How to build a trend board
A working method for a board that survives contact with a buyer: framing the decision, gathering signals from more than one direction, cutting hard, naming the story and presenting it as an argument.
8 min read
Free resources
Trend research guides
Practical guides to trend research and forecasting — the method, the vocabulary, and an honest account of what AI does and doesn’t change.
Everything here is free to read and free of user data — written for designers, forecasters and students who need to do the research themselves.
Fashion trend forecasting glossary
Forty terms from trend research and product development, defined the way they are actually used in a studio — block, carryover, lead time, sell-through, MOQ and the rest.
9 min read
AI trend forecasting: what it can and can’t do
Where the technology genuinely helps, the four ways it reliably misleads you, and a workflow that keeps the judgement human.
9 min read
Trend research on a freelance budget
Where the free signal is, how to turn it into a system rather than a folder of screenshots, and the three times paying for a subscription is the right call.
8 min read
Do this faster with YakLab
YakLab scans live web signals across 55 research areas, builds research-backed trend briefs, and turns them into themed stories with palettes, AI plates and prints — exported as a trend book PDF. Pay per use, no subscription.
See how it works