Fashion echoes the social, economic, political and cultural evolution of the society. It depicts the spirit and in a larger sense, personality of a person. In the past decade, the way masses discuss and consume fashion and luxury products have changed to a very large extent. The fashion industry has shown a record of fast changing taste and treatment of products. The industry and the society have shaped each other to give birth to transforming trends.

Contemporizing fashion statements have become as important as quality of the merchandise. However, a product is less judged on its longevity and more on its outspoken designs. The focus has moved from the product itself to what the product represents. Staying abreast with the fast changing demands of the masses is the most intensive aspect of a fashion brand.

Be it the economy, politics or perspectives, the last decade has seen a rapid change. Fashion industry is no different. People have started caring less about what others think about their clothing choices and have become more introspective. The societal pressures have decreased, making an individual’s style more mellifluous.

More than 65 percent of India’s population is below the age of 35, which makes a lot of difference in the mindset of spending money. Today’s youth have more buying power, and hence they mostly spend on themselves, buy new products, garments, travel and lay their aspirations on more individualistic benefits rather than familial enrichment.

It's Not WHAT They Wear; it’s HOW They Wear it

People have become experimental with looks, styles, diets and even with their career paths. The openness to new talent is bringing an enormous shift in the way the industry is evolving. Trends are analyzed and followed by many consumers and manufacturers who use them as a way of establishing an order in the chaotic world of fashion. Trend forecasting companies use advanced technologies and professional experts to predict what will sell in the future and fast fashion brands are using the huge number of trends in demand at any one moment to make and sell more clothes.

People are getting exposed to different ways of lifestyle, and fashion trends change accordingly. The question is how can one adjust with the fast changing trends? As buying fashionable clothes requires an investment, the customer is more focused on the trends in which he would be investing the money. Fast fashion comes in panorama here.

Trends are analyzed and followed by many consumers and manufacturers who use them as a way of establishing an order in the chaotic world of fashion

Social media rules the trends in the society. It appears overnight and vanishes almost as quickly. It has changed the landscape of the industry completely and is also the reason why some trends often stick for longer than what forecasters predict. Today, the only attribute of a product that matters apart from the trend is the brand name. Hence, building the brand from scratch, offering what customers are looking for and evolving hand in hand with the drift is paramount. The most important thing to work on is the brand identity – who is selling the product, and how is it different from the competing brands. Trends are tools that might help convince clients how the brand understands the changing world.

In a sense, the role of today’s trend analysts is comparable to panning for gold. The abundance of ‘trending’ content and the loss of a single, authoritative source that predicts and starts trends have created a serious need for a filter. Brands turn to trend analysts to trawl through this overload of information and find the real treasure – the trends that will work for their brand, the trends that have staying power, and the trends that can be leveraged in specific markets and with specific consumer demographics.

Online Shopping At Its Glory

To facilitate percolation of fashion and retailing from metro cities to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, e-market places have seen a quantum leap in their business growth. Owing to changing market dynamics and growing popularity of online retailing, fashion retailers have become more adept and flexible in their business models. Retailers are adopting multi-channel retailing so as to provide a seamless shopping experience, engage customers, and to reduce their acquisition costs. Going cashless, customers are willing to look at online payment options. The B2C segment has had a massive blow on the number of orders due to paucity of cash, since ‘Cash on Delivery’ orders constitute of about 85 percent of online purchases made. However, the industry can take this to its stride by believing that Indians would begin online payments and hence reduce the extra costs that are incurred for COD orders.

Keeping up with Fast Fashion

The term Fast Fashion refers to the term of clothing collection that is based on the most recent fashion trends, especially of the West. They facilitate the main stream customer to buy stylish apparels matching with the current trends at affordable prices. The volatility of trends makes it imperative for the industry to roll with the punches, to revise designs and to keep afloat.