Ideas change everything

How companies predict fashion trends and kill individuality

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Mahir Can Işik |

TED@Tommy

• November 2017

Apparently, popularity can be predicted and companies are buying it. Increasingly, fashion brands are relying on trend forecasting agencies in order to create the "next big thing." However, fashion buyer Mahir Can Işik says these predictions are putting creativity at the risk of irrelevance. (Currently, more than 12,000 brands get their predictions from the same agency.) Işik calls for a renaissance of self-expression and individuality in order to break free from the sterile suggestions of forecasters.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Apparently, popularity can be predicted and companies are buying it. Increasingly, fashion brands are relying on trend forecasting agencies in order to create the "next big thing." However, fashion buyer Mahir Can Işik says these predictions are putting creativity at the risk of irrelevance. (Currently, more than 12,000 brands get their predictions from the same agency.) Işik calls for a renaissance of self-expression and individuality in order to break free from the sterile suggestions of forecasters.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

About the speaker

Mahir Can Işik

Rebel with a cause

As the retail buyer for Tommy Hilfiger, Mahir Can Işik is an expert in deciding the best merchandise assortment for the brand. He was born in Turkey, attended a French school and graduated from an American college. He wakes up unnecessarily early, doesn’t watch television and has an impressive collection of sneakers.

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Read more about the TED Institute