Color Forecasting: Seasonal Colors
Tracy Diane Cassidy and Tom Cassidy
Chapter Summary. Color forecasting is essentially part of the fashion trend forecasting process that offers designers direction in the selection of seasonal color palettes and other design decisions for product creation. Trend information is sold in the form of trend packages primarily to fashion and textile companies and to other consumer product industries whose sales also rely on meeting the demands of consumer taste. However, this diversification of the clientele has resulted in the promotion of more generalized color directions; the opposite of industrial practice where knowledge of consumer desires and preferences is intrinsic in design and marketing processes. This chapter explains the role of the forecasting sector and the process they employ to create seasonal color palettes and how these are promoted to the fashion and textile industry. The weakness of the process and the importance of consumer color acceptance are discussed concluding with the benefits of using consumer color data.
Color forecasting is a fundamental part of a collective process known as fashion forecasting or trend prediction, where attempts are made to accurately forecast color and other design elements for fashion-related products that consumers will purchase approximately two years ahead. This specialist sector evolved in the early part of the twentieth century from small independent companies by individuals with a vision for creating seasonal color palettes to influence textile and fashion design. Ironically, as the textile industry sector decreased in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe, the forecasting sector expanded as the visionary entrepreneurial types with textile backgrounds migrated from the former industry to the latter. With the growth of the forecasting sector came increasing competition between the forecasting companies to sell their products, the product being the forecasting information most often sold in the form of trend packages. With this came the need to diversify beyond the fashion and textiles sector into other mass consumer product sectors where color is also an important design element. These “fashion-related” markets can also be allured to essentially benefit from color as a marketing tool to create aesthetically saleable products. However, in widening the customer base the trend information has become more general to make it relevant to less fashion-specific industries. This move is the opposite to the common business practices of today where companies are becoming more target market focused and require more specific information in relation to their consumers’ tastes, preferences, and behavior.
The process of color forecasting is an integral part of the roles of many personnel within the industry and currently includes the anticipation of consumer acceptance of color. Seasonal colors are recognized as a powerful driving force of fashion-related or consumer products and consumer research of desires and preferences has become an important and integral part of the design and marketing processes. As trend forecasts are marketed globally they do not take into account the tastes and preferences of target markets that fashion-related industries focus their design and marketing efforts on. The forecasting sector claims to aim for 80 percent accuracy in its predictions but also professes the intentions of the data to be inspirational, not gospel. However, in a previous study by the authors only around 50 percent of consumers when questioned were satisfied with color ranges on offer at that time. Through a rigorous research process the anticipation of consumer acceptance was identified as a weakness of the current color forecasting process and almost 70 percent of industry personnel surveyed that were involved in using the current forecasting process felt that it should be improved. As a result, an improved system model was conceptually developed and tested revealing that almost 70 percent of retail, 50 percent of manufacturing personnel, and more than 80 percent of personnel in the forecasting sector agreed that their company would benefit from the inclusion of consumer color preference data to eliminate the anticipation stage of the process. The idea of a system to assist with the development of seasonal product color ranges in relation to target market specific consumer preferences/acceptance was significantly embraced.
This chapter begins by explaining the role of the color forecasting sector, outlining the processes used to develop seasonal color stories, and the dissemination of these to create a strong color consensus as a marketing tool. The concept and importance of consumer color acceptance is discussed and, in conclusion, the benefits for consumer product industries to work with this type of data specific to their own target markets is explained.
THE DEVELOPMENT AND ROLE OF THE COLOR FORECASTING SECTOR
The color forecasting sector operates predominantly from major global fashion cities providing a service primarily to the fashion and textiles industry, and more recently to other fashion-related consumer product industries. Individuals working for specialist forecasting companies provide seasonal color stories using a limited number of colors. These are sold as trend prediction packages that promote the selected colors as a trend for a predetermined period of time in the near future. The forecasts indicate anticipated colors assumed acceptable to the consumer compiled through a complex intuitive and analytical process. The information is used by those responsible for color decisions for their company’s products. This source of information is used to assist in their own color decisions for their products, which they hope will result in the creation of products that will have a relatively high chance of meeting their consumers’ preferences, desires, and needs.
