What Are We Going to Wear?

Predicting the future is a huge part of retail. Trend forecasters are back at it, eyes more on TikTok than the runway, adapting to a reality no one could have predicted.

Ties. Dozens of patterns, colors and fabrics — discounts on 300 different styles. That’s what Nordstrom had planned for its big sale last July. The company had worked with trend forecasters and talked with designers, but history was its best guide. Based on previous sales, the retailer was confident that shoppers would be seeking out deals on office wear like ties, dresses, heels and handbags. By the end of February, it had ordered everything it planned to sell at the event. Months later, the world had rearranged itself in a way no trend forecasters could have predicted. The summer sale was pushed to August and had just 15 types of ties. (People did still sometimes dress up for Zoom calls.) “There was nothing for staying home and working remote,” Teri Bariquit, Nordstrom’s chief merchandising officer, said in an interview. The retailer threw itself into tracking terms that newly isolated customers were searching for on its website and on Google (“cozy” and “slippers” among them). It frantically contacted suppliers to buy more activewear and children’s apparel. And it created a tool so that customers could build lists of products they wanted from the sale before it even started.