COS - Trend Analysis & Forecast for Spring/Summer 2021

Forecasting a fashion trend can be very challenging and yet a light-hearted pleasure for those who are very interested in paying attention to details and trend in general. The first fundamental step is knowing and analysing the style of brand products from time to time to help the forecaster analyse as well as collecting primary and secondary data for fashion trend in general. Then it should be adaptable and straightforward to pick out the relevant trend data from consumer aspect to design trend and connect it with the brand direction.

Figure 1: The COS A/W 2016 - 2019

Focusing on the Autumn/Winter 2019 Collection, Karin Gustafsson, COS Creative Director, shares the primary inspiration for this collection, which is all about exploring scale and proportion. The design team were inspired by the bold lines seen in brutalist architecture, and they reimagined the fine lines then placing them on the body to achieve gentle and less sculpted silhouettes with a focus on the waist and the shoulder (COS 2020). Interestingly, we could spot one of the trends curated by WGSN on the picture, the wrapped tops for womenswear in this collection. The trend can be seen in their design development report for Autumn Winter 2019, and some key garments include the structured felted coats and oversized leather jackets.

The COS Current Colour Palette from Latest Collection at Store 

Figure 2: COS Store in Spitalfields, London

As a part of the primary research, visiting at least one of the stores is quite helpful. The picture shows how they have a speciality in displaying their garments, we can see how colour coordinated they are, and there the customers could spot the trendy colours of the year in according to WGSN (2018) they are including lime green, lilac opal, mustard, and neon.

COS Spring/Summer Collection 2016 – 2020 

Figure 3: COS S/S Collection 2017 - 2020

The typical Scandinavian style is effortless, relaxed and yet very sophisticated. It is also about the art of layering fashion pieces and well-known to be comfortable, simple and easy to wear (Rogers 2015). The picture above shows the COS Spring Summer Collection between 2017 to 2020, and it projects how consistent COS design is. It presents the tangible value of the brand in products, and they have always been in the neutral colour palette, muted/organic hues. The modernist & timeless style appears on how minimal boxy the silhouette. However, despite the simplicity, COS also design some pieces in asymmetrical cut, give the small extraordinary twist as a focus and functional details in their products which mostly inspired by the art and architecture as well.

Riberti and Lancaster (2020) state that the future cutting-edge biotechnologies will make us reassess our relationship with nature, leading customer to find new materials and experiences that combine the engineered with the grown. The consumers are predicted to become more aware of what they actually need in life and connect themselves with nature as they are in urge to address the environmental issues.

Picture 4: Spotted Trends & Key Product in New Collection S/S20

Most of the garments in the upcoming collection are made with eco-friendly methods such as vegetable dye and responsibly sourced natural and recycled, which are ultimate offers of the organic (Pauly 2019). The board above shows the key products of COS Spring/Summer Collection, which are currently the new arrivals in-store, and it presents the selection of trends curated by WGSN (2019) in-store which are:

1. Colour selection, such as blue, rosewater, optic white.

2. The exploration of emerging natural method to dye the fabric with sources such as algae, bamboo, and the glut of fruit.

3. Design Development such as wide sort sleeve and poncho with functional details.

4. Reuse and recycled materials, COS produced the necklace using recycled glass (COS 2020). 

Trend Forecast for COS Spring/Summer 2021 

It is also essential to look at the current lifestyle, art and architecture COS when it comes to trend forecasting the upcoming garments. Because they initially want to offer it alongside the fashion pieces to their community and continuously make those three aspects as the most significant fundamental influence and inspiration in designing to align with the brand concept. 

According to global trends platforms, Worth Global Network (2018), the key point of future innovation in 2021 is that the next decade advisers age of systems is both the way of thinking and a movement of product-focused design to the systemic design. A clear vision of human evolution will emerge beyond design and aesthetics, driven by climate change and environmental requirement, but also by broadening the definitions of beauty, including biohacking. 

