Macro trends: What´s it and how do they influence the world of fashion? (2024)

Talking about fashion without talking about macro trends is practically impossible, what will we wear, and how each person will adapt the hottest trends to their own style. Long before a trend appears in shop windows or in cabinets, it is the macro trends that will guide, more globally, all our consumption in the not too distant future.
Those who work in the sector, or consume a lot of fashion information, usually have a trained look and a great curiosity in relation to the fashion trend itself, but it is also interesting to be attentive to the macro-trends that will guide not only fashion but everything our behavior and consumption.

Well, what are macro trends, and how does it affect fashion?

Find out here, on the Audaces blog. Enjoy reading!

After all, what are the macro trends?

Macro trends are global behavioral trends that influence the context of societies in general and over a long period of time.

Macro trends have the power to cause relevant changes in the social, political, technological, economic, and cultural environment, and have a direct impact on our consumption habits. For this reason, the macro trends is also known as the bottom trend.

Due to their power of global and lasting influence, these macro trends are important references for the observation of two directions for those in which society is moving. From there, it is possible to identify opportunities for brand positioning, consumer approach, and for the creation of products and services in more diverse areas of the market, such as fashion, design, and architecture.

How do macro trends emerge?

Macro trends are defined from multidisciplinary research and studies that focus on the observation of behaviors, consumption habits, lifestyle positions, and other aspects among individuals in a society.

Thus, from these studies it is possible to predict decisions that these people will be inclined to take, depending on the historical, cultural, and socioeconomic context of which they are part.

evolve over years and even decades. Therefore, macro trends can be used as a tool to predict fashion trends, create products that will be exactly what the consumer is looking for, and launch them at the right time, when there is demand.

How do macro trends become a fashion product?

Before taking a product out of paper, we need to know if it has to do with the brand’s target audience and what will be suitable for consumption in the next one or two seasons. This would not be possible were it not for trend forecasts.

As we mentioned, macro trends are global and long-lasting underlying trends, so the smallest and most ephemeral trends that will materialize in fashion products and collections derive from them. It is what we call microtrends.

The microtrend, in turn, has a less global and more punctual impact on the day-to-day life of certain groups. It also differs from the macro trends over time, as it is short-lived, from one to five years.

the micro trend also brings technological innovations, the cell phone of the moment, expressions and jargon, and themes of movies and series, among others. These factors, in addition, will also influence the trends that we lead.

This is a “late 1980s” explanation, with shoulder pads, voluminous sleeves, and shiny fabrics like lurex. In recent years we have seen the eighties aesthetic in our consumption-based of pure nostalgia among millennials, with a cool tone among the youngest.

Productions such as The Stranger Things series were successful even off-screen, being the subject of advertising, parodies, and decoration products. As identified and predicted as a trend, the decade of hype, flamboyant colors, and glitter is back in style.

What is its importance of it for fashion?

Macro trends are relevant to various market segments because they anticipate desires and choices.

For fashion, the importance of the macro trends is quite clear because everything that is in a shop window today began to be made much earlier, in a matter of months, and in some cases at least a year ago. And, of course, it must be wanted and sold on time, so the need for concrete and precise studies.

However, which are anticipation of change, can also accelerate. That’s what WGSN, the world’s leading benchmark and trend authority, says in Consumer of the Future 2022.

WGSN‘s predictions that were already quickly confirmed with the advance of global change were driven by the reality of the coronavirus pandemic.

The whole world had to adjust to the new isolation routine. With the fear, uncertainty, and anxiety caused by such difficult times, we have seen an increased demand for simplicity, comfort, and conscious consumption. Such concepts have been noted in trends such as homeware and in the strength of eco-fashion brands.

And that is when we realize how relevant macro trends are for new fashion products and, beyond that, they are the basis of any idea or inspiration that will later be on the clothing mood board.

In short, researching trends and keeping your eyes wide open is essential for a fashion professional.

*The image that opens this post is the Chanel haute couture show for Fall 2018. Credits: Alessandro Lucioni / Imaxtre

Macro trends: What´s it and how do they influence the world of fashion? (2024)

FAQs

What are macro trends in fashion? ›

As we mentioned, macro trends are global and long-lasting underlying trends, so the smallest and most ephemeral trends that will materialize in fashion products and collections derive from them.

