STYLESIGHT is the leading creative platform offering forecasting, analysis, and development tools for design professionals in the fashion and style industries. Suna has over 23 years of experience in the fashion industry. She has designed for distinguished companies including Marks & Spencer’s,

STYLESIGHT is the leading creative platform offering forecasting, analysis, and development tools for design professionals in the fashion and style industries. Suna has over 23 years of experience in the fashion industry. She has designed for distinguished companies including Marks & Spencer’s,

Fibre2Fashion: How do trends originate? What are the factors that influence and help in deciding the direction of the design chain globally season after season?

Suna Hasan:

Trends originate from all aspects of life, there is no one factor that determines a trend. Trends can cultivate from influencers in the latest hit movie, a cultural icon, an art movement, etc. Careful and prolonged observation of the effects such influencers have on consumer behavior reveals subtle shifts and patterns that help to predict transitions in the design “chain”: such as color, silhouettes, materials, details, etc.

F2F: With Fashion forecasting being a wide phenomenon, what domains are covered in market intelligence reports produced by leading forecasting agencies like Stylesight?

SH:

Stylesight’s overall coverage is very comprehensive, from Forecasts for the upcoming seasons surrounding Men’s, Women's, Juniors and Children’s, as well as Interiors; from color to original prints & graphics, to the key silhouettes for the season. We further specialize to specific product categories like Intimates, Denim, Active, and Accessories. Stylesight also covers international tradeshows, streets and events, global retail analysis, runway collections worldwide, as well as shopping maps and guides.

F2F: Fashion is often said to be “cyclical in nature” – how can you predict that what has been around before will come around again?

SH:

Revisiting major styles of past decades is one popular example of the cyclical nature of design, and this is strongly linked to how similar the spirit of our current times relates to a time from the past. While economists were busy calling the recent economic downturn the “worst since the great depression”, designers were equally showcasing collections with a dust-bowl feeling, complete with depression-era workwear styles with patches, mending stitches, etc.

F2F: The industry overall has one purpose, i.e. to provide a desirable and appealing product to satisfy customer needs. Do you believe this target becomes achievable using the aid of trend forecasting services? What are the other advantages that should tempt the industry to adopt the trend forecasting services worldwide?

SH:

I believe this target is aided exceptionally with the use of a trend forecasting service such as Stylesight. We make sure that we cover all of the important trends for mass market and cutting edge; however only the customer can determine which trends they choose to follow for their unique target markets. Our service provides not only the completed research from around the globe, but also gives the design tools needed to begin development.

F2F: Where does the Asian subcontinent stand when it comes to contributing towards upcoming reports, specifically when the western runways are still believed to be dominating the fashion industry?

SH:

Western Runways will always offer a significant source of inspiration for the Asian market, as many brands focus on western wear and not ethnic-centric trends. Therefore, key directions for a season will naturally be rooted in these Western runway collections. For more traditional influences, the Ethnic market shows like Lakme and Wills will be sources of inspiration for embroideries, etc. Stylesight consistently covers many runway shows and tradeshows from the Asia subcontinent, as well as features company profiles on specific mills in our materials section. Stylesight has covered Lakme Fashion Week as well as Wills Fashion Week and Colombio Fashion Week. We’ve also featured Morajee Mills, Aditya Birla and Arvind denim in our Reports.