More About Trends

Trend creates demand for good design... Accelerating change makes us all winners.

It may surprise you to learn that trend forecasting for home decor has not been around very long, even though trend forecasting in apparel has been used for years.  Just 25 years ago, in the early 1980s, a few forward-looking merchants began to apply a trend perspective to home fashions products.

At first not everyone in home fashions was on board with the concept of trend forecasting.  Lots of buyers, designers and retailers didn't focus on trends and didn't think they needed to change.  They believed that best selling home fashions selections were all about creating good/ better/ best options that show cased different features and price points- and that success with consumers was based on a combination of delivering fabulous service and providing access to exclusive trade-only products.

It didn't take long for the benefits of a trend focused point of view to become apparent to both consumers and retailers.  Consumers found a new source of energy and excitement when they tapped into home fashions selections designed with trend in mind- and they became more confident that their home decor conveyed an up to date sensibility. 

Retailers began to see that home fashions selections designed with trend as a starting point provided a competitive advantage that translated into greater sales and profits.  They realized the importance of reaching beyond personal taste to focus on trend right assortments.  Within 15 years almost everyone understood the power of trend and was using it in home fashions decor.

At the same time, good design began to creep into everyday products assortments.  Famous name designers or staff design teams found an increasingly receptive audience for well colored and well designed products.  These innovative patterns, and designs began to appear in shelter and apparel magazines, alongside color features that pulled it all together for consumers.  With so much information so easily accessible, consumers taste levels began to rise and they have never gone back..

Now consumers demand good design at every level.  They are asking for better design and faster change.  The life span of a trend, which was about seven years in the early 1980s, has compressed repeatedly.  Now a typical trend cycle is just three years and is expected to drop to two years by 2010.

Today consumers have a heightened sensitivity to design.  They demand good design at every price point level, and there is an accelerating time frame for color, texture and design trends.  This makes it more important than ever for manufacturers and retailers to understand and apply trend information to product design and how they work with consumers.

We are all winners in this growing focus on trend.  Consumers benefit with better decor in their homes and the perfect combination of design and color.  

You can find out more about trends on Michelle Lamb web site www.trendcurve.com

Thank you for viewing the Linen Lockers Home Fashions linen and bedding web site. Linen Locker has been selling bedding, linens, comforters, rugs, and bath and home fashions over the internet for over 10 years. We carry all the top designs, including Croscill, Laura Ashley Bedding, Heritage Lace, Arley Bedding, Columbine Cody Linens, Home Source Linens, Thomasville Comforters and Bedding, Homefires Rugs, Veratex Linens, and many more! Since we are not only a web site, but a RETAIL STORE, if the bedding or bath items you need is on the shelves of our store or in our warehouse, we can usually ship it within two days of your purchase. We also match prices on running Linens and Home Fashions bedding patterns. Feel free to call us and check to see how fast we can ship your bedding, bath, and home products. ****