Should Fashion Brands Embrace or Overlook Micro-trends?

Micro-trends, swiftly shifting, took the spotlight on TikTok in 2023. Should luxury brands engage in 2024?

Summary: From runway to social media What should fashion brands do with micro-trends? Wholesale advantage Can fashion brands create trends themselves? Jacquemus embrace of coquette at Versailles.

In 2023, trends like clean girl, girl math, Barbiecore, coquette, and tomato girl summer dominated social media. However, this year, these trends were quickly replaced by mob wife winter, corpcore, and loud budgeting, indicating the fleeting nature of micro-trends.

In this case, they’re not truly micro-trends, according to trend forecaster Agustina Panzoni: “When you look at trends, you’re looking at movements that span over several years and seasons,” she says. “So what’s labeled as ‘micro-trends’ are actually like ‘internet aesthetics.’ There’s always a cultural reference point that’s positive,” Panzoni says. “Linking to a trend that has existed before, maybe not too outdated.”

Last year, brands jumped on these trends. In August, Ulta and Mac joined the girl math trend, while brands like Refy also participated in tomato girl summer through marketing strategies and advertising campaigns.

In December, Loewe summed up the “girlhood” trend with a 15-second video featuring girls on the streets of New York giving weather advice for a Loewe-clad girl. In June, Jacquemus embraced the coquette trend, featuring bows for the AW24 collection — a turning point for the brand, according to Panzoni. From November 2023 to January 2024, searches for coquette surged, according to Google Trends.

These trends are happening faster than ever, driven by TikTok’s algorithm collecting and promoting related content. They create an exciting opportunity for brands: if they quickly jump in, their content can spread wider than ever. However, sometimes this interaction remains superficial, and if not executed well, it can quickly become stale — especially due to the rapid spread of these trends.

“It’s very difficult for brands to see meaningful results (like sales) from jumping on micro-trends on TikTok,” says Amy Still, CEO and founder of media network Whisk, a platform connecting brands and audiences. Often, brands lack the necessary processes to identify and react to trends, she says. Marketing approval steps are a barrier. “By the time a trend is discovered, an idea is developed, approved, and executed, the micro-trend has passed.”

Success can come when brands execute correctly. According to data collected by marketing company Buttermilk exclusively for Vogue Business, 61.7% of consumers appreciate brands engaging with micro-trends, 22.7% of survey participants say they frequently engage or purchase products based on social media trends, and 28.9% do so “regularly.”

In 2024, should brands create trends, catch trends, or ignore trends?

From runway to social media Whether to engage or not is a case-by-case decision because the fleeting nature of micro-trends makes brand engagement difficult.

Some trends are more successful than others, Panzoni notes. In September, Boss named its entire AW24 collection “corpcore.” “With what Creative Director Marco Falcioni called ‘corpcore,’ the new collection breaks the rules of traditional office attire with innovative spins on classic wardrobe staples for men and women, from blazers and suits to shirts and pencil skirts.” Now, this collection is trending on TikTok. The industry is eagerly watching how this case study develops, as it’s one of the first brands not only to jump on a “core” but also to name a collection after it.

Bosss show was literally called ‘corpcore. For collections and products, Panzoni believes brands should approach them more conceptually. Last week, Dior Homme joined the balletcore trend at Paris Fashion Week. Here, designer Kim Jones referenced the existing relationship with ballet. Miuccia Prada introduced “librarian chic,” which the internet then turned into a consumable aesthetic.

Sometimes, directly tapping into core trends makes the most sense in a social media context. It’s a gentler, less investment-intensive approach that still yields benefits. “Chasing trends can help luxury brands, but sometimes it can feel disconnected from everyday consumers,” says Permele Doyle, co-founder and CEO of marketing company Billion Dollar Boy. “It can devalue the brand.”

Chasing micro-trends is only effective when done quickly and when it genuinely aligns with the brand, experts caution.

Footwear and clothing brand Lamara London successfully capitalized on micro-trends in 2023, co-founder Lamara Roma says. “We adapted our strategy to align designs with emerging micro-trends,” Roma says. “It’s exciting to see our customers modifying Lamara products to fit social media micro-trends.” Last year, this included a stronger media strategy to adapt to quickly emerging trends. The brand’s pink Chiltern Street style skyrocketed this summer with the emergence of Barbiecore. In 2024, Lamara will collaborate with influencers actively engaging in micro-trends to catch trends quickly, expand reach, and increase advertising credibility.

Set follow or skip How brands should navigate microtrends What should fashion brands do with micro-trends? Wholesale advantage Multi-brand retailers have many advantages, Panzoni says. “They can create trends from many different brands and establish themselves as where these trends exist,” she says.

Ssense does this best. The retailer has posted about long pants trends; coquette through Priscilla; the wild yet tidy girl; Barbie, and more. Other retailers are also joining the game. Revolve posted TikTok videos about “balletcore” and “coquette girl inspo.” Farfetch pursued the pantless trend with a post featuring Miu Miu “shorts or panties?”. And red dominated Fwrd’s Instagram fashion line in November; in one post, they called it “the color of the season”.

Some trends will resonate with a specific audience — but may not go beyond those interested in that trend. Panzoni says. “Companies like Ssense can talk about all these trends without necessarily having to invest too much in one of them.” By combining multiple trends, as standard retailers are preparing to do, they can have a broader reach than a brand focused on a single trend and limit the risk of confining themselves to a part of the market.

BTS of Miu Mius librarianchic looks which helped spawn the emergence of librarian core.

Can fashion brands create trends themselves? The essence of internet trends is that they are born online. “Take librarian core, for example,” Panzoni says. “Miu Miu named that trend.” So, the best brands develop a community to discuss online trends. “Brands need a strong point of view, and an online community will discuss their products in the context of a trend,” Panzoni says.

Consumers are also becoming increasingly savvy about what is marketing activity versus an actual trend. “Clearly, some big brands have built cultures to be able to set trends in their field. But generally, I think buyers are becoming too smart about what is actually a trend or coercive to the point where it’s difficult for brands to do this properly.”

Jacquemus’s embrace of the coquette trend was