What's 2018's 'must have' trend?
At the end of last year, Pinterest revealed their trend stats from 2017 and predictions for 2018. Once upon a time, Pinterest was just fancy bathrooms and latte art. Now the digital pinboard is one of the most-used tools for shopping and researching – it’s perfect for trend forecasting (not to mention, still pretty great if you’re into pictures of latte art). So what does 2018 hold, Wise Pinterest? (Spoiler alert: vegan desserts and ethical clothing.)
Thought: one of our most-loved sustainable brands. Shop here: women / men
Dear 2018: why is everyone suddenly vegan?
You might have noticed a change. In the supermarkets, in cafés and restaurants. In your circle of friends and family. Everyone’s turning vegan. ‘Plant proteins’ was ‘pinned’ on Pinterest 417% more in 2017 than in 2016, and ‘vegan desserts’ enjoyed a 329% rise. In 2016 ‘vegan’ was the most searched-for food trend on Google, and Oxford Dictionary made ‘veganuary’ it’s first word of the week this year. Veganism is a hot trend, and it’s not just foody. The vegan lifestyle seeps into fashion. Vegans, veggies and flexitarians new and old look for jeans without leather labels, good shoes made from animal-free materials, coats without down and shirts without silk.
No leather please: Kuyichi supply their jeans with jacron labels made from recycled paper. Shop here: women / men
Young millenials: we salute you.
2017 saw a shift for ethical-awareness. But wait. Why now?
Sadly, it took a tragedy like the collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013 to shake us into seeing where our clothes were coming from. But three years later, big brands were still making bad decisions. Now, four years later, celebrities are taking the helm and using documentaries and Instagram accounts to share ethical arguments. And the real ethical army? Gen Z.
“44% of younger millennials – the 17-26 age range – said they would like to see more eco-friendly fabrics used in clothes.” – Alice Goody, in The Guardian
Educated and responsible young people, saving all our asses, we salute you.
2018’s must haves.
This year, we launched Must have*, an online store catering to the new generation of consumers that want to find ethical clothing quickly, easily and ready-curated. No one wants to dig through Corporate Social Responsibility documents to find out the details of a company’s manufacturing process. (Believe me, I’ve done it.) Neither do they want to wade through pictures of every different style of trouser in the universe to find the one that they want. So we did it. We rifled through the many brands online and put everything we found that ticked the right boxes (fairly made, no animal cruelty, looks stylish) and host it all here on Must have*. And after all the work, we’re so inspired by the brands we found – there are so many amazing companies doing great work to improve the state of the industry.
We hope 2018 is the year that everyone starts looking deeper into who makes their clothes, how, and what with. We hope Must have* makes it easier for people who do care, but don’t have the time or the energy to search for the brands that match their ideals.
Now. Back to the latte art – with oat milk of course.
