Life got crazy a few weeks ago when our Christmas color and trend forecast, called ‘Tis The Season™ 2008 – 2009, was in the process of being created. This is an annual forecast we do under The Trend Curve Colors™ banner.
My assistant, Laura, and I selected the colors and sent them to be matched and coated, a process that usually takes six weeks. Then we turned to the trends. We had determined what they would be early on; we needed that information to inform our color selection. What we still had to do was detail the looks, forms, materials, embellishments, motifs and so on for each of the nine selected trends, plus lay out which colors play a volume, accent and fashion role. All this comes in bullet-point form on a Trend Card, accompanied by a photo, which also needed to be chosen.
We were juggling this project with writing the June issue of The Trend Curve, attending trade shows (KBIS, Hospitality Design and Showtime) and launching the research for The Trend Curve Colors™ 2009 (anticipated release date: 9/30/07 – subscribers to The Trend Curve can pre-order by contacting Janice), but had no worries about that because we didn’t expect to have color delivered for more than a month.
So imagine my surprise when our supplier showed me matched colors for approval in one week and delivered final coated colors in our hands in just two weeks more. I was delighted—and suddenly WAY behind. But we were able to ship ‘Tis The Season is just three days, thanks to some real dedication and hard work.
Laura was relentless in her pursuit of just the right image for each trend. Thanks to Steve Scott, one of our graphic designers, for pulling two all-nighters that meant files for all nine Trend Cards were designed and print-ready fast. Our printers in Texas and Minnesota shoved every other job aside to get those Trend Cards on-press, packed up and delivered, all within three days. Then Janice and Cathy made sure that everyone who pre-ordered ‘Tis The Season had it in their hands before three more days had passed.
We are all quite proud of ‘Tis The Season 2008 – 2009. Feedback has already started to come in from subscribers to The Trend Curve and so far, it’s all good (subscribers can pre-order product before a new product’s ship date, and anyone who did so received their Christmas colors/trends before the item was made available to the general public; it’s another benefit to being a subscriber!). For those of you who are wondering about price, this product costs subscribers to The Trend Curve $325 plus shipping, and non-subscribers pay $425 plus shipping (discounts on all our products come as another subscriber benefit). You can order by visiting our web site, clicking on the Trend Store link, then clicking on ‘Tis The Season Color 2008 – 2009 in the right column.
But we don’t have too much time to bask in the glow of creating another best-selling color and trend forecast. We have moved on to the next trend projects and products to help you with your business! During the summer you can watch for:
– Tapping Into Trend: Looks to Profit From in 2008 – 2009™ (on CD-ROM)
– Trend Album™: Tendence (also on CD-ROM, trends from the Tendence Trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany)