Fashion forecasting and big data are becoming key drivers of innovation and growth of China's fashion industry. NellyRodi, an international consulting agency, has predicted the prominences of the coming 2025/2026 fashion seasons with a think tank of experts from various fields to analyze consumer preferences and forecast fashion trends.
"One particularly interesting point is that for each season, we first predict a primary trend color. For example, we forecast that deep blue is the main color for autumn and winter of 2025 and 2026. And the major trend is practicality, by which consumers immediately understand what function it could produce at just a glance of it," said Xu Fanting, training director at NellyRodi China.
Fashion predictions deduce future based on the analysis of known data, and also based on observations of people's preferences in their outfits to comprehend aesthetic signs.
"Fashion trend forecasting is not just a perceptional judgment, it actually incorporates scientific methods of many disciplines. When an isolated event occurs, it's just an accidental phenomena, but when two similar phenomena happen in different places at the same time, we might call it coincidence. When we see three similar things occur simultaneously, we can call it the start of a trend," said Hu Qinghuan, president of NellyRodi China.
Industry data could influence designers. As the latest data indicate, the market of traditional Chinese clothing Hanfu reached 14.47 billion yuan (about 2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023 and is expected to grow to 24.18 billion yuan by 2027.
With this rapid growth projected, many clothing businesses have designed new products with a taste of traditional elements.
"This garment is in typical style of women's clothing of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), called 'beizi' [or a kind of long coat skirt], but we've highlighted it with modernized fabrics. In this piece you can see the traditional crossing-collar of the Song Dynasty, [and the inspiration of which] came from ink wash painting. But we used modern velvet materials, blending traditional culture with a style suitable for daily wear," said Jin Meimei, a clothing seller in Beijing.
Retailers are also leveraging big data to enhance customer engagement, offering personalized services that reflect the latest trends.
In a clothing store in Guangzhou, brand manager He Minli introduced a machine for in-store customization service for buyers, allowing them to embroider unique patterns on the clothes sold at her store.
"For small embroidery pieces like these, they can be sewn onto clothing in just a few minutes on this machine, turning them into personalized styles. We also continuously update our accessories. Big data are very powerful nowadays, and we also always follow overall fashion trends," said He.
Forecasting, big data propel China's fashion industry
