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L.O.V.E. INC · August 20th, 2009

Hello all. When create your products, are you influenced by the trends that are already popular or are you strictly motivated by your own creativity and start something new?

ReThink Clothing · August 20th, 2009

Its all fine and well to add your own spice to things, but creating your own trends and style is going to be difficult. Trends tend to come from longstanding companies who have good brand recognition and such. Unless your doing something radical because your small it will be hard to get it rolling without any clout.

Solmu · August 24th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReThink Clothing


	Trends tend to come from longstanding companies who have good brand recognition and such.

Personally I think this is a popular misconception. There are some large companies that are trendsetters, but the vast majority of megacorps are responding to what younger companies are doing. They have whole departments whose job is to basically copy the work of smaller companies.

Trends can happen in a lot of different ways. A big company with enough money to market an idea can just (try to) make one from scratch. This isn't guaranteed to work though, and they don't often risk it.

An idea can rocket out of nowhere. Someone creates something new, and it has instant appeal. Suddenly it's everywhere, because it's just that good.

Or, like a stream of consciousness, ideas meld from one to another, themes permeate through popular culture, etc. until things bubble to the top. One thing leads to another. Jung's collective unconscious at work.

I think a lot of popular trends come about this way. I know I've often worked in a certain theme, only to find it's a major trend a year later. It's not because I was a year ahead of the trend - it's just because when I have an idea I'm small enough to implement it straight away. Larger design houses need to develop the idea, develop the line, create samples, etc. - they have a long lead time.

Fact is we all read the same blogs, go to the same movies, read the same books, etc. There are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of designers in the world. Unless your idea is so unusual that there is no market for it, it is likely that there are other designers out there having the same ideas. The more commercially viable the idea, the more people will have already come up with it.

So if you stay interested in the world and respond to it creatively, filtered through an understanding of what is fashionable and what kind of ideas can be sold, then chances are you will ancitipate a number of big trends without even realising it.

It is extremely rare that any one person can be credited with starting a trend. But it's not that hard to be a part of making one.

custeez · August 24th, 2009

I design shirts that I would wear or that I would buy for friends.

xguy9 · August 24th, 2009

There is nothing wrong with being a trendsetter, I give props for to those who can create a trend, look at von dutch with those trucker caps, but its 2009, and trucker caps are not really in anymore. You have to hope your trend have staying power and its just not a fad, but then again fads have made people allot of money. But following and trends that have staying power could insure your business would be around in the long run.

novanutcase · August 25th, 2009

As Solmu said, the larger companies have no interest in being trendsetters. It's too much work, costs too much and is too risky. They hire people to keep an eye on the little guy and when there's a flare in the market these people are being paid to see it and take that design to market as soon as possible and as globally as possible.

It is VERY rare that a small designer will be able to break out of that box as the big boys will crush their newly made trend by flooding the market with the original designers idea.

I've seen small designers do well but doing it without large monetary backing is very hard. In essence what happens is the small designer has to have one hit after another and grind his way to the top if he/she doesn't have the marketing budget to be able to be noticed from the masses. On the way there the designer will have whatever popular design he has created knocked off by the big boys that have the capital and infrastructure to do it quickly and efficiently along with the distribution networks to expose it to the masses before it dies.

Perfect example would be a jean company called Citizens of Humanity. The designer had the credentials. He had been head designer of Lucky Jeans and Seven for all Mankind. He partnered with one of the top salesman in the country.
Even with all that he had to start out with $1,000,000 as a budget to get his line off the ground!

Not trying to discourage you budding designers but it is a reality that many of you don't take into consideration.

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