We’re back in Berlin, covering Europe’s largest streetwear and denim tradeshow. Over the next three days we’ll be visiting each and every brand to pick our Best In Show, which will be revealed here next week. In the meantime, we’ll be sharing with you the top emerging trends as our roving reporters spot them!
Bread & Butter recently announced they’d slashed 100 brands from the roster in order to be more ‘selective’ about who shows. That could certainly be felt at the venue on Day 1, with fewer brands and a more even spacing of exhibitors. The womenswear on show has really raised its game, with some fantastic new brands showing.
Day 1’s top trend: Animal instinct
The key print story coming through for AW 13/14 street wear is animal print; as an all-over and as placement prints. We saw some really innovative footwear from French brand, Feiyue. Feiyue are best known for classic tennis-style sneakers, so their latest range of kids sneakers in animal print and featuring a tiger head are an exciting departure. We’d love to see the style carried in adult sizes!
Leopard print on footwear sprung up across the venue. Kawasaki had applied the print to their sneakers in unusual shades of blue, grey and purple. Mutta‘s desert-boot/sneaker hybrid in leather leopard print was a pleasing blend of pop trash and refined detail.
Brit bad-boy designer Nasir Mazhar isn’t one to shy away from a tricky trend. His men’s leopard print bomber was a brash and noteworthy addition, sure to make a statement to the street scene.
Another take on the animalistic theme was a subtler story: sketchy motifs of woodland creatures. Think Victorian illustration used on classic street items; sweaters, tees and hoodies, as seen in our street style shot of the day, featuring cool British brand, Cuckoo. Animal motifs have been enjoying success on the high street and runway for a few seasons yet consumer demand still runs very high. Animal prints on the whole have seen a leap in online mentions in recent weeks, as the graph to the right shows.
Stats & Facts – Animal Print:
There were 11,234 influential mentions of animal print online last week.
Mentions of animal print surged 44% in the last month alone.
Although mentions are high, sentiment towards leopard print is overwhelmingly negative – 59% of chatter isn’t favourable. Streetwear, however, has a strong reputation for ignoring and upsetting the tastes of the masses!
In the last 30 days, EDITD’s commercial database has picked up 691 new leopard print products, compared to 150 zebra and 84 tiger products.
Consumer sentiment is actually highest towards zebra, 38% positivity.
Check out Day 2 trends right here.
