Urban Outfitters has been America’s go-to source for casual, current fashion for over 50 years. UO’s brand has been a success with college-aged consumers since its inception in 1970. Their clothing, lifestyle, and beauty products reflect their cultural understanding and creativity. Urban Outfitters has built a global community through social media and events. This allows consumers all over the globe to find the brand’s on-trend, expressive apparel for every season.

To help them better understand their customers’ needs, trend analysts scoured UO’s website. We have compared the data from our data with Urban Outfitters’ current collection to determine the demand for the US Winter 2021 season. Let’s find out what trend forecasting can do Urban Outfitters.

Loungewear season: Forecasting Winter Trends

This article is primarily focused on loungewear, as we still enjoy the comfort of our own homes and adopt a casual style outside. Winter calls for warm and cozy looks but also lighter silhouettes that can be used to suit the warmer states and sunnier holiday destinations. Boho maxi dresses are perfect for the holiday season, as they offer comfort and style. Urban Outfitters’ designers will be able to understand how they behave and create a collection plan that is efficient. They can also avoid selling out at the end of the season.

1. Hooded Coats

Warm coats are a winter staple. In 2021, the US market is overwhelmingly favoring oversized puffer coats with puffer hoods. Urban Outfitters should include women’s hooded jackets in their next collection this winter. Two metrics determine the trend status:

• Magnitude: The forecasted demand for the season in which Magnitude is a trend
• Growth rate: Trend’s predicted visibility on social media in the next season compared to the previous year.

The popularity of hooded coats is huge and they have a +5% rate of growth. UO can be sure that this trend will succeed in Winter. It is important to identify the type of customer that will be most attracted to the garment. This helps to inform design elements such as color, fabric and silhouette, depending on the target audience.

Both mainstream and trendy consumers will choose hooded coats. Urban Outfitters believes that the trend has a universal appeal after several successful seasons. Because it is a garment that can be worn through all of Winter and the warmer months of Spring, this helps explain why the trend has enjoyed such a high popularity in Spring and Winter.

2. Regular Velvet Pants

As we approached Fall/Winter 2021, Velvet has had some success and the loungewear trend continues to thrive. It will be a popular choice as we enter Winter ’21. Visibility for velvet pants will increase by +10% compared to Winter 2021.

The garment’s low market demand potential will offset this moderately rising growth rate, which will explain its steady status as a trend. Urban Outfitters knows that velvet pants will be a popular trend in their Winter collection.

Which consumer group will buy velvet pants? Despite its modest size, velvet pants will be most popular in the US with mainstream and fashionable young women. These consumer segments can be taken into account by UO’s designers as they create this garment. As with the hooded coat’s success, velvet pants will have their best seasons in Spring and Winter.

3. Boho Maxi Dress

The maxi dress is comfortable but not loungewear. This is why the maxi dress won’t be as popular in the US this Winter 2021 as the velvet pants and hooded coat. The boho maxi dress is a mark-down according to our trend forecasters, so the brand should remove it from their Winter ’21 collections. They can push the trend in high season, such as Summer and Fall, to get rid of this stock and avoid waste.

Boho maxi dresses’ small size helps to explain their edgy consumer segmentation. While these metrics may not always be inherently aligned with each other, logic dictates that a small market demand can cater to a niche segmentation. The trend’s -10% increase rate in Winter 2020 is strong evidence that it has fallen in popularity come Winter 21.

Trend forecasting using social media: Tuning in to UO’s audience

In summary, trend analysts compared key trends from Urban Outfitters’ online platform with our data to give a glimpse of how they will be performing in the US market for Winter.

• Hooded coats are a solid choice, and they have a growing market share within the outerwear category. UO can offer a variety of styles to appeal to multiple consumer segments.
• Regular velvet pants: With a strong forecast growth of 10%, their market share has increased by 2.8% compared with Winter 2020. This is a must-have piece for Winter loungewear.
• Boho maxi dresses: This item is being marked down because it is losing its appeal in the dress category. UO should consider other types of dresses.

It’s crucial to analyze social media to get a clear view of the trends and fashion preferences of young customers. Urban Outfitters can make the best choices in order to meet consumers’ expectations by trend forecasting using social media.