Assignment Overview

Now that you have identified macro trends and read about how forecasters evaluate their research to predict color, textile, and silhouettes for future seasons. It's time for a real-world application.

Imagine the following scenario: You have been hired to work for a national retailer! It is Spring 2024 and the retailer is working on their Spring 2025 trend forecast. This report will be shared by the members of the merchandising team in every department of the store.

You've been asked to create a digital trend board with both long-term (macro) and short-term (micro) trends: Select your retailer from the list below and identify a particular department. Using the key macro trend that you identified in last week's project (2.0 Activity Identifying Trends), you will evaluate how this macro trend can be interpreted for your target customer. How can this macro-trend be translated into 3-5 micro-trends, for this particular brand and target market, using color, fabric, and silhouette?

INSTRUCTIONS

• Choose a retailer from the provided list below.
• Research and identify a specific department within the store. For example, Bloomingdales/Shoe Department.
• Use provided library guide for the WGSN website and research Color, Fabric, and Silhouettes forecasts for your market.
• Create a digital trend board using PowerPoint, Padlet, Canva, or Adobe Creative Cloud Express.

Trend Board Requirements:

• Name of your Retailer, your chosen department, and the season you are forecasting.
• Describe your target customer including demographics, psychographics, and lifestyle.
• Introduce your macro trend research.
• Choose Color, Fabric, and Silhouette trends. Include the following:
  • 3-5 Color Trends
  • 3-5 Fabric Trends
  • 3-5 Silhouette Trends
• For each forecast (color, fabric, and silhouette) explain your rationale for these trends with 1-2 paragraphs of text.
• Include references, properly cited for LIM databases.

Retailer List

• Bloomingdales
• Macy's
• Target
• Nordstrom
• Dicks