Dwijendra Kumar
Pic Courtesy: SERA
Global trade in textile and apparel products is increasing at a phenomenal speed and expected to be worth one trillion dollars in next 5 years. This estimate excludes trade figures of fashion accessories including footwear!
In India approximately 4.5 crore people are employed in textiles and apparel industry. If we include number of those working in the industries catering to lifestyle accessories products and the footwear, the figure may reach upto 7-8 crores mark easily.
One of the reasons for the growth of this industry is that it always offers something new and trendy to consumers. And so each season brings in merchandise in different and exciting looks, styles and colours.
The process of introducing new, chic and trendy outfits in the market involves lots of research and analysis of present and past trends and also the current and expected social scenario. Based on the same, fashion trends are forecast for coming seasons as well as those of 2-3 years in advance.
So what we are wearing today may have been designed and forecast 2-3 seasons or years in advance!
There are professional agencies for such carrying out this job, while designers, manufactures, trend analysis agencies, fashion buyers and retailers too hire individual experts to analyse fashion trends and help them design and stock outfits in advance.
Some of the leading fashion forecasting agencies include big names as TRENDSTOP, Color Marketing, WGSN, Design Seeds, Maglieria, PROMODTYL etc.
While a Professional Qualification in Fashion and experience in the field as Designer, Merchandiser and Buyer are pre-requisites for making a mark in the field, aspirants must be a keen observer of what is happening near her/him and around the world.
S/he must have interest in movies, sports etc as celebrities in these fields do influence wearer’s choice!
