Fashion cycle

No other world is changing as fast as the rotating fashion carousel. What may seem tacky today, tomorrow may hit the runways. Fashion is in a continuous motion. New styles are introduced in the market, gain popularity by being accepted by more and more consumers, reach the stages of maturity, and go out of fashion acceptance. This process, called a fashion cycle, helps forecasters and retailers anticipate the acceptance and duration of fashion trends (Kim, Fiore and Kim, 2011). A fashion cycle is the term used to describe the process that a type of fashion goes through. The fashion first gains mass acceptance and popularity from the consumers and then with time, the tastes and preferences of the consumers’ ebbs, which causes the fashion to lose that acceptance and popularity. The fashion cycle includes four major stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline (Easey, 1995).

First of all, most new styles are introduced in the high level, designers adapt new trends while creating limited quantity of products at a high cost, which are worn by celebrities and influencers. At the second stage, when the new styles are seen sported by famous people, attention of a general public is attracted. Consequently, some brands start offering similar products at lower prices. When the trend reaches a peak of popularity it may be in such demand that more manufacturers copy it or produce adaptations of it at many price levels. After so many designs copies are mass produced, consumers get tired of that style and begin to look for something new. Finally, the rejection phase occurs whilst consumers turn to the new emerging trends. All products, including fashion products, have an infinite life cycle. New styles are introduced in the market, last for a certain period of time, decline and finally disappear. Although the rate and duration of use vary, the diffusion of a specific fashion tends to follow a predictable cycle, called a fashion cycle (Easey, 1995).