The current role of the color forecasting sector has evolved through developments in the textile industry that occurred during the early half of the industrial revolution. These progressions enabled the garment manufacturing sector to develop, and in turn, aided the establishment of the fashion industry as we know it today. Earliest indications of the need for inspiration for fashion direction is possibly evidenced by a number of British manufacturers visiting the United States in around 1825 where they were much inspired by lightweight wool blend fabrics produced for outerwear (Diane and Cassidy 2005). The ready-to-wear sector was established much earlier in America than in Britain and with it came new challenges. Previously garments were made bespoke by skilled individuals who later became known as or recognized as being fashion designers. These handmade garments that are now accepted as being the fashion garments of that time were only made for those with the means to pay for them. The lesser-privileged mass market wore homemade and handed down garments. Later, by the end of the industrial revolution, fashion was more readily available and affordable to all classes. By now designers worked predominately within factories and no longer designed for individuals but for mass markets. Thus the direct communication link between the designer and client no longer existed and designers had to rely on anticipating the needs and desires of the new fashion consumer. At this time fashion retail outlets were predominately department stores. In the first instance ready-made garments were part-made and completed to fit by seamstresses working in the fashion departments. This system enabled the garment manufacturing industry to better cope with the problems encountered by nonstandardized garment sizing experienced at this time. However, there was nothing in place to assist the problems encountered by the textile industry to produce yarns and fabrics in desirable colors.
In 1915, the Color Association of the United States (CAUS) was the first known set of individuals to become involved in color forecasting followed by the establishment of Tobe Associates consultancy in 1927 by Tobe Collier Davis (Diane and Cassidy, 2005). While it is uncertain if this was the first of its kind, it was undoubtedly the most important consultancy at that time in America. Finally a company existed that could concentrate on the fundamentals of fashion direction to be delivered to the manufacturers, albeit in exchange for a fee. This freed the manufacturers of this process enabling them to concentrate their efforts on production. Obviously as many manufacturers were then supplied the same information a theme was duly set, and when followed by the subscribers, this theme would become evident. In 1931 the British Color Council was formed and played a key role in the forecasting of seasonal color palettes in the United Kingdom. Its information was presented to fiber, yarn, and fabric manufacturers in advance of the appropriate season (Worth 2000). At this time, the responsibility for color direction was very much with the manufacturers. As the direct communication link between designers and consumers grew, through the development of the industry’s supply chains, it became more difficult for manufacturers to understand and relate to consumer needs in what had now become an increasingly competitive climate. To alleviate some of the difficulties faced by the UK industry, a group of manufacturers formed the London Model House Group in 1947 (Burns and Bryant 1997). They made efforts to begin to co-ordinate a structure to the industry through the introduction of seasonal stock in the growing retailing sector. This assisted manufacturers to work to deadlines on heavier-weight clothing associated with Autumn/Winter seasons and lighter-weight garments for Spring/Summer seasons.
During the 1950s further technical developments in spinning, yarn development, weaving, knitting, and garment production rapidly increased. By now colors and fabrics were establishing a more seasonal direction on the high street, a follow-through from the limited number of forecasting agencies and exhibition directors at this time. The fashion disasters of the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as when the midi skirt was introduced, were a result of misinterpreting consumer demand by the manufacturing industry. These errors in judgment led to serious financial losses and business closures. Earlier in the 1920s costly fashion flops were experienced by the industry when similarly some designers tried unsuccessfully to introduce ankle-length skirts. However, possibly due to increased competition, the mistakes made in the 1960s and 1970s in anticipating fashion change and consumer acceptance were particularly devastating to the industry. This coupled with the onset of an economic recession, which incidentally also occurred at the end of the 1920s with the Wall Street crash in America that also affected the United Kingdom, compelled the need for more accurate fashion direction to be known in advance for survival. Possibly for this reason more color and fashion consultancy businesses were established, including Informa Inc., Promostyl, and International Color Association (ICA). These new companies predicted trends eighteen months in advance. Also by the early 1970s fashion on the high street lacked direction resulting in no single influential driving force being identifiable and consumer demand became more varied. This influenced a need for market segmentation in the retailing sector. By the end of the 1970s the retailer next established George Davies’s novel concept of retailing on British high streets. The company used a limited color palette per season and exploited display methods for optimum sales as a key marketing strategy. This emphasized the effective use of color in fashion retailing, which may have been the concept of the initial color forecasting companies and exhibition directors forty years previously (Gray 1998). The need for retailers to segment the market became ever more apparent. This was largely due to a high population with widely varying lifestyles and interests. For this reason market research became an important tool for collating information about the consumer to assist retailers to target their market more effectively.
