Van Dyk Lewis

Studies the Dynamics of Fashion Trends

Have you ever been caught short by development of a fashion trend you didn't anticipate? Have you ever produced what you thought was the latest fashion trend, only to have it languish at market? Professor Van Dyk Lewis, a new faculty member in the Department of Textiles and Apparel, is the man for you to talk to.

Professor Lewis is very interested in the dynamics of fashion trends: how a trend is born, the length of its existence, and how it is extinguished. He looks at factors that influence whether firms hit trends right, how they might manipulate trends to their advantage, and why they sometimes get it wrong. He contends that fashion designers have to understand anthropological and ethnographic factors in society to accurately predict fashion trends. For instance, there has been a great emphasis on fashion trends emanating from the young. He cites an example of "pop" dads, young fathers maintaining elements of popular youth culture, as a source of the fashion trend towards more relaxed and colorful workplace clothing for men.

The fashion industry is a multi-segmented market with many trends in a single season. Traditional forecasting identifies broad trends that are best for long cycle products, such as jeans. Reliance on prior sales as a forecasting tool overlooks the effects of trends completely. Reaction to runway shows may reflect trends for only one segment of the market. Potential trends can be identified by studying cultural buying patterns for many types of products beyond apparel, e.g., food, entertainment, furnishings, personal care. Professor Lewis recommends that apparel firms producing fashion items such as women's dresses, for which the market changes frequently, conduct annual research on broad buying patterns.

Another of Professor Lewis' interests is apparel quality. He says that as clothing becomes cheaper relative to other goods, quality should not suffer. Manufacturing firms should strive for high quality at every price point, through component selection, design details, and care in construction. This is true for both fashion clothing, which is modish and trend driven, and for apparel, which he defines as clothing subject to less frequent design change.

Professor Lewis is a designer of both menswear and womenswear He designs for moderate price points, with globalization and international cultural influences as inspiration. He conducts research in this area as well, working most recently on cultural influences on clothing of people of African heritage in Jamaica.

Some questions you might ask Van Dyk Lewis:

• What cultural traits most influence clothing choices?
• How can international cultural influences be incorporated into designs?
• How can designers identify societal trends most likely to affect fashion using cultural buying patterns for consumer products?
• How can firms manipulate trends to their advantage?