Consumer Trends

Clothing purchases have started rising again in the United States after a prolonged downturn, though the recovery remains split between luxury fashion and discount apparel. New Bank of America Institute data shows resale platforms drawing more frequent transactions, lower purchase values and growing seller participation, with Gen Z holding the largest seller share in 2026.

The global sportswear market is entering a slower, more demanding phase. HSBC's decision to cut Nike from Buy to Hold, slashing its price target from US$90 to US$48, has focused investor attention on a sector where modest growth, rising tariff costs and intensifying competition are making inherited scale a less reliable advantage than it once was.

Global fashion visibility still favours money, geography and entrenched networks, leaving many designers outside the main circuit. Olga IF, Founder, Modavision, argues that fashion needs more open systems of representation, participation and access. Her platform combines national identity, public voting and cultural exchange in one international format, while questioning how legitimacy is still allocated across the industry.

Consumer willingness to rent clothing is shaped less by ecological conviction than by confidence in what arrives at the door. A study conducted across two European markets, combining survey data from more than 4,000 respondents with qualitative focus group research, finds that odour, visible wear, and logistical friction rank consistently above environmental motivation as barriers to clothing rental adoption.

When a fashion retailer surveys its own customers about circularity and finds the results flattering, the question is whether the method was built to inquire or to reassure. Shein's 2025 Global Circularity Study, spanning 21 markets and 15,461 voluntary respondents, arrives at conclusions so convenient they warrant examination on structural, not just factual, grounds.

Everyday clothing exchanges between friends, partners and family members are shaping identity and strengthening relationships, a University of Birmingham study has found. By examining informal garment sharing, researchers highlight its social, emotional and practical roles, while pointing to its potential to extend garment use and support more sustainable fashion practices.

Northwestern University researchers have developed a mathematical model showing that fashion trends follow recurring cycles of roughly 20 years, based on analysis of around 37,000 images of women’s clothing spanning more than a century. The study provided quantitative backing to a long-cited industry observation and indicated that trend patterns have become more fragmented in recent decades.

Free returns have been central to the expansion of digital fashion marketplaces over the past decade. Asos has adjusted that formula by imposing charges on frequent returners and introducing transparency around individual return behaviour. The decision highlights tensions between convenience-driven consumption and sustainability commitments within fast fashion systems.

A simple label could change fashion’s wasteful habits. By revealing the real price of each wear, a cost-per-wear tag can expose fast fashion’s hidden expense, turning durable clothing into the smarter, more sustainable choice and reframing environmental responsibility as financial intelligence for consumers who want their wardrobes to last—and matter—beyond just another season’s trend.

A Cornell University study on human-centred design has shown that algorithm-fuelled generative art heightens consumers’ sense of exclusivity and aesthetic pleasure inside metaverse-based fashion stores. The experiments revealed that AI-driven art installations enhance engagement for both mass-market and luxury brands, with dynamic displays especially effective in stimulating online word-of-mouth responses and retail appeal.