ABSTRACT
This chapter is a closing chapter but opens many questions and perspectives of the near future for fashion marketing and communication.
It introduces the ‘Fashion Carousel’, which is a figurative representation of the cyclical nature of the fashion system that is ever changing whilst it rotates and recycles ideas from the past. The Carousel consists of elements such as textiles, design, production, retail, marketing, media etc.
In the context of fashion, which picks up on, interprets and expresses various events in society, politics, economy, technology and even law, there is a correlation between trends and economic business cycles. Together with this, various theories on the cyclical nature of economic trends are introduced with a focus on the original “Kondratiev Waves” (sometimes called K-waves or Supercycles), a theory invented by the Russian scientist Nikolai Kondratiev in the early twentieth century in Russia.
This leads to the topic of Fashion Trend Forecasting, a brief history and its present use.
Trends to watch in our current times are neuroscience and machine learning, emotions and curation, sustainability, inclusivity, emerging markets and globalization. Roger Tredre, a famous journalist, author and trend expert gives his view on those particular trends.
Finally, the chapter focuses on a more ethical and sustainable fashion and marketing future, showing the “Fashion Carousel” with ethical considerations. Porter’s Creating Shared Value (CSV) is discussed. CSV changes the concept of capitalism, which is purely profit-driven and instead incorporates ethical values into its very core.
