Arriving Fashionably Early: Understanding the Fashion Calendar

 Have you ever walked into a store in the cold month of February and seen swimsuits and thought, "Um, isn't it a little early for this?" or alternatively, during the month of August seen a swarm of sweaters as you are wiping the sweat beading up on your forehead from walking between your car to the store's entry door?

Yep, I think we have all been there.  Today, I'm going to give you a brief outline of the Fashion calendar so you know what to expect.  Why does this matter?  Because if you want to be at the forefront of fashion, it's important to get in early before all the "good stuff" has been shopped!

There is a LOT that goes into the mass market fashion timeline and if it isn't all strategic, THAT would be a fashion disaster!  To keep things simple here, I am going to talk about MASS MARKET Fashion because the rest is not what most of us shop!

Step 1:  Trend Forecasting

Believe it or not, trends are forecasted anywhere from 18 months to 24 months before we ever see items in stores.  There are many aspects to trend forecasting including street style, color forecasting, influencers, designers, movies, television, and politics.  These days, there are forecasting agencies that take all of these things into account and provide Designers with the outlook for what is to come, which allows them to start designing their collections.

Step 2:  Design

About 12 months before we as consumers see anything in stores, Designers have been hard at work curating and refining their collections. It is here that they are interpreting what the forecasting agencies are predicting and the design, pattern-making and production will begin.  Everything from finding the right fabrics, the right prints and how to accessorize and style these pieces comes into play at this point.

Step 3:  Runway

This is truly the first chance that consumers have to see what has been being put into motion for a year or more!  The Fashion Weeks start rolling out across the major fashion capitals about 6 months prior to when items are seen in stores. As much as we the consumer love to watch these artful runways (such as with New York Fashion Week happening now), it is GO TIME for retailers.  This is when they are watching the runways and being presented with collections that they need to begin buying for so they have product to sell!

Step 4:  Retail Buying

This happens about 3-6 months prior to product landing in the stores.  This is a mad-dash time for retail buying offices to make sure they can get the product they want to sell in a timely fashion.  When it comes to retail buying, if it's a miss, it's a BIG ONE.  If they don't order enough product, they lose money on sales.  If they order too much because they overestimated how strongly an item would sell, they lose money because they end up having to sharply discount the product.  No pressure in this job here.  

Step 5:  Production and Distribution

So, we were all there for what was the massive cluster**ck known as Covid. The shipping containers stuck out in the ports, lined up down the coastlines waiting to be able to get product to warehouses.  Yep.  This is that process.  Production begins immediately upon orders being completed.  At this point, it is a fine timeline. We saw what happens firsthand when this breaks down.  ALL of those orders that were put in for an on time arrival arrived a season late. While this is maybe the least exciting of all of the steps that go into the fashion calendar, it is a VERY important one.

Step 6:  Arrival to stores

This is when we, as the consumer, see these items arrive in stores.  Yay!  Time to shop!  As I am writing this article, Fall New York Fashion Week is going on.  As the runways are showcasing Fall, swimwear and Spring items are starting to be available in stores.

This is why in this stage, things move pretty quickly, because a Spring and summer shopping season begins in February in higher-end department stores.  In April, spring and summer styles are in mass market and by August, the pieces are starting to go on clearance to make way for Fall styles.

I hope that this article helped give you a small peak into the world of fashion and why it seems so wonky at times.  Everything is done strategically and for a reason.  If you want to get more wear out of your pieces and get the good stuff, keep this fashion calendar in-mind!

Stylishly Yours,

PS - Interested in knowing more about TRENDS?!  I will be sharing all about the Spring and Summer trends very, very soon!  Get on the list here!