1. Wearable Tech Becomes More Wearable
The stigma behind wearable tech is that its like walking around with a robot or machine attached to your persons. a unattractive piece of irrelevant equipment. whereas this was the case a year or two ago, these days wearable tech is wearable! with Google Glass’s public release, Ralph Lauren’s bizarre tech polo shirts, Nike’s phasing out of the Fuelband program and Apple's new investment in SmartWatches, the public could not refrain from talking about them, and consider copping even if they weren't within our price range. the most prolific or sorts was Apple’s announcement of the Apple Watch. the subsequent hiring of fashion execs Angela Ahrendts and Paul Deneye (formerly of Burberry and Saint Laurent) and an editorial-style campaign shot by lauded fashion photographer David Sims Landed the technological giants with more interest than most designers collections. The venture signified a major notion of a foot-in-the-door scenario as gadgetry and fashion combine. with this only being the start of a new wave of wearable tech, only the future knows where this adventure will take us.
4. Sneakers Become More Luxurious
2. Sportswear/Performance Gear Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
Much like every new years, men and women up and down the western world look in the mirror and tell themselves that they need to lose weight and go on a diet. They throw out all their junk food (sparing a few boxes of luxury chocolate still unopened from Christmas) and sign themselves up to a gym. This year however, someone in the design world opened their eyes and saw this cult experience and then acquired a newfound taste for practicality, as editorials, street style galleries, lookbooks and Instagram accounts were littered with performance wear. Menswear aficionados paired Flyknits with suits, neoprene became the plaything of all designers (making it the new leather) and Alexander Wang took his adoration of performance apparel to new extremes by dropping a jacket coated entirely in reflective 3M and sweatpants appeared in pretty much every single collection from every brand he's ever designed for. no one knows whether this was just a 2014 trend or a genuine shift in sartorial preference as fashion crawls its way back for comfortability and practicality.
3. Adidas Fights Back
Adidas may have long fell just short of Nike in terms of sneakerhead devotion and athletic following, but this year saw the sportswear giant play some intellectual power moves in the game of chess as it controversially nabbed three of its arch-rival’s top designers, enlisted Kanye West, Pharrell Williams and NIGO for collaborative projects, resurrected a slew of archive models and dropped some serious heat,especially in the form of the Tubular runner. the brand is currently sitting on the forefront of collaborations with on-going projects from Jeremy Scott, Rick Owens, Raf Simons, Opening Ceremony and Yohji Yamamoto’s Y-3 and of course the yet-to-be-released collection with Yeezus himself. Adidas has claimed 2014 as it's own as they mark the year that everything changed for the Brand with the Three Stripes.4. Sneakers Become More Luxurious
Luxury labels have forever dipped their toes in exceptionally priced sneakers and streetwear alike, but 2014 has see infatuation with all things streetwear. Startup brands to storied fashion houses readied themselves for a years luxe arms race as everyone strove for the most artisanal, outlandish or just plain ridiculous treads. this was the year where stylish men happily sacrificed a few months’ rent on top of taking out a second mortgage to cop gold mid-tops with padlocks, handmade veg-tanned leather Jordans or Yeezy-affiliated Chewbacca boots. Perhaps the luxe brands and designers have nailed it finally or maybe we as the public are becoming more and more naive (new slaves), but whatever the case is, if the preview collections we’ve seen for 2015 are anything to go by then many avant-garde footwear designers will find themselves in a very cushy position indeed.
5. Retail becomes more than selling off a stall
2014 saw boutiques fight back, using their real world locations to deliver unique experiences away from laptops and social media. While it’s unlikely that brick-and-mortar retail will ever level head the all-conquering internet, retailing experiences for customers has once again became an enjoyable task and in some cases, an art spectacle. Whether it was Sneakerboy pioneering a direct delivery model via in-store iPads, KITH’s grandiose installations by Daniel Arsham’s Snarkitecture, Dover Street Market opening another genre-defying madhouse or the POOL aoyoma’s breathtaking interior and rotating thematic collections, this year saw brick-and-mortar retail shift ever more experiential as online stores’ vast product ranges and increasingly convenient shipