As a group, you will do research and analysis to determine a fashion market niche, wherein a significant customer base is not being adequately served. This niche could be related to a new product, a particular lifestyle, a size or price category, or a garment function. In order to determine this niche, you will need to:
1) Complete an Environmental Scan including PEST Analysis (Political Economical Social and Technological factors)
2) Complete a Trend Analysis (past trends, current trends, future trends/forecasting)
3) Based on this analysis determine the need in the market from steps 1 & 2
4) Identify the target customer based on the need determined in step 3 (demographics, psychographics)
5) Evaluate the competition (price, location, market access, customer base)
Once you've selected your niche market, I suggest using the Advanced Search feature in the Proquest database to combine your market with some of the key words or factors listed in the PEST Analysis. Be sure to limit your search by date so that you are selecting articles that are not older than two years.
The Berkeley College has a number of databases to help you find market forecast information by industry segment. Some suggested databases for this project include:
Fashion Snoops, a trend & fashion forecasting service, includes shows & analysis reports for each season, plus millions of images/graphics. Create profile to download & save images, CADs, color palettes.
Plunkett Research, Ltd. provides trend forecasts for major industry groups such as retail.
IBIS World provides industry analysis and forecasts for U.S. or Global market segements. Market information is available by searching by keyword.
The National Retail Retail Federation offers the latest news and forecasts for indsutry segements such as merchandising, supply chain, store operations and retail trends.
Trend Hunter is a source of inspiration for industry professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs and the insatiably curious. Trend Hunter has been featured or cited everywhere from MTV, The Economist, and CNN to the personal blog of Kanye West, tweets by Ashton Kutcher and tweets by Paris Hilton.
Published by Cotton Incorporated, this site presents weekly articles monitoring American attitudes and behavior towards apparel and home furnishings and includes a section with statistics detailing consumer attitudes and spending patterns for clothing.