David Shah’s top consumer trends that brands need to know about

Earlier in the month, owner of Metropolitan Publishing, David Shah, spoke at the Appletizer trend seminar in Amsterdam, where he shared some insights into key consumer trends that brands need to look out for. One of which was the growth of the resale sector, so naturally here at Timpanys we were interested to see what he had to say.

Shah began by asking the audience “How many of you wear second-hand clothes?” When around 30% of them raised their hands, Shah continued “It’s amazing because if I had asked that question in China, nobody would have put their hand up; if I had asked it in America, maybe three people would have. This trend is sweeping through the world.”

The resale market is definitely growing at a fast rate and perhaps unsurprisingly, the age group that the fashion industry is fighting over, millennials and Gen Z’ers are driving this growth as they pick up the second hand trend 2.5x faster than all other age groups.

This quote from Shah came towards the beginning of his presentation as he explained how gaming is becoming a popular way for brands to engage with consumers.

This is something that the fashion industry has definitely listened to as earlier this month Adidas allowed customers to buy items within their own retro Snapchat game.

Luxury brands have been slower to adopt this trend however in a bid to attract younger consumers Louis Vuitton and Gucci both released their own retro games in July as consumers look for more and more ways to interact with fashion. “All the clever companies are using gaming. That’s why all the influencers are there.”

People are moving away from formal and towards comfort. “No one is buying suits anymore” said Shah and as the wellness economy is growing, we are seeing fashion on the frontline. We can really see this with the boom of the athleisure, “we are living in a very casual society” said Shah. “Athleisure is the new lifestyle.”