is catered to the consumers through monthly women's magazines including vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Grazia and many more.  These monthly magazines work on 3 months lead time.

The earliest practical coverage of the September /October shows is in December/January issue. This issue is focused on Christmas and the completion of current year to address next season’s trend.  rs want to keep SS images close to the relevent selling period.  Fashion Editors tend to wait for the first sign of SS sample, generally arriving in November, before producing significant features.  The photo of press sample are couriered ahead of the rest of the production to enable the fashion retailers to promote their range for the current season. 

 Many

fashion Brand holds ‘Press Days’ during which fashion journalists and editors preview the forth coming ranges.  In UK it occurs in July for Christmas and November for SS.  This exposure provides magazines with relevent materials to shoot for their fashion features and benefits fashion brands by giving them crucial publicity.

 Finally

the interpretation by the fashion editors of what the major colours and styling features are for a season has an impact on consumers beliefs of what is fashionable and fashion trend.  Which ultimately reflects on the consumers buying trend of fashion product.

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Forecasting is done few months in advance to almost two years ahead of the selling season  Color forecasting is done up to 2 yrs ahead of the selling season  Fiber /yarn forecasting happens simultaneously with the color forecasting almost 18 months in advance  Fabric forecasting is done 12 months ahead of the selling season  Finished goods/apparel forecasting is done 6-12 months ahead of the selling season. Trend forecasting is an ongoing process. Focused on the target market Product developers may offer anywhere from two to six seasonal collections per year.