Trend Forecasting: Sustainable Activewear and Wholesale Strategy for Free People
Nottingham Trent University Fashion Communication & Promotion Second Year Students
Mia Bird - Mia Ciuro - Tilly Blowers - Hannah Smith - Anna Wasilewski
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Introduction
Wholesale Strategy
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Contents 02
Sustainable Activewear Trend Prediction page 2 - 10
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Conclusion page 20
Key Trend Drivers Post pandemic we anticipate a great shift in consumer behaviour and how they will interact with brands both in-store and online. This has led us to discover how we can put Free People at the front of this movement through trend forecasting and a new wholesale strategy. Our predictions include a trend of Transitional Meets Sustainability and a wholesale strategy that transports the consumer into an experiential Retail Retreat.
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Transitional Meets Sustainability Fluid
Ephemeral
Adaptable
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The ability to go from A to B by utilising innovative and sustainable materials through the design of the activewear and packaging. • Demand for innovative materials to assist a transitional lifestyle between exercising, working and socialising • Enables flexibility between two states or styles • Extending to innovative materials for packaging to allow consumer to stay safe (i.e. antibacterial dry kit packaging) • No ‘pink it or shrink it’ attitude to design, enabling versatile and hard wearing activewear
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Does the sustainability of activewear matter to you?
Influences Due to the pandemic more people are working from home resulting in exercise being squeezed in and around other lifestyle activities, such as child care, work and grocery shopping. The demand for activewear that can be suitable for these lifestyle shifts is steadily increasing and will continue to increase post pandemic. Gyms have closed their doors for a long period of time now, meaning that people are taking to the outdoors more to exercise. Consumers are discovering a new love for exercising outside which we predict will continue heavily into 2022/2023 with people realising they can exercise without the gym. This may be a combination of fearing for personal safety due to the pandemic and a realisation that exercising does not necessarily need to be performed in a gym. This calls for more versatile, warm and hardwearing activewear in order to adapt to weather shifts and outdoor environments.
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A study shows that 80% of people wear activewear when not exercising. People are wearing their activewear for longer or even choosing to wear activewear as loungewear, meaning that the demand for more protection in activewear is needed. Innovative materials such as wicking, thermo regulation and antibacterial should be used in order to allow multipurpose and protective activewear.
Wicking Wicking is designed to draw moisture and persperation away from your skin and onto the exterior of the fabric.
Sustainable Innovative Materials
Thermoregulation Thermo regulation is a process that allows your body to maintain its core internal temperature. It can block or permit infared radiation to pass through it in respone to moisture such as sweat and thus indirectly to body temperature.
Antibacterial Fabrics treated with an antibacterial finish offer additional protection against bacteria and mould. Unlike synthetic fibres, natural resistance to microbial growth, these chemical finishes are designed to activwly inhibit growth or eliminate bacteria or fungi.
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Transitional Sustainable Packaging
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The use of sustainable packaging allowing the consumer to get from A to B with maximum ease.
Antibacterial bags are a new multi-purpose form of packaging, their job is to keep the dirty, and clean separate, 60% of gym bags have significant bacteria traces within them. Antibacterial bags use silver iron technology, which helps prevent the spread of bacteria by up to 99% and reducing odour. By using these antibacterial bags as packaging, they can be reused to help keep dirty activewear away from the clean whilst the consumer is on the move. Antibacterial bags are made from recycled plastic bottles, which will help Free People with their sustainable movement. Currently this movement is being led by the brand Dirty Kit.
What are the benefits? • They are sustainable • It is free long term advertisement / brand advertisement • Gives people better value for money • Has health benefits associated with the bacteria side of sports wear • It will enable people to make their sports wear even more transitional • People love a free bag they can keep on using
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Key Takeaways From the Trend
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1. Flexibility within Lifestyle With consumers having ever increasing productive lifestyles, athleisure pieces need to fit into this ever-changing shift between the consumers’ environments. This will mean that there will be a demand on pieces that can take you from the yoga mat straight to a coffee date or even the office. It will be a calling for versatile and transitional pieces that allow the consumer to flow through their day without having to consider a change of clothes.