How do trends influence fashion? ›

Their occasions decide the type of dress, as every occasion has a defined fashion style, such as: office wear, party wear, casual wear, festival wear, marriage wear, etc. In addition to this, if people follow fashion trends, they are noticed by their friends, colleagues, relatives, and even by strangers.

What is an example of a macro trend? ›

Examples of current macrotrends include urbanization, automation and changing demographics. Within IT (information technology), edge computing, robotic process automation (RPA), and blockchain technologies can all be considered macrotrends.

What is a micro-trend and how can it affect fashion sustainability? ›

Micro trends take what you know about trends and accelerate the process: these trends rise to popularity quicker and then leave the trend cycle faster. While traditional fashion trends typically last a few years, micro trends' life spans are shorter, with some lasting less than one season.

Why are macro trends important? ›

Macro trends refer to major shifts in consumer behaviour that will direct the business landscape in the long term. They have a cross-industry impact and evolve over time.

What macro environmental factors are affecting the fashion industry? ›

Resource Factors

The availability of resources, demand, and production are three resource macro environmental elements that affect the apparel sector.

What are the main influences in fashion? ›

Factors That Influence Fashion
  • Psychological Factor.
  • Social Factor.
  • Economic Factor.
  • Cultural Factor.
  • Political Factor.
  • Environmental Factor.
  • Physiological Factor.
Oct 13, 2022

What are trend influences? ›

As stated above, trends are generally created by four major factors: government, international transactions, speculation/expectation, and supply and demand. These areas are all linked as expected future conditions shape current decisions and those current decisions shape current trends.

How do you identify macro trends? ›

There are three major sources of information for macro trend indicators:
  1. economic data,
  2. financial market data, and.
  3. expert judgment.

Which is an example of macro? ›

A macro in excel is a series of instructions in the form of code that helps automate manual tasks, thereby saving time. Excel executes those instructions in a step-by-step manner on the given data. For example, it can be used to automate repetitive tasks such as summation, cell formatting, information copying, etc.

What are macro and micro fashion trends? ›

Trends are typically split into two categories which are macro-trends, trends we associate with specific decades and maintain their stamina of popularity for 5-10 years. Whereas a micro-trend quickly rises in popularity and falls just as fast with a lifespan of 3-5 years.

What is an example of a micro-trend in fashion? ›

A few particularly potent examples are Vivienne Westwood pearl chokers and the House of Sunny green Hockney dress. These two items in particular reveal a couple of microtrend patterns to interested fashion observers or social media enthusiasts.

What is the difference between micro and macro fashion trends? ›

A macro-trend is the exact opposite of a micro-trend. It's a trend that rises slowly and stays around for at least 10-15 years before falling. Macro-trends in fashion can be seen in wardrobe staples as well as trends associated with different decades (shoulder pads in the 80s, bell-bottoms in the 70s, etc.).

What do macroeconomic trends include? ›

Macroeconomics examines economy-wide phenomena such as inflation, price levels, rate of economic growth, national income, gross domestic product (GDP), and changes in unemployment.

How long do macro trends last? ›

Macro-trends can stick around for years or even decades, and they rarely arrive unannounced. Because of their cyclical nature, they leave clues for eagle-eyed fashion enthusiasts to anticipate the next big thing.

How important is macro environment? ›

Macro-environment often indicates a condition affecting the overall economy, and it is not affecting a particular section of the market. A macro environment condition will impact business decisions. Spending, investing and borrowing activities can be affected due to the presence of a macro environment.

What are three macro environmental factors? ›

Macro environment refers to the external forces within an economy. Macro environment factors like inflation, fiscal policy, monetary policy, consumer spending, GDP, and employment rates considerably affect business operations. Governments and institutions strategize policies based on these factors.

What are 3 things that influence fashion? ›

Fashion trends are influenced by several factors, including cinema, celebrities, climate, creative explorations, innovations, designs, political, economic, social, and technological.

