Get the trend – “Golden days” for Spring/Summer 2012

This month, forecasting experts Trend Bible focus on a story from their Kids’ Lifestyle Trends publication for Spring/Summer 2012. Trend Bible forecast children’s trends across three age groups; baby (0-36 months), kids (4-8 years) and ‘tweens’ (9-12 years). Trend Bible begin their forecasting process at their twice-yearly trend panel, where industry experts and opinion leaders are invited to share their research and ideas about the future of kids’ lifestyle trends.

“We work with retailers, manufacturers and brands in the UK and US to deliver brand-right and bespoke trend services for children’s products including toys, equipment, interior products and apparel,” explains director Joanna Feeley. “We also publish a Kids’ Lifestyle trend forecast twice a year alongside our Home and Interiors books.”

Here, Trend Bible share their Spring/Summer 2012 story: Golden Days.

Golden Days

“We forecast this trend back in September 2010 after collating a report about how parents are responding to nostalgic influences when it comes to family purchases. It became clear that in a recession, nostalgia sells, whether this is concerning design, food, art or film. It continues to drive colour and design trends as parents fill their kids’ lives with products that remind them of their own childhood.”

Parents in particular crave the sentiment and security of their own childhood memories, remembering playing outdoors, camping and simple birthday parties. Associations with the past that celebrate family heritage and history are important and there’s also an appreciation of inherited skills, for example passing on family recipes or craft trinkets like old tins of buttons. We are exploring vintage objects and breathing new life into old bakeware – like glass jelly moulds – to create modern, functional items.

Familiar and nostalgic

The colour palette for this story includes greyed-off teal and aqua shades mixed with dusky ochre yellow and a flash of lilac and peach. The blue and yellow shades work well for boys and girls of all ages, while the lilac and peach add a feminine edge. “We’re developing increasingly sophisticated colour palettes for our children’s stories, in the firm belief that retailers and brands need to go beyond the ‘pink for girls and blue for boys’ mantra to stand out in a recessional retail environment,” explains Joanna.

Teal and aqua

Print icons include balloons, paddling pools, ditsy florals, butterflies and birds. Think classic English adventure stories by Enid Blyton, like the Famous Five or Secret Seven, and the drawings of Beatrix Potter as timeless children’s literature is celebrated. Retro play items such as beautifully decorated wooden building blocks and toys are also important.

Delicate details

Golden Days mixes hand-crafted techniques like crochet and screen-printed textiles with delicate and refined elements. Think laser cut-outs, taking inspiration from grown-up tableware such as fine, elegant bone china tea cups and milk glass cake stands.

Nostalgic

You can check out a preview of the other three trends forecast for Spring/Summer 2012 for children on the Trend Bible blog.

Strings and strands