Noted: Trend Panel at OFFICE

Because you (or someone like you) asked, here are some notes on the Trends panel at OFFICE last Thursday night. ultra played both sides of the fence, both paneling and taking notes on what the other astute speakers had to say to a more than full house on a frigid night on NE Alberta.

Best bit of the night: Michael DiTullo of Converse (and Core77) talking about the main challenge to designers being the fact that in his office right now he has a machine that can render a 3D image into an object that he can “print,” take out of the machine and put on his foot. “The machine is half the price it was not long ago, and you could see a future when consumers have this in their homes and download designs off the Internet and ‘print’ them in 3D.” Where is the designer then? he asked.

Second best bit: most likely after I had talked about hearing a speaker from the Post Carbon Institute talking about how there will be a time when transport is prohibitive (the world’s ships cary 90% of traded goods and their fuel costs rose 70% last year) necessitating a return to local production and what that means for designers and small manufacturers as well as local economies. DiTullo, who is a global trade booster, was super excited about a Chinese container vessel using “skysails” for its cross-Atlantic trip, trimming fuel costs by 20%.

DiTullo was the first to speak and the first to use the Word of the Night: “authenticity,” repeated by moderator Kelly Coller, David Hawkins, Rebecca Huston, and even this writer. DiTullo talked about wanting to make things, “that no one wants to get rid of, to make heirloom goods.” He talked about Converse’s 100 year anniversary and how at the time it was introduced, the Chuck Taylor was the most technologically advanced, performance shoe on the market. He sees a move away from the glossy and polished and toward the object made for real life.

David Hawkins of Umpqua Bank talked about his 50 year old bank, about Ray Davis who was the first, in spite of lots of talk in the industry about “retail banking” to make a “bank store.” David talked about Umpqua’s South Waterfront store as a destination and the simple thought that if he can get you to come into the store and spend time, and feel good about your interactions there, you are more likely to buy from him. He talked about fostering community, about authenticity, and connection, and the number of online initiatives that Umpqua has launched to, for example, connect members of the business community.

Rebecca Huston of Twenty Four Seven talked about brands reacting to how people really think and act now, and outlined five consumer trends. She pointed out (and we all agreed), that the trends noted are building, not fresh out of the box or at some point in the future. “It’s about when you get enough of a build that you move the needle a little,” she said.

The first trend Huston noted was that of the “personal umbrella,” the replacement of luxury (which is about attainability) with personal curation, the consumer selecting a portfolio of products and brands to express something about who they are. It’s is no longer going to work for a brand to define a Pepsi kind of person. Now the consumer asks, “Is Pepsi a me kind of brand?”

Huston talked about the trend of “marketing experiences, the experience that’s distinctive.” She said, “Knowledge is the new Luxury,” the work that the consumer puts into research…finding the information, the brand, the object. The purchase is special because of the time invested in it. And after years of lip service toward, “dialogue” with the consumer, it’s finally happening whether brands are participating or not through the web. The consumer controls the conversation, it’s no longer enough for a brand to talk at, they have to talk with the consumer. And lastly, Huston says, “The consumer really makes the rules now.” They are listening to each other’s recommendations as much as to any by “experts.”

And what did ultra talk about? Tasked with fashion trends, I talked about a hi-lo convergence of the hand made, with rarified couture-level techniques meeting lo-fi DIY handmade somewhere in the middle as the DIY consumer’s (and the designer with DIY roots) tastes become more sophisticated with her appreciation for the handmade being refined into an appreciation for the well-made garments and objects. And at the other end of the spectrum, luxury goods where the hand of the maker is evident in the product, a reappreciation for the craftsman, for his craftsmanship. And we used the example of entermodal, a line of sustainable luxury leather goods made here in Portland using age-old leatherworking techniques.

This carries over into the made object, where the show of the hand (rough hewn, unfinished, organic) is a natural reaction (and/or sensational counterpoint) to the ubiquity of the shiny, clean, and the linear.

Which led to the consideration of materials (in fashion, jewelry, furniture, home goods) and here we’re going to see even more of the unprecious (copper, steel, brass, stone, linen, jute, the handwoven) and the real (tying into other speakers thoughts about “authenticity”), leather, wool, etceteras. Here, influences ranged from a reaction to flash to the very real sky-high prices of gold, for example, as well as a byproduct of all the green talk.

I have also been thinking about the persistence of the limited edition object as both a reaction to mass and a reestablishment of exclusivity. The limited run or one-of-a-kind object ranges from the printed T-shirt to the short-run colorway on a sneaker, to the independent designer’s size-run of a garment. We see the continued consumer desire for limited editions to be a distinct benefit for the independent designer.

And you thought we’d be talking about the color orange, the fact that the 80s influence is not played out yet (velour for men) and the rising waist of your pants.

–Radon

POSTED: January 26th, 2008 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: art | 1 Comment »

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