What are the 3 key influences on fashion? ›

Fashion Designing Basics: Factors Influencing Popular Fashion
  • Fashion Forecast (Colour & Fabric) Deciding the colour, fabric and look for the upcoming season is something that every designer works on. ...
  • Movies & Music. The entertainment world is a major influencer of fashion. ...
  • Fashion Stylist. ...
  • Economy of a Country.
Dec 20, 2017

Who influenced fashion most? ›

The 12 Greatest Fashion Icons of All Time
  • Princess Diana. One of the best-dressed women in history is Diana, Princess of Wales. ...
  • Rihanna. Rihanna remains an influential fashion icon that even international brands recognise. ...
  • Audrey Hepburn. ...
  • Harry Styles. ...
  • Billy Porter. ...
  • Jackie Kennedy. ...
  • David Bowie. ...
  • Cher.
May 4, 2022

What are the four types of trends? ›

Entrepreneurs should observe at least four types of trends—economic, social, technological and regulatory—to identify business opportunities and grow their startups. By paying close attention to economic trends, they can identify areas that are ripe for new ideas.

How many types of fashion trends are there? ›

There are five primary types of fashion design:

Luxury Fashion. Ready-to-wear Fashion. Economy Fashion. Fast Fashion.

What are the 5 trends? ›

  • 5 Trends for 2020. (and 22 for 2022!) ...
  • 5 Trends for 2020. (and 22 for 2022!) ...
  • GREEN PRESSURE. In 2020, consumers move from eco-status to eco-shame. ...
  • BRAND AVATARS. In 2020, human brands take powerful new form. ...
  • METAMORPHIC DESIGN. Consumers demand relevance as a service. ...
  • THE BURNOUT. ...
  • CIVIL MEDIA.

What are examples of trends? ›

Social media is a perfect example of a trend. It has increased in momentum (users) over time; the modern use of social media has been prevalent for about 20 years now, thus demonstrating a strong staying power; and it fills its audience's need for connectivity.

What are three examples of trends? ›

Streaking (running naked) on college campuses, the widespread use of cocaine in the 1980s, and playing hacky sack all qualify as crazes. Finally, fads that pertain to styles of dress or manners are generally termed fashion trends.

What are different example of trends? ›

What are some examples of trends and fads? As of 2019, some recent trends include food as a hobby or foodie-ism, ethical living, responsible consumerism, authenticity on social media, blurring of gender roles, and wearable technology.

How reliable is MacroTrends? ›

Our data is 100% reliable and accurate since it is sourced from the Bureau of Labour Economics in the U.S. and the World Bank.

What are the six macro trend components? ›

Six components of macro environment are Demographic, Economic, Natural, Technological, Political and Cultural environments.

What are micro trends and MacroTrends examples? ›

Micro and macro trends

A micro trend typically lasts 3 to 5 years. A macro trend, like social media has become lasts longer more in the 5 to 10 year range. A style of dress may be a fad that only affects one segment of the population, but the use of social media is a trend that reaches a broader segment.

What is the list of macro? ›

The three main macronutrients are carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

What are macro factors and examples? ›

A macroeconomic factor is a phenomenon, pattern, or condition that emanates from, or relates to, a large aspect of an economy rather than to a particular population. Inflation, gross domestic product (GDP), national income, and unemployment levels are examples of macroeconomic factors.

What are types of macros? ›

There are four types of macros:
  • Chain macros.
  • Object-like macros.
  • Function-like macros.
  • Multi-line macros.

What is the meaning of macros? ›

Well, “macro” is short for macronutrient. What's a macronutrient? They're the three categories of nutrients you eat the most and provide you with most of your energy: protein, carbohydrates and fats. So when you're counting your macros, you're counting the grams of proteins, carbs or fat that you're consuming.

Why is macro used? ›

Macros are used to make a sequence of computing instructions available to the programmer as a single program statement, making the programming task less tedious and less error-prone. (Thus, they are called "macros" because a "big" block of code can be expanded from a "small" sequence of characters.)

What does micro trend mean fashion? ›

Defining Microtrends

Good on You, a website dedicated to researching and scoring the sustainability of brands, defines microtrends as average trends that “rise to popularity quicker and then leave the trend cycle faster,” contributing to ultra-fast fashion.

