Retail, cultural, fashion trends for 2012

Sally Lohan, Content Director for the USA at trend forecasting company WGSN, gave a presentation at the IASC Skateboarding Summit about the top cultural and fashion trends for Spring 2012.

 

She also provided information about key trends in retail.

 

Here is a summary of her presentation.

 

The Top 10 cultural trends

1. Connectivity/wireless

2. The app designer/guru

3. Future of money

4. Future of privacy

5. Focus on health

6. New wave and avant-garde

7. Killer personalization

8. Future of transportation

9. Frustration and anger – rich and poor polarization

10. Escape from escapism – a new form of minimalism

 

Key trends for Spring/Summer 2012 

Primal Futurism

 

This trend includes ancient and primitive aesthetics, mythology with a modern spin. It’s a mixture of the natural and the high tech. For example, fabric that looks natural but is synthetic.

 

This trend is about staying local for vacations, and using iPhone apps to find spiritual hotspots.

 

It balances the very old with the very new, and is a new kind of luxury. The fabrication and the sensory aesthetic are more important than the status of the brand.

 

Cinematic

 

This trend is about retro and vintage. It’s a new retro that takes references from different eras.

 

Sally Lohan of WGSN. Photo by Floris Gierman.

The moving image is key, the cinematic influence. It’s about fantasy – Lohan gave the example of some people in China some dressing as characters.

 

Style, art and design serves as an escape from everyday life. This trend is nostalgic, slick, interactive and sensual.

 

Jpeg Generation

 

This is a youth-drive trend, part of the digital revolution. It’s about using cell phones to check out in stores, finding value on the go.

 

The balance of power between the artist/content owner and the audience shifts. Everyone’s voice counts.

 

This trend includes a dismembered narrative, a crude computer craftsmanship and an ad hoc approach.

 

See Page 2 for retail trends

 

 

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Retail trends

 

When it comes to retail, online and offline are important are equally important. People are increasingly looking for an emotional connection in stores, a sense of belonging.

 

It’s retail as a club experience, connecting people with like minds. Some stores are creating hangout spaces in stores, and hardware stores are adding DIY clubs that connect people with hobbies.

 

The rise of the VIP is also important. Many stores are creating VIP programs and even special spaces in stores for loyal customers. That may mean special tailoring services or other benefits.

 

Retail co-ops are also on the rise. For example, at the People’s Supermarket in London, customers that sign up for an annual membership work four hours a month and then receive a 10% discount.

 

This club trend is emotional, it brings an online community feeling in house, creates a sense of team spirit, and caters to VIPs.

 

Another retail trend is one that upsets expectations, whether its creating a one room, pop up hotel in the back of a store, or opening a store in a forgotten space such as a hallway.

 

It’s also about making the mundane less ordinary. Lohan showed photos of a butcher shop set in a very glossy retail setting that resembled a high-end jewelry store. Pieces of meat were showcased in pristine glass display cases with spotlights illuminating them.

 

Another trend is faux heritage, making a store look antique and vintage. She showed one store that had a large collection of antique sewing machines in windows.

 

Another retail trend is animation – using moving images on screens, live models, moving displays of products. For example, conveyor belt in a store window that displayed shoes.

 

Mobile

 

Retail mobile apps and mobile sites need to be very functional and have good image quality, product search capability, store finders, limited data entry and bar code scanners, she said.

 

Ignore the mobile trend at your peril, Lohan said. Consumer want options, and retail sites need to be redesigned for smaller screens. And most importantly, functionality wins.