It’s all back to basics as we critically assess what is really happening in this increasingly fractured fashion landscape. Sustainability is a key issue for fashion and textiles – however, as the second biggest polluter on the planet, it’s lagging behind other industries in terms of real change. Sustainable Wardrobes highlights best-practice industry examples as well as new process and material innovations for inspiration.

Alongside sustainability, seasonal flux has also emerged as a major issue. But it isn’t just about catwalks – more crucially, it’s about climate change, globalisation, and how the traditional buying calendar has been thrown into disarray. We explore the combative strategies being employed to improve sales and reduce markdown in our report on Seasonal Disruption.

A number of key influences collide in what we are calling the Anti-Trend. Social-media-induced information overload, conscientious consumption and lives increasingly lived in small, urban spaces are creating a perfect storm, where clothes that work hard for us take over from throwaway fashion. This represents a whole new phase in the history of fashion.

There are some massive opportunities, too. A Modest Rising is afoot – according to Fortune Magazine, modest dressing represents the biggest single opportunity in womenswear for the next five years (worth $420bn by 2020). Meanwhile, Athleisure Impact highlights similar ongoing growth potential in both active and leisure categories. Add to that a wealthy 50-plus demographic and plus-size community who both feel poorly served by the industry – explored in Advanced Aesthetics and Size Matters – and the future holds as much potential for growth as it does uncertainty. 

Within all of this, we also highlight key shifts in fashion consumer attitudes. From post-punk 50-plusers to gender-fluid Gen Z-ers – highlighted in our Gender Agenda report – it’s about not being left behind and embracing change in order to be successful in The New Fashion Landscape.