As a Futurist, Educator and Designer I work across the Fashion Industry sector in areas as diverse as fashion, beauty, tech, marketing and innovation. When I started out as a full time forecaster in 2011, it was after being a design director and fashion designer for 11 years. At the time my work was about finding new trends to inform new products.

But now the scale of changes happening in the world, and what is at stake when it comes to our planet, is changing the value and need for fashion. And it is forcing us to bring to an end what I have called the ‘Hyper cycle’.

DZHUS is a conceptual womenswear brand I discovered in 2015 when I was invited to Ukraine Fashion Week as a speaker. Launched in 2010 by Ukrainian designer and stylist Irina Dzhus, the namesake label strikes as avant-garde and fundamentally utilitarian. DZHUS is known for its innovative cuts, multifunctional and experimental garments underpinned by an austere and industrialist aesthetic. The brand’s ideology stands for consciousness and humanity and is ethically manufactured using cruelty-free and vegetarian-friendly materials.

Cecile Poignant is a Future Trends “Guru” working across industries for several decades. She started her career when trend forecasting was still a very obscure role, unknown to most people.

Cecile and I discuss how we think Trend Forecasting is changing… and MUST change. The cycle of trends is out of step with the stewardship of a healthy planet and urgent detoxification of the fashion industry.

What is our role as forecasters? What does the designer of the future look like? And which mindset change is needed? Design is about questioning. Find out more as we navigate some fundamental issues and solutions.