The existence and prominence of the forecasting sector may be indicative of continuing uncertainty felt by manufacturers and retailers. Also, as will become clear in the following sections, the engineering of the color forecasting industry can be seen to ensure, to a degree, that the color trends predicted will indeed prevail due to the marketing influences and techniques employed; though as highlighted in the final sections of the chapter, it is the decisions and choices made by the consumer to purchase that ultimately create sales. While manufacturers and retailers cannot control all of the variables that influence these decisions, offering products with high color consumer acceptance levels is one very important aspect that can be controlled. Edelkoort (1999) emphasized the important role that color plays in the fashion business, stating that in general the industry has been led to believe that when the color aspect of design is right, then all else will fall into place. For this reason, companies are willing to invest large amounts of money in trend information.
DEVELOPING SEASONAL COLOR STORIES
Color forecasting can essentially be viewed as both a service and a process, the service being the marketing concept partly fulfilled through the sale of prediction packages to the industry and partly through the dissemination of color stories outlined in the next section. Color forecasting as a process is the selection of colors for a predetermined season in the near future. Personnel within the industry use trend information as a source of inspiration to assist in color decisions to create products that are “on trend” and that will achieve optimum sales. Sproles (1979) viewed forecasting as an anticipation of the timing and direction of change in relation to consumer acceptance based upon knowledge, informed judgment, and intuition in order to analyze, evaluate, and interpret this qualitative data systematically. This was reiterated by Tate (1984) and Sproles and Burns (1994), acknowledging that the forecasters of the specialist sector essentially attempt to take control of the resulting seasonal color trends.
The process involves a seemingly accurate evaluation of the moods and buying behavior of consumers (Brannon 2000). This is coupled with a collection of color data to be analyzed and interpreted delineating the possibilities (Perna 1987) to anticipate change on a seasonal basis. In particular, changes in the direction and the rate or speed of these changes in relation to the timing of acceptance by the consumer (Sproles 1979) is essential. The seasonal color stories indicate hue, value, and intensity and are heavily promoted throughout the industry. The promotion of these seasonal color stories is thought important to instigate high street sales through a consensus of color. However, they can also be seen to set limitations and may serve to dissuade companies from developing palettes that would better suit the preferences of their own target markets.
Patricia Verlodt (Linton 1994) recognized color forecasting methodology as having specific tools, one of which being past experience. This can include historical trends, research, experience, and intuition. She also suggested that design can more often than not influence color, that is, by shape, size, and texture. Alison L. Webb spoke of the importance of timing and that colors evolved that can be experienced in a systematic manner (Linton 1994). Color consultant Julie Buddy (1992) identified three main areas within the color forecasting process: exploration, evaluation and analysis, and finally collation where all of the information is compiled into a fashion marketing concept. She viewed market research as a fundamental tool for the forecaster and the process of observation to be constant. She also pinpointed consumer segmentation as an essential tool. Edelkoort (1999) reported the methodology as a continual collection of color representatives, of any form or substance, to be stored away until the time comes to put together a new color palette. The color representations most appealing to the eye (of the forecaster) are intuitively selected from this collection. Then from the many colors that are laid out on a surface, natural color stories are identified. Ideas for fashion begin to formulate around the colors and are then developed into color story boards. This process occurs biannually. Dale Russell of the Color Group demonstrated that lifestyles are very important influences when compiling color stories or themes, which are then presented in the form of mood boards for discussion. Also relevant updates in technology may also be added to the discussion. Russell stated that the ultimate decisions for the final colors were the product of brainstorming workshops (BBC Video 1991). Edelkoort emphasized the importance of awareness in the forecasting process stating the importance of observing aesthetics and patterns in society. Such data are collected visually, remembered, and later analyzed in order to filter into trends (Fearon 1996). Jabanis (1983) noted that interpretation requires a preliminary process of eliminating the information not considered to be applicable. This process of elimination may be based on intuitive reasoning or a more objective and fundamental approach. The remaining data form the color story.
Further fashion-specific forecasting methods include the measurement of the diffusion of fashion using diffusion curves developed employing the number of adopters over points of time. This is a more theoretical approach to forecasting. The rate of acceptance is analyzed and the current level of acceptance is evaluated. The extent of the trend should then be possible to estimate. Mostly, levels of acceptance are observed and experienced by the forecaster as opposed to actually calculating it. The forecasters prefer to view this technique as part of their intuition. Sproles (1979) included consumer surveys, consumer panels, test marketing, and the monitoring of designer collections, fashion cities, and the high street as sources of data collection that are considered to be fashion-specific, though evidence of the three former sources is minimal in practice. Trends in consumer spending were also included in Sproles’s list.