Why do fashion trends change so quickly? ›

People are influenced by popular culture, including athletes, musicians, movie stars, social media, and royalty. They also pay attention to what people wear in popular films, television shows, online videos, books, and music. We also are influenced by the fashion industry's advertising.

What are micro trends in luxury fashion? ›

Micro-trends are cheap, stylish fashion items that are designed to last until the end of the current season and are often born from the screens of social media.

What is fashion trends with example? ›

A fashion trend defines the particular fashion design that is popular at a particular time. In fact, we don't need to pay special attention, as whenever we see most people (especially younger people) wearing the same design, it reflects that the particular style is a new fashion trend at the moment.

Is TikTok a micro trend? ›

Microtrends have only become prominent in the fashion industry with the rise of TikTok, as the algorithm allows millions of people to see the same video showing off a certain style, giving a platform to more trends that may be presented through #ootds, hauls, sponsored posts, or #grwms.

What is macro and micro difference examples? ›

What is the example of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics? Unemployment, interest rates, inflation, GDP, all fall into Macroeconomics. Consumer equilibrium, individual income and savings are examples of microeconomics.

What does micro vs macro mean? ›

Since the Keynesian revolution, the economics profession has had essentially two theoretical systems, one to explain the small picture, the other to explain the big picture (micro and macro are the Greek words, respectively, for “small” and “big”).

What are micro vs macro changes? ›

These two extremes represent classic examples of micro- and macroevolution. Microevolution happens on a small scale (within a single population), while macroevolution happens on a scale that transcends the boundaries of a single species.

What are micro trends and macro trends examples? ›

Micro and macro trends

A micro trend typically lasts 3 to 5 years. A macro trend, like social media has become lasts longer more in the 5 to 10 year range. A style of dress may be a fad that only affects one segment of the population, but the use of social media is a trend that reaches a broader segment.

What is macroeconomics trend? ›

A macro trend indicator can be defined as an updatable time series that represents a meaningful economic trend and that can be mapped to the performance of tradable assets or derivatives positions.

What are examples of micro trends fashion? ›

A few particularly potent examples are Vivienne Westwood pearl chokers and the House of Sunny green Hockney dress. These two items in particular reveal a couple of microtrend patterns to interested fashion observers or social media enthusiasts.

What is the classification of macro trend? ›

Macro-trends are the children of megatrends. They are more numerous and all of them related to the “profession” of their parents. As megatrends are covering a very large area, mega-trends tend to focus on certain parts of the bigger picture.

What are micro and macro types? ›

Economics is divided into two categories: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics is the study of individuals and business decisions, while macroeconomics looks at the decisions of countries and governments.

What is an example of what we use micro and macro for? ›

For example, if the government raises the tax on a certain product (macroeconomics), an individual shop owner will have to increase the price, which will impact on the consumer and their decision for or against the product at that price (microeconomics).

What are macro factors? ›

What are macro-environmental factors? It comprises various economic and non-economic external forces that influence business operations and decision-making. It includes demographics, politics, legislation, economy, technology, ecology, and socio-cultural factors.

What are micro vs macro economic trends? ›

Microeconomic analysis offers insights into such disparate efforts as making business decisions or formulating public policies. Macroeconomics is more abstruse. It describes relationships among aggregates so big as to be hard to apprehend—such as national income, savings, and the overall price level.

What are microeconomic trends? ›

Definition & Citations:

Consumer, household, or firms' income, savings, debt, and expenditure as economic factors in the patterns of movements or changes.

What are the 5 types of trend? ›

What are the Different Types of Trends?
  • Uptrend.
  • Downtrend.
  • Sideways trend.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Sen. Emmett Berge

Last Updated:

Views: 6121

Rating: 5 / 5 (60 voted)

Reviews: 91% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Sen. Emmett Berge

Birthday: 1993-06-17

Address: 787 Elvis Divide, Port Brice, OH 24507-6802

Phone: +9779049645255

Job: Senior Healthcare Specialist

Hobby: Cycling, Model building, Kitesurfing, Origami, Lapidary, Dance, Basketball

Introduction: My name is Sen. Emmett Berge, I am a funny, vast, charming, courageous, enthusiastic, jolly, famous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.