2019 in fashion was marked by the return of animal mania with leopard and zebra prints which Heuritech detected extensively on Instagram. Fluid fabrics were adopted, such as plumetis blouses and polka dots fluid dresses. Finally, streetwear is here to stay – with the Dad sneaker trend still growing in all markets.
Here are the top 5 key trends of the year spotted by Heuritech
Note: This analysis is based on Heuritech’s proprietary image recognition technology which detects more than 2,000 components in any picture, from shapes and attributes to fabrics, prints and colors. We analyze 3 million pictures on social media each day (Instagram, Weibo) to extract exclusive insights to forecast a product’s lifecycle more accurately, from trends, to demand planning, to stock.
The Plumetis Blouse trend was a “star” in Europe with a +177% growth in 2019
Whereas the key trend was adopted by more edgy and trendy segments of the population in 2019, it was recently adopted by mainstream consumers towards the very end of the year. Top colors of plumetis blouses were black at 43% and white at 33%. In the US, the year-on-year growth was +77% (December 2019 vs. December 2018), showing that this key trend was more adopted in Europe than in the US.
The Leopard skirt was a “star” trend in the US in 2019 with a +64% growth in 2019
The volume of the key trend grew significantly on Instagram these past years. Compared to December 2017, Heuritech detected 7 times more leopard skirts on Instagram in December 2019. The trend was weak until early 2018, when Heuritech first detected early signals of a bursting trend, beforeit really took off in FW 2018. In 2019, the trend was massively adopted by consumers, since it represented a 4.2% share of the category on Instagram (i.e. 4.2% of skirts on Instagram are leopard skirts). The trend was mainly driven by the trendy segment. Leopard skirts were mostly fluid skirts (17%). It is interesting to note that in Europe, the volume of the trend stabilized in 2019 after reaching a big peak in FW 2018.
Want to know the key trends of 2020?
The Dad Sneaker Trend continued to grow in Europe by +57%
The key trend continued its rapid growth this year. It was massively adopted, and represented a 3.9% share of category on Instagram in 2019, i.e. the number of dad sneakers Heuritech detected on Instagram divided by the total number of shoe posts. The shoe is of course often worn in a sports context, but there are also many people wearing it solely as a lifestyle shoe. Most associated colors are white at 48%, black at 22%, gray at 10%. In the US, the growth was also quite notable, with a +40% growth on Instagram in December 2019 compared to December 2018. The growth was higher in China with a +97% growth on Weibo in December 2019 compared to December 2018.
The Balenciaga Triple S had a +49% increase in visibility on Instagram in 2019 in number of posts versus 2018, making this shoe one of the hottest dad sneakers of 2019.
The Zebra Top arrived on the market with a +53% growth in Europe in 2019
The trend emerged in late 2018 and was a rising star during 2019. In the US, there was a +262% growth in December 2019 versus December 2018. However, the key trend is still niche, mostly driven by the trendy segment. The Zebra print has been adopted in all categories: skirts and dresses had similar growth in 2019.
The Polka Dot Dress saw a +31% growth in the US in 2019
The Polka Dot dress trend was massively adopted by the consumers in 2019 and now represents 2.5% of dresses on Instagram in the US.
It was probably driven by Zara’s viral hit of the summer – a dress which even has its own Instagram account. The key trend resulted in massive growth for Zara’s sales according to the Financial Times: “Inditex, which owns the Zara fashion chain, reported a 7 percent sales increase after analysts highlighted a polka-dot dress that became a summer sensation and helped the world’s largest clothes retailer withstand a tough retail market”. The Spanish group generated €12.8bn in sales in the first half as like-for-like sales rose 5 percent and gross profit increased 7 percent to €7.3bn.”
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