If you want to sell your handmade products successfully,
you have to stay on top of trends and use them to create products and product
collections people are more likely to search for and to buy.
So what trends should you be paying attention to and how can you research them?
In this video, I'm going to share my best tips and resources, so stay tuned.
Hi, I'm Deb, founder of Tizzit.co,
a membership community for makers and handmade shop owners.
Not long ago I released a couple of videos - which I'll link to below this one -
to help you decide what handmade products to sell for the best chance of success
as well as why some sellers are more successful than others.
A lot of it had to do with trends.
Then a lot of you asked me to do a video just about trends so that you could
understand how to do the research yourself. So, here we are!
In this video we'll talk about what trends matter most.
I also have a free PDF that you can download - the link is just below this video
- where I listed resources and links to assist in your research.
So make sure to download that below.
Trends drive the market and if you can incorporate them in your products and
product collections,
more people will search for your products and more people will buy your
products.
This doesn't mean that you can't have your own style and your own aesthetics,
but it does pay off to keep the current trends in mind when you're designing
your products.
So why am I saying that following a trend doesn't necessarily mean that you
won't have your own style anymore? It's because several trends co-exist.
There is never just one trend at any given time,
so you'll be able to actually pick and find the trends that work best for your
brand and for your style. For example,
you might see two very different trends coexisting - like on one side,
metallic textures, galaxy patterns, glitter,
and the nineties revival,
and then on the other side you might see jungle pattern,
eco-friendly theme and earthy colors.
These two things don't really have much in common,
but they might be trending at the same time
so you'll be able to find what works best for you within the general trends.
There are five trends that you need to pay attention to.
Let's dive into each one of them. The first is colors:
is blue trending? Is burnt orange trending? Is bright yellow trending?
Color trends change every year and to a degree, every season.
If you release seasonal collections,
it's important to know what colors are going to be trending next season.
Second trend is patterns.
Patterns are as important as colors and can be used in prints, illustrations,
fabrics that you use and so much more.
So you really need to know what kind of patterns are currently trending.
Is it floral pattern, Polka dots, stripes, or anything else?
Number three are textures and materials.
It might be things like velvet coming back,
metallic or materials like vegan leather or cork.
Number four is themes.
This is more of a broader kind of theme.
It could be things like the nineties revival, jungle theme,
eco-friendly theme, things like that. Number five are characters and animals.
Sometimes unicorns are trending, sometimes pirates are trending,
sometimes cats are trending and you have to keep on top of that.
So how do you actually do that?
How do you actually research the trends so that you can use them when you design
your products?
Here are some tools to help you - and remember to download your freebie below
the video where I've listed all of them and then some so that you can click
directly on the links and get your research started.
The first one (and sorry about that - it's very obvious,
but let's get it out of the way) - a simple "color trends 2019",
"wedding trends 2019",
"pattern trends 2020" search on Google is going to give you a lot of information
so I'd recommend you really just start there. Next up we have Etsy trends,
forecasts and trend reports. They do have two different URLs,
which I've linked in the PDF below.
One is straight up etsy.com/trends and the other one is actually a part of their
blog, but both things are useful because they go through colors,
patterns, themes and everything that's trending on the platform at the moment.
And yes,
this is useful even if you do not sell on Etsy because it is still great insight
into what customers are generally going to be looking for.
Etsy also creates shopping guides, which are also worth taking a look at.
Next is Pantone,
and Pantone really sets the tone each year when it comes to colors by announcing
the color of the year. Designers, artists,
brands and the entire world really waits for this information each year to
design their products and collections - and you should too.
You don't need to use this one color only of course,
but I think a couple of items or patterns using this color is definitely a good
idea. At the time I'm recording this video, 2019,
the color of the year is living coral.
Pantone also has a separate part on their website,
an entire section called color intelligence that sums up the color trend
highlights.
I really recommend you take a look at this page because it will give you
different trends and different recommendations so that you can pick what will
work best within your brand and your aesthetics.
Moving away from colors and into patterns, we first have patterncurator.com.
They actually sell this research and this information that they have,
so they really do know what they're talking about because designers all over the
world are actually purchasing those market research insights that they have,
but you don't need to purchase their guides or their subscription to get that
information - unless you want to, of course.
By just looking around on their blog and on their site,
you will already have a lot of ideas of what patterns are trending.
We also have patternbank.com and Pattern Bank actually
sells patterns to designers so again,
they better know what they're talking about and know what trends are coming up
because if not, they're not going to be successful selling patterns.
They do a lot of research and they actually do it well ahead of time as well.
We're currently in 2019 and they're already giving you trends for 2020/2021.
That's really nice when you want to start being a bit more organized with your
collection launches and maybe being at least six months ahead when you design
and create your designs. So that's really, really helpful.
I'll put the link in the PDF so you can just go and check out their blog. Next,
and that's a little weird one because they kind of are very different to what
you're doing with your handmade shop, but it's looking at the bigger retailers.
Although you're not competing with the bigger retailers,
their market and yours are driven by the same trends.
They usually have a trends or inspiration section on their websites that's often
packed full with ideas. Here for example,
we're looking at the one from Target.com -
and again I'll put the PDF link in the comments below - and you can browse and
see what they have coming up. Next we have digital publications.
Publications like Elle or any kind of home decor magazine,
will often have a trends or an inspiration section on their website too - well
worth your time. For example,
here we're looking at the Elle decor design trends page and there's a lot of
great insights that you could take from this. Finally, for illustration,
graphic design, stationery and prints you might want to look at
Stationerytrends.com and my favorite always and forever Creative Market as a
great blog on which they also do trends report.
It's a really great source of information.
This should be enough to get you started,
but I have listed a few extra links in the trend research resources PDF that I'm
linking below this video,
as well as of course to all the links to the resources I shared with you in this
video.
So make sure to go and download that so you can get your research started.
And if you like this video,
make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future videos.
I release a new one every Tuesday,
always with the goal to help you start and grow a successful handmade shop.
As always,
don't be a stranger - let's take the conversation in the comments below.
I'd love to know what's your favorite resource from what I've shared today.
Let me know, I'm looking forward to reading your takeaways. Bye guys.