Fashion Seasons: An Overview
Shubham Anil Jain
Sr. Consultant
Cent Edge Solutions LLP, Bangalore, India
Email: shubhamajain125@gmail.com
Introduction:
As per the fashion is concerned it is basically, split into broadly four seasons: Spring/Summer, Fall/Winter, Resort, and Pre-Fall. However, the two main seasons here, are Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter and are always highlighted and featured at Fashion Week in London, Milan, New York, and Paris. Basically, when it comes to Spring/Summer it starts in January and extends to around June, whereas Fall/Winter runs from July to December. To talk about Resort collections, it comes somewhere between the first two seasons, while Pre-Fall collections occurs in stores a less amount of time before Fall. If you’re trying to become well-known in the topic of fashion seasons, here’s everything you need to know.
How Fashion Seasons are Revealed at Fashion Week?
Regarding Fashion Week, things might also become confusing. Seasons for fashion weeks differ from those for stores. Spring/Summer Fashion Week is conducted in September and features trends for the upcoming spring while Fall/Winter Fashion Week is held in February and has trends for winter. There are no separate Fashion Weeks for the Resort and Pre-Fall collections. As a result, brands present them on their own and distribute them to the media. To display their new collections, other brands host their own fashion shows.
Why are Collections Displayed So Soon?
There are numerous factors, which we will now list. First, designers require lots of time to produce these orders, and retail buyers need time to peruse collections and choose the items they wish to order. It takes a lot of time, and starting it beforehand is necessary to keep everything operating well.
Since magazines have a three-month lead time, they also require advance notice. These publications must be able to obtain samples to photograph well in advance of the publishing of issues. Clothes are frequently shown months before they are available in stores.
Additionally, Fashion Week influences the season’s trends; therefore they must be ahead of the curve when it comes to those seasons. It needs to be shown early so that retail buyers, designers, fashion editors, and other relevant professionals can go about their jobs since companies in the fashion business pay attention to what is displayed at Fashion Week.
Plan for Next Fashion Season:
Although planning a clothing line almost a year in advance may seem strange, it is vital to stay on schedule. Your clothes designs should be planned at least a season in advance because it will take time to make them. Before you finalize your product design so that manufacturing can start, you need time to design, produce your tech packs, ship them to your manufacturer, receive your samples, make any necessary revisions, and maybe make a second batch of samples. It may take at least six months to complete the process from beginning to end. If you submit your springtime designs in January, you’ve already missed the opportunity to sell that line, leaving you with unsold excess. You must establish a design manufacturing timeline to prevent exorbitant expenditures and unsold goods. Your fashion design timelines might resemble this in some ways:
Timeline for Planning Spring/Summer Fashion Products:
1. June/ July: Design phase
Initially the designs and sketches are being done and finalized
2. August: Techpack preparation
Create the teckpack and send it to the manufacturer for further procedure
3. September: Sample received
Here, work on the sample making and approvals
4. October: Place the confirmation order
Actual production will take 1-3 months
5. November: Order ships
Collect your products and manage the inventory
6. December/ January: Ready to launch product
Finally the product is ready for end customer. Take a photo to advertise and promote it.
Timeline for Planning Fall/Winter Fashion Products:
1. December/January: Design phase
Initially the designs and sketches are being done and finalized
2. February: Techpack preparation
Create the teckpack and send it to the manufacturer for further procedure
3. March: Sample received
Here, work on the sample making and approvals.
4. April: Place the confirmation order
Actual production will take 1-3 months
5. May: Order ships
Collect your products and manage the inventory
6. June/July: Ready to launch product
Finally the product is ready for end customer. Take a photo and advertise and promote it.
Is Fashion’s Reliance on Seasons Ending?
There is a higher need for apparel that isn’t season-specific in a world where international travel has become more accessible and you can visit several countries in a single year. For instance, you might see sleeveless outfits in AW fashion with vibrant, exploding colours or the subdued appearance and jackets in SS clothing. While purists view seasonless clothing as wicked, we feel it is only right that since Fashion Week’s start a century ago; we have been forced to adopt a season-neutral way of dressing.
We think you shouldn’t keep your favourite clothes in storage just because someone else thinks they’re outdated.
We wonder how climate change may impact the traditional seasonal model as designers wrestle with it. September is when designers debut their SS designs, with the AW collections following six months later. Pre-fall and Pre-spring collections have always been financially successful, but these two shows have traditionally received the majority of media interest as designers reveal their plans for the upcoming season.
You could counter that we’ve outgrown the need for this outdated paradigm and that designers may no longer feel qualified to develop within these rigid limitations once the truth of the impending climate disaster sets in. During the most recent shows, we observed designers eschewing trends in favour of placing classic pieces on the runway as well as surprising products and trends for the season.
Conclusion:
It is commonly found that, the fashion seasons can sometimes be confusing if you’re not cleared with the timeline. However, now it is known that why the fashion seasons are as they are. Here, Fashion Week itself really is the chief of the seasons as it is seen that designers, shops, and magazines depends on their displays for product and design direction. For a designer to stay cop up with the fashion seasons, always remember to plan minimum one season ahead so you don’t end up with something wrong, missing out and losing profits. However, if you can, aim to plan a little ahead of that so you have plenty of time to complete the process and make any necessary modifications.
References:
- Fashion Seasons Explained: How It Started & How It’s Going In 2022 And Beyond, November 19, 2021 https://thetechfashionista.com/fashion-seasonsexplained/
- Fashion- Seasons Explained, By RitwickJaiswal , July 4, 2022 https://www.exhibit.tech/uncategorized/fashion-seasons-explained/
- Fashion Seasons: When Do You Start Designing for Each? https://blog.makersvalley.net/fashion-seasons-when-to-start
- What are Fashion Seasons? https://blazon.revstance.com/what-are-fashion-seasons/
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Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.
