Category Archives: Publications

Brave New World Audio Recording

By Simone | Published: August 6, 2011

One of my favorite science fiction books of all time is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The novel describes a ‘dystopian’ future in which humans are vat grown and conditioned to function perfectly within a set strata of society with perfect, blissful happiness.  Everyone lives and looks as though they’re seventeen until the day [...]

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The Trouble with Naming Trends

By Simone | Published: September 30, 2010

Today, Slate served up some new criticism on a New York Times article claiming a “new” trend of fashionable women riding around New York City on retro bikes.  Jack Shafer points out that not only does the so-called trend lack numerical validity, it strongly resembles a trend described in a 2007 New York Observer piece. [...]

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Marco Pedroni on Coolhunting

By Simone | Published: September 23, 2010

Marco Pedroni, a lecturer at Milano Fashion Institute, recently shared an interesting piece on coolhunting: “From Fashion Forecasting to Coolhunting.  Previsional Models in Fashion and in Cultural Production.” The overview is apparently a speech- part of the 2nd Global Conference on Fashion, which started today and continues through the 26th, and can be found here. [...]

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Vintage Magazine Images Offer a Peek into the Past (and Future)

By Simone | Published: September 1, 2010

I’ve come across the most amazing site recently – MagazineArt.org is a treasure trove of magazine images from the 1850s to 1950s.

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Venture Altruism and Trend Spotting

By Simone | Published: August 11, 2010

As trend spotting is such an elusive and constantly evolving form, it is difficult to pin under a single definition.  In the twentieth century, it was first positioned as a strategic tool to be used in time of war, and then, by governments.  Trend spotting subsequently entered a more flowery period of fashion forecasting during [...]

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Trend Spotter Profile: Professor David Passig

By Simone | Published: July 21, 2010

Whether you’re looking for cutting-edge insights on international affairs, virtual reality, trend spotting, scenario planning, or futurism, Professor David Passig is a good man to consult.

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Trend Spotting Lesson 4: Making a Trend Book

By Simone | Published: June 3, 2010

Many trend spotting consultancies publish books on trends or the trend spotting process to augment their product offering, establish a reputation, and (if the book is good enough) establish another income flow.

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Trend Spotting Company Profile: mode…information GmbH

By Simone | Published: June 1, 2010

mode…information is a German-based Global Network for Trend Inspiration that specializes in fashion, textiles, design, architecture, graphics, and lifestyle. It offers online services, color trend products, and “more than 1000 specialist publications for textile, fashion, colour, graphics, product design, interior, architecture and lifestyle.”
mode…information’s customers include manufacturers, service companies, retailers, graphic designers, freelance designers, institutes, associations, and design schools.
Though mode…information covers all sorts of trends, it demonstrates a particular emphasis in color, via its distribution of PANTONE® products, for example. To insure the quality and accuracy of its color predictions, mode…information has established alliances with “the world leaders in colour management solutions, X-Rite with Pantone Europe and Clariant.”

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Trend Spotting Book Review: The Empathic Civilization

By Simone | Published: May 25, 2010

Most books provide an escape from daily life or offer information about a specific subject.  Jeremy Rifkin’s Empathic Civilization does both, and also has the power to fundamentally change one’s entire worldview. As for escape- The Empathic Civilization removes readers from the specific minutiae of everyday life, encouraging them instead to focus on big, broad [...]

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Trend Spotting Book Review: Blue Ocean Strategy

By Simone | Published: May 6, 2010

Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne provides a method by which companies can create strategies to not only beat competition, but rise above it entirely. The authors argue that simply benchmarking against competition leads only to a slow demise, while rethinking one’s entire product or service offering allows for new, untethered growth.

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