most brand and shop concepts today date back a long time, and are sometimes as old as a century or more. many important department stores in the world will soon have major anniversaries celebrating between 100 and 150 years of business. several couture and luxury brands were established in the early years of the 20th century, and many important ready-to-wear brands go back to the 60s and 70s. designer brands with vertically integrated production and retailing emerged fully in the 80s and are still thriving today. the revisiting of couture and luxury houses, as invented by karl lagerfeld for chanel in the 80s, has seen a general facelift of the category over recent decades. the swinging 60s brought us the boutique; the 70s, the high street stores; the 80s, the globalisation of branding emporiums; the 90s, the invention of the concept store; and the turn of the century, the even cooler online shopping.

so far this century doesn’t yet have its own shopping innovation and environment. the fashion industries keep delivering drops until we shop, and against all odds, the status quo of retail seems to project business as usual far into our future…

indeed, the outer shell of shops has changed, with landmark architecture branding the luxury houses, and recently even certain volume chain stores, bringing high and low even closer than ever. however, the inner mood and mentality of shops has not yet been reinvented, and is in need of creative and conceptual thinking.

mood marketing will replace all other research disciplines trying to rekindle and improve the relationship with consumers in the future, and therefore will require very different store environments and shopping mentalities. shopping will need to become a trip within our inner selves to satisfy our complex needs and wishes, and therefore needs to be addressed in a truly innovative manner, to reach the consumer on another, more private level.

 imagination, improvisation, intelligence and humour are needed to redefine the shopping experiences of tomorrow. to engage in a new dialogue with our clients, to anticipate their every wish, to service their every whim, to satisfy their hidden desires.

to bring them together in a social space.

for fibre and textile manufacturers, retail is the end of the road, yet this time around it will be the beginning. therefore this trend forecast is announcing new ways to shop, better ways to serve, creative ways to install and original environments in which to retail.

lending space to the inner human, making room for intimate well-being, building up a greener society and travelling to a future mentality, as if streaming in a physical way.

this means that the role of designer and product developer becomes more complex and more amusing. textile, fragrance, flowers, candles, books, food and design all get together to communicate. one needs to give form and content to a collection, to edit and script the proposal, to design the interior, to direct the movie, to research the music, to invent services, to customise products, to co-create merchandise, to host special events and to psychoanalyse the public.

this imaginary pop-up department store is designed to let us dream of different, more courageous and engaging concepts, of another era in store design and packaging, of a consumer-driven environment full of life and wonder.

of a period to enjoy.

_lidewij edelkoort

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