2. Innovative Fibres and Materials With the rise of sustainable fabrics and fibres infiltrating the industry, it’s easy to see how other companies and active wear brands will start to prioritise the likes of sustainability through fabrics. Also, with the technology poured into these fabrics, such as; wicking, anti-bac and thermoregulation, consumers will enjoy the extra comfort and benefits that their pieces will bring into their lifestyles.
3. Packaging Lots of companies are already trying to scrap un-sustainable packaging therefore it would be normal for these new fibres and fabrics that are being used for clothing, to overflow into the packaging of these clothes. For example, by making packaging out of these fabrics, it means that it would be able to be reused and repurposed by the consumer.
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Wholesale Strategies
Retail Retreat Experiential 11
Escapism
Tranquil
Leisurley
Etheral
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Research showed that in a ‘post-covid’ world consumers are looking for shopping experiences that are leisurely and lengthy to evoke a sense of wellbeing and create a personal connection with the brand. This demands a change from the old chaotic sense to department store concessions. The era of COVID-19 has caused consumer behaviour to change at an unrelenting speed. As we look forward, moving from a life where everything is purchased online and delivered straight to our doors, the physical shopping experience needs to bring something new and different to the table. The consumer is used to having the choice between numerous different brands at their fingertips yet through a screen there is limited opportunity to make a personal connection with a brand. In the future as consumers demand more organic experiences and opportunities to create personal connections, this is what Free People should focus on with their wholesale strategies. Through our research we realised that in the post-covid world consumers will value the experiences and activities that were limited and restricted over the pandemic. This included simple everyday human interactions, shopping that isn’t just ‘essential’ and perhaps most prominent was the opportunity to go abroad.
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Does the sustainability of activewear matter to you?
Taking this all into consideration we focused on creating a wellness retreat in-store where consumers can form a real connection with the brand ‘Free People’. Wellness is already a central value to ‘Free People’ which is evident through the retreats and blog content. We want to bring the retreat to the consumer, even when going abroad seems like an alien concept, and bring the retreat in-store. By doing this ‘Free People’ will create a space for the consumer to relax and form a positive connection with the brand and remind consumers that retail therapy can be a form of wellness.
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How Will This Look? Starting at Selfridges
Own Image
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After being in lockdown on and off for over a year people will be looking for experiences other than ‘essential’ only shopping. Selfridges and Galleries Lafyette have always been shopping destinations that offer more than just shopping. Selfridges is filled with novelty cafes and a rooftop of rotating experiences. Free People also already has a presence in store at Selfridges so this could be extended to create space for the ‘Retail Retreat’. This would be incorporated with marketing in and around the store. From store windows, to pavement stickers directing people to the Free People ‘Retail Retreat’.
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Extending into other Department stores Galeries Lafayette Free People, once well established and trialled in Selfridges, will look to branch out its experiential, ‘Retail Retreat’ experience in other target department stores. The follow up to Selfridges would be Galeries Lafayette due to its emergence of young, millennial shoppers. They offer a diverse range of brands, Rouje founder Jeanne Damas says “More than clothes, we want to offer an experience, a lifestyle. Les Galeries let us represent our own universe.” This fits well with the ‘Retail Retreat’ wholesale plan that Free People would be planning on inserting into their store.
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Voguebusiness FreePeople
Voguebusiness
FreePeople
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Extending Globally With Free People, predominantly being based in the USA, it is worthwhile to infiltrate the European market. This will be done in the same format as shown in the Selfridges and Galeries Lafayette store. Each wholesaler will be showcasing a ‘Retail Retreat’ landscape in the Free People instore space, the theme of this will be different and chosen to suit each wholesaler on an individual and personal basis. The themes will reflect a breakaway from the traditional American theme of Free People and delve into areas that will appeal to international consumers as aspirational destinations.
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Conclusion Overall, the key findings from our trend forecast and wholesale strategy report look towards the concepts of transitional athleisure and experiential consumerism. The trend will enable your activewear products to take the consumer through each day-to-day task without having to change their outfit. This will then be propelled by the use of sustainable antibacterial packaging that can be reused throughout the day. The wholesale strategy ‘Retail Retreat’ revolves around the consumers experience and the Free People concession. The concession will vary within each store enabling the consumer to create a valuable and personal connection with the brand.
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