Two types of forecasting can be identified, short range and long range. The differences between the two are predominantly the time scale involved and accuracy. Short range is likely to be more accurate due to its shorter time span, which may only be a few months ahead or up to two years ahead. Longer time spans of long-range forecasts, three to five years, have a higher risk of inaccuracies due to unforeseen factors materializing at a later date. Long-range forecasts lend themselves better to marketing strategies and short-range forecasts to fashion forecasting. In both instances trends are identified and levels of demand assessed as well as the timing of acceptability by the consumer. Due to the traditional time scales required by the industry to produce garments and for retailers to sell them, the forecasters originally worked around two years ahead. However, as lead times are generally shortening within supply chains, some forecasters are now working to shorter time spans. Due to the changing climate in the industry and producing orders on demand within short time scales, a more trend-responsive system would serve to further reduce inaccuracies for manufacturers and retailers. Such a system is discussed later in the chapter.
After an initial sourcing of inspiration, the forecaster works through a sequence of stages in order to develop a color story as shown in Figure 13.1.
There are two fundamental sets of forecasters that operate within the forecasting sector. The first set initiate, develop, and disseminate color stories in the first instance. These include the color groups, such as the Color Marketing Group (CMG), and the larger color forecasting companies, such as the Color Association of United States (CAUS). These groups are often made up of individuals from the industry, including fiber manufacturers, fabric manufacturers, designers, and forecasters from the smaller forecasting companies. The role of the color groups is to essentially develop and market seasonal colors to the industry. The smaller forecasting consultancies or agencies can be viewed as the second set of forecasters. These companies may have a small or large clientele but are not major players in the development of the initial seasonal color palettes that are eventually heavily marketed and disseminated throughout the industry, as described below. Rather, this second set of forecasters uses the seasonal color palettes in much the same way as designers to distill into their own trend prediction packages. Depending upon their clientele, these prediction packages may be more fashion product specific, such as knitwear, lingerie, or bridal wear, and most often include style direction, thus building moods and ranges around the initial color themes.
After briefly setting out the process used by individuals to develop a color story Edelkoort (1999) described how the resulting story boards are shown at national and international color meetings. This process was also described by Joanna Bowering, the founding member of the British Textile Color Group (Hulse 1997). The process begins with a panel of around twenty-five individuals who each bring along his or her own previously compiled color stories in the form of mood boards, or color story boards. Each color story would have been developed in much the same manner using the aforementioned process. Each person presents his or her board visually and verbally, conveying his or her personal interpretation of moods, emerging color directions, and his or her rationale as he or she anticipates forthcoming changes for the predetermined season ahead. Plate 28 shows a representation of industry personnel in attendance at a national color meeting with their individually produced color story boards to present.
After each person has presented, the similarities are honed in on, these include the inspirations used to support the color stories and word associations as well as the actual colors. Discussions are then entered into until eventually a color palette is mutually decided upon based upon the commonalities identified. A consensus is formulated around these similarities using images, words, moods, and colors. By the end of the meeting a color card has been agreed upon. This process occurs in the first instance at national level. Each country involved in the global fashion industry will hold similar initial color meetings. The color card produced is therefore a representation of that particular nation’s interpretation of color evolution in the form of a color card. Plate 29 shows the national color meetings happening simultaneously around the globe.
Figure 13.1 The stages of the color forecasting process.
The process is repeated at an international color meeting held at Intercolor in Paris, which is represented in Plate 30. Up to thirty representatives from the national color meetings are in attendance and present their country’s national color card in the form of a color story board. Similarly an international color card is developed based on the commonalities presented. The resulting color card is then disseminated to the fiber, yarn, and fabric manufacturers for their interpretation and later disseminated through the trade exhibitions to the industry as described in the following section. Mood boards are an important tool for both the compilation of the color data into a convincing color story and in the presentation, dissemination, and marketing of this story.
COLOR CONSENSUS AS A MARKETING TOOL
Fiore and Kimle (1997) stated that the influence the forecasters have on the industry is highlighted very much through the power of promotion and advertising. As previously stated, the initial color groups such as CAUS and CMG are made up of individuals who are in turn connected to the industry and to some of the smaller color forecasting services. Obviously they are all going to promote the same color stories after the initial color palettes have been jointly decided upon and approved. David Wolfe, of the forecasting service D3, was reported to have declared during an interview that the garment ranges confirm the predicted trends (Fiore and Kimle 1997). However, it would be rather foolish of the company, if the collections they produced contradicted their previous predictions. Though it must be recognized that the forecasters promote a color story creating a consensus, and that in itself is important, this is accentuated by the role of the trade exhibitions.