As Ross (2019) projects some of the trends in Spring and Summer 2021 below, the collection would be influenced by the future conscious lifestyle, which embraces clarity and simplicity as it is appropriate for the essence of COS. The trend board below suggests the next trend spotted in COS in-store.

Figure 5: Proposed Trend Forecast – COS S/S 2021

In n the purpose of focusing on the design core, it only shows the trend of product development in a bigger picture for COS upcoming Spring Summer Collection as follows:

1. The natural colour palette is drawn on the board including bottle green, and to support the suggestions above, a trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort believes that a green summer is a logical continuation in spring/summer 2021 (Loon 2019). 

2. The use of natural basic, powdered luxe, subdued stripe gives the highlight of the material of the collection (Palmer and Skliarova 2019).

3. Minimalist quilted outerwear for womenswear (Bowring 2019).

4. Knitted polo and fine gauge stripe cardigan as menswear core items (Barnes 2019).

In summary, it seems that COS does not follow the trends as they are very steady in terms of style and committed to what they want to deliver since the brand was established. However, on the other hand, they are quite fashion-forward and giving a massive hint of future trends, which is very modern, distinctive and complicated as they carefully follow the future of human need and lifestyle in some ways. 

COS - Customer & Competitor Analysis

As a part of H&M Group, which well-known as a big group of fast fashion companies, COS, offers different goods and value to their customers as a high-street fashion brand. The fast-fashion giant, the H&M group, launched COS in 2007 as an independent fashion within different sources supplier (Abnett 2015). COS notably produce two seasonal collection every year due to a long design process within 18 months as they commit to their mission providing classic, timeless fashion pieces with hidden functional detail, this strategy is not only to priorities their product quality but also the design value itself. The brand is a minimalist, sleek but chic selection for men, women including exclusive selection for kids has earned COS the popularity as ‘high-street’ version of Celine in the fashion community. In 2018, the brand was significantly emerging; it started to available online in 21 markets and operate 270 stores across 41 countries (Kent 2020).

According to Business of Fashion (2020), COS is targeting those who design their lifestyle very simple and modern. They are described as a consistent individual and value all aspects of the functionality and practicality rather than some salient products within unnecessary addition; they are also taken account into art and design enthusiast, which is the reason. As the Creative Directive of COS, Karin Gustafsson states that the customers have a keen interest in art, design and architecture and understand about good design with their hobbies such as reading blogs, visiting galleries, which essential for them to (Abnett 2015). Furthermore, as part of my primary research and curiosity, I spoke to one of COS Store Managers, he explained that most of the customers are those who work in creative industry and communication such as fashion stylist, digital content creator. As location-wise, it is strategically in the centre of the business district, many young professionals aged 24 to 35 come to purchase their pieces in a more classic and smart style. They also have other customers older than 40 up to 60 who regularly come to the store to check and purchase their new collections. I could see how some people came to the store to find the exact item they want. Thus, I did a short interview with one of them, and she is a freelancer in the music industry. She enjoys the store arrangement as all of COS designs are very straightforward with the concept of muted and neutral colour, they arrange everything according to the colour of the item, which helps and presents her preferences and lifestyle.

The graph above shows the brand position, COS among their competitor based on the product price ranges and quality. Start from the direct competitor with same sense design, style and even similar product concept, Filippa K is well-known for their best quality with the presentations Scandinavian style as their approach especially when it comes to minimalist product designs (Hendriksz 2017). In addition, their indirect competitors, Weekend by Max Mara and Acne that have similar product and style in a bigger picture except they are more chic, feminine and quirky. Another indirect competitor is Massimo Dutti with similar price ranges and same concept of classic and basic wear. The last brand that has similar concept of product and store design as well as their aesthetic, come from the same parent companies (H&M Group 2020) and Arket has been successfully trying to meet consumer need as they call it anti-fast fashion and also provide a unique store experience (Dover 2017).