A friend of mine recently attended a workshop on predicting trends. Her workshop was specifically about predicting trends in needs and services for persons with disabilities. The goal of the workshop was for agencies to position themselves in a special niche of services in anticipation of decreased funding and needs of an aging population.
Listening to her made me think of how I go about predicting trends in jewelry and fashion and trying to position myself to be at the front of the line when new trends surface. What will be the next “have to have” piece?
As most of you probably do, I read fashion magazines, peruse sale flyers, and devour catalogs looking at the jewelry worn by the models, And when all that fails to offer inspiration, I go with my gut. And sometimes my gut gets it wrong.
I decided the new fall season was going to be about smaller pieces with lots of pearls. In all kinds of colors and shapes. So I geared up. That is what Sheryl and I focused on and created lots of pieces of pearl necklaces and earrings.
The show we went to last weekend was the first one since my revelation. We had tons of pearls on display. And you know what happened? The large chunky gemstone necklaces that I made last year were the biggest sellers. Folks wanted the large showy necklaces. Full of color and shape and form.
OK, so not only did I guess wrong, but the catalogs and sale flyers were all wrong too. Or maybe I just need to get better catalogs.
Terry
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