Premier Vision (PV) has been found to be the most popular exhibition as a source of inspiration for the fashion and textiles industry. It is said to act as a “color filter” for the industry and plays a key role in disseminating the color card from the international color group meeting previously mentioned. Premier Vision begins life with the meeting of the panel members at the PV office. The panel is reputed to consist of no less than eighty members from all areas of the fashion industry. The panel works on the color ranges eighteen months ahead of the specified season. Meetings are held for members to discuss the season, the market, and to select a color range. The colors are then grouped into themes and market sectors. Further discussions are undertaken to refine the colors into an acceptable shade card. Subsequent meetings are arranged in France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Great Britain, presenting the color ranges to the fiber, yarn, and fabric companies. One month before the exhibition the Paris office receives weavers’ fabrics for display. Each fabric sample is checked against the PV color shade card. If colors are contained within the samples that are not represented on the color card, those fabric samples are rejected. This ensures that the whole exhibition relates to the color stories set by the panel for that season, thus instilling and promoting a consensual theme. Successful fabrics are used for display, the fabric resource library and samples of each are sent to Li Edelkoort for the assembly of her audiovisual presentation. Her team collates samples of the same color to present as a strong color story. The rest of the colors are promoted as the fashion or accent colors. Around 450 trend boards are made for the exhibition supported by a wealth of accessory props to help communicate the mood and to accentuate the color stories (International Textiles 1992). The color card given allows PV to regulate the colors shown in the exhibition and thus ensures that the colors support the exhibition’s own prediction package. Buyers will pick up this continuity of color and read it as the trend colors. Buyers will then include some or all the colors seen at the trade fair into their selections and so accentuate the trend. This is then collectively delivered to the high street where consumers will recognize the color story as a trend. This will also be supported by the fashion media who would have attended the trade fairs. The predicted colors therefore become the reality, courtesy of clever promotional activities.
The competitiveness of the fashion and textile industry is the main reason for many manufacturers and retailers investing in trend prediction information, basically to survive. However, rather than staying one step ahead of their competitors, as they work with the same information, they are producing very similar products with little point of difference. The forecasters consider it to be the role of the information users, predominately the designers, to be creative in the application of the trend predictions to offer the consumer something different. In addition, consumer acceptance is still being anticipated rather than being measured and understood.
THE CONCEPT AND IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMER COLOR ACCEPTANCE
While fashion forecasting incorporates all aspects of the design of garments and accessories, color is reputed to be of high consideration to the consumer when making a purchasing decision. Buddy (1992) stated color, feel, then price to be the recipe for the consumer’s purchase decision-making process, though it may be more appropriate to use the more general terms, aesthetics, tactility, and value. She invited the cooperation of a store to assist in an experiment to prove the above conceptual statement. Although no explanation of the colors or methodology used, nor the theory behind the concept, was given, the results showed 30 percent better sales by color. Eric Danger (1987, 1968) has long supported the role color has to play in the sale of consumer products as did Faber Birren (1945, 1978) many years previous.
In a small-scale consumer color survey undertaken by the authors, twenty-seven of the thirty-five respondents taking part felt that color was a very important consideration when purchasing clothing, with an additional seven claiming color to be fairly important. Also when asked, twenty-nine of the thirty-five respondents claimed to only sometimes follow trends when purchasing clothing, with only six claiming to always consciously follow trends. In addition, only ten of the respondents claimed that they would wear a particular color purely on the grounds of it being currently in fashion, while thirty of the thirty-five confirmed that they would wear a color that was not currently fashionable. These findings give some strength to the importance of color meeting consumer demand, as colors considered to be fashionable were not always well received or preferred and colors not considered to be fashionable at that time would still be worn. In other words, individuals will wear colors that appeal to them regardless of their considered fashion-ability. In a second consumer shopping survey 83 percent of the 100 randomly selected respondents surveyed claimed color to be an influential factor in the product they had just purchased and a further 66 percent claimed that of other products already purchased that day, the color had influenced their choice. Other important factors for clothing purchases were found to be other aesthetic factors and the tactility of the fabrics. Color was a lesser factor where the fabric was either denim or suede. However, these types of fabric are generally limited in color variations, which are likely to be variations of blues, grays, and black for denim and neutral colors of browns and beige for suede fabrics. Only 51 percent of consumers, however, were satisfied with the color choices at the time of questioning and many would have liked to have seen more of the particular colors that they prefer to wear in the product ranges. While the surveys were not large enough to make sweeping generalizations, they do serve as a good indication that color helps to sell products and that consumers are more likely to buy the colors that they personally prefer over colors that are “trendy.”
Seasonal colors have therefore become a powerful driving force of fashion today. As previously stated, the color forecasting service was established through a perceived lack of communication between the manufacturing sector and the consumer. Whatever colors are finally decided on for a season and however these colors are promoted throughout the industry to the consumer, it is ultimately the decision to purchase made by the consumer that determines whether or not the color selections were an accurate reflection of consumer desire. While retailers may influence consumers to feel a need to make a purchase through marketing efforts, the color choice is still the decision of the consumer, and is based upon his or her personal color preferences. It is therefore proposed that for manufacturers and retailers to make optimum color choices for their products, consumer color acceptance data is a potentially important source of information that is as yet currently underused.
CONSUMER COLOR DATA SPECIFIC TO TARGET MARKETS
Retailers have become more aware of consumer needs and desires through market segmentation and target market profiles. Target marketing aims to assist retailers to stock product in accordance with the requirements of their “average” or typical type of customer. While customer profiles are fictitious they are based on market research including demographical information and lifestyle analysis, the latter often referred to as psychographics. The analysis of consumer behavior also became widely accepted as an important aspect of the forecasting process because the concept of lifestyles has progressively become a more integral part of design and marketing applications. However, to date little development in the area of consumer color acceptance in relation to consumer product has taken place. In reality, color preference testing has not progressed much beyond the works of Birren and Danger where one representative of a select number of colors was tested and in isolation from any specific product or market. Some industry personnel claim to have consumers test colors, however, from their descriptions of the process it would appear that trials were conducted in-store to test acceptability on the basis of sales as opposed to asking consumer opinion. While this method can have its advantages, still only data in relation to what is on offer at that given time can be obtained. In-store testing was discussed by Goworek (2001) who stated that only large retailers are financially in a position to do this due to the quantity of stock required for testing and that the acceptability of the colors may be low due to underexposure of the color to the consumer. It must be stressed that in-store testing in this context is not testing color preferences as we propose.
Hann and Jackson (1985) referred to the necessity for ascertaining the methodology of the actual movement of color change from season to season to assist the fiber, yarn, and fabric manufacturers in order to establish a worthwhile approach to color forecasting to be used by themselves. Frings (1991) stated that color cycles are analyzed and that color preferences naturally evolve. Evidence of personnel within the prediction services analyzing the actual movement and repetitiveness of color over time is severely lacking. While some investigations of this nature have been conducted in the educational sector, still no clear methodology for the movement of fashion colors for the purpose of understanding the color forecasting process has been recorded.
A systematic and analytical approach to the changes of color in forecasts and the acceptability by the consumer was proposed to industrial personnel as an improved system model. The proposed model includes market research information to eliminate the need for the anticipation of acceptance. While positively received, concerns were expressed about the time investments required to develop such a system and therefore information of this type would need to be made readily available. Hence the research is ongoing to develop a color tool that will enable certain sets of data to be entered such as a designer’s observations, past color sales data, trend data, and intuitive notions of color to be used in conjunction with accurate in-built color acceptance data specific to product and target markets. The advantages of such a system would enable fashion-related industries to take better control of waste product that impacts heavily on the environment and may contribute to lowering overall costs without affecting quality as consumer needs would be better met. Thus its users would naturally be more competitive in the global marketplace and would have a positive impact on economies.
This chapter has put color forecasting into context for fashion-related product industries, first through a brief discussion of the historical background of the fashion and textiles industries that led to the necessity for a better informed manufacturing sector of consumer needs and desires. It then introduced the current color forecasting process and a rationale for the need for an improved color forecasting system that would be of benefit to all fashion-related consumer product industries. The importance of seasonal colors to generate sales and the creation of these color stories was given along with the process used and other typical forecasting methods. The dissemination of the color stories throughout the industry via trade exhibitions, in particular Premier Vision, through a consensus of color and the power of such marketing strategies was also well documented. The importance of consumer color acceptance as a vehicle for sales was also discussed and finally a rationale for improving the current color forecasting system was introduced.
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