Trend Forecasting and Consulting by Michelle Lamb
Webinars, color specification, trend direction, retail reconnaissance, articles for your publication and more!
Recent Posts from The Trend Curve Blog
Embellishments Lit Up High Point
It’s not unusual to see details and embellishments at the High Point furniture market. At the most recent event, two of them lit up showroom floors: piping and channels. Just as importantly, two others—embellishments that have dominated the market for many seasons—backed off to make room for them: nail-head trim and tufting. The speed at […] Read more...
Green is a Rising Star
When it comes to color families, green’s star is rising. Under the spell of a biophilia trend, greens are going lush and rich. And although select cool types can still be found, the best new versions are leaning toward warmth. Names like olive and moss keep repeating when makers describe these earthy colors. Emerald is […] Read more...
Updating Neutrals for Christmas
When the pandemic began, the black-and-white duos that had been so popular just a year or two before dropped off fast. So did angular geometrics. That’s because—suddenly—high contrast and hard-edged motifs felt too bold for a population that had been whipsawed by Covid. As high contrast looks took a step back, they were freed up […] Read more...
Trend Spotting at Maison & Objet
Those who are in-the-know have long considered the Maison & Objet trade fair unmissable. The Trend Curve™ agrees. So, when the new edition, which returned to Paris September 9 – 13 was announced, I made plans to represent The Trend Curve team at the fair. In my first trade-fair assignment focused completely on home furnishings, […] Read more...
Japandi: On-Trend and Growing
Scandinavian sensibilities have been influencing shape, texture and surface design ever since mid-century modern looks returned a decade ago. Today, they are immensely familiar. Japanese elements are more recent, but nonetheless established. Think lotus leaf motifs and sho sugi ban, the charred-wood look that rekindled a broader interest in black almost three years ago. Now […] Read more...
Business Gets PERSONAL at Sweets & Snacks Show
At last month’s Sweets & Snacks Expo 2021, our first in-person food show in over a year, it was impossible to ignore how often the aspect of “personal” arose. The importance of getting personal resonated throughout several merchandising disciplines. Its influence was felt in product creation, brand development and targeted market spending. Intimate Brand Storytelling […] Read more...
Cottagecore & Grandmillennial Trends Find a Home in Food
The Specialty Food Association announced its annual sofi™ Award winners last month. A glimpse at the honorees shows how some brand marketers are flaunting their farm heritage. This caught the attention of The Trend Curve team because it connects with a growing consumer interest in living a closer-to-the-land lifestyle—or at least the appearance of it. About […] Read more...
Kids’ Trends at Las Vegas Market
At the April Las Vegas Market, the latest directions for kids’ products looked fresh and fabulous. COLOR Kids are always drawn to bright colors. In Las Vegas, however, bright color stories were delivered in more nuanced ways. In some cases, color application included watercolor, gradient or splatter textures that tempered their impact. As a result, […] Read more...
Cool Christmas
Anyone who attended my Holiday-season webinars in the past two last years may remember that I emphasized the rise of green for Christmas. The big winner in this color family was mid-tone eucalyptus, a shade that has now been fully embraced. Fast forward to 2021, and the market is ready for the next evolution of […] Read more...
Pets, the Pandemic and Holiday Décor
Pets, especially dogs and cats, are trending as a topic in fourth-quarter seasonal décor. Why? Because for many consumers, they were already valued members of the family. They truly deserved a role for the Holidays. During the pandemic, pets have become even more important. These furry companions have helped many of us deflect loneliness. They […] Read more...
The Housewares Connection to WFH
From the earliest days of the pandemic, everyone realized how essential a pleasant and comfortable work-from-home space is to efficiency, productivity and creativity. Those factors are still top-of-mind for consumers, since the number of people working permanently at home is expected to double this year. This is one of the biggest lifestyle trends right now. […] Read more...
Anticipating 2021-22 Seasonal Trends
In our year-and-a-half of quarantine and isolation so far, we ‘ve had plenty of time to think about the people we have been separated from, and the traditions we once shared with them. To say that we now long for these touchpoints is an understatement. Whether 2021 is the year we return to our friends, […] Read more...
Halloween 2020 is Really BIG!
The National Retail Federation’s annual purchase intent survey, fielded in September, revealed that Halloween celebrations will be fewer this year. Compliments of the pandemic, only 58% of Americans planned to participate, down from 68% a year ago. Still, a Harris poll conducted on behalf of the National Confectioners Association found that 74% of millennial moms and […] Read more...
Why Trends Mean Even More to Christmas in a Covid-19 World
There is a lot riding on Christmas every year. For 2020 and into 2022, however, there has never been more at stake. Why is that? To begin with, consumers are planning to reign in their spending. A July 15 Coresight Research survey revealed that 48% of consumers intend to spend less on the Holidays in 2020 […] Read more...
Retail Energy in Paris
Over the past three years, we have teamed up on a number of seminars and webinars about best practices in retail visual display. If attendance at our June AmericasMart’s Apparel Mart webinar program is any indicator, audiences are appreciating our unique perspective. They are drawn to our combined expertise in trend forecasting, licensing, marketing and […] Read more...
Décor’s Response to Covid-19
It’s interesting to see how décor choices have started being impacted by the pandemic. In response to Covid-19, some consumers have found themselves newly drawn to tradition. Within this segment, the pull of classic elements that speak to timeless truths has been particularly obvious. Often subliminally, they point out how humans have survived through the […] Read more...
Cookbooks by Black Authors
Anyone who knows me already understands that I’m better off in a kitchen with two microwaves, rather than two ovens. Yes, I did learn to cook. As the youngest of eight kids, I regularly whipped up excessive quantities of everything from pasta sauce to hotdish (I’m originally from the midwest). However, I never really wanted […] Read more...
First Mall Visit Since Stay-at-Home Orders
Malls and retail stores are opening up in SoCal, albeit slowly. Still, it was good to see a bit of life on the bricks-and-mortar scene on my first trip to a mall since stay-at-home orders were issued in mid-March. At the Shops at Mission Viejo this week, department-store anchors Macy’s and Nordstrom remained dark. Other […] Read more...
What COVID-19 is Teaching Consumers About Quality
In early April of this year, an MIT survey of 25,000 American workers found that 34.1%, or just over one third of workers, had shifted to remote work. Add this number to the 14.6% of respondents that were already working from home, and the result implies that nearly half the US workforce is now working […] Read more...
Holiday Trends Q&A
A week or so ago, Tom Mirabile of Springboard Futures and I were interviewed about fourth-quarter seasonal trends. The venue was a webinar hosted by Lenise Willis, Editor in Chief of Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine. The timing was perfect. My fourth-quarter seasonal forecast, The Return of Happy Holidays™ had just been released, so seasonal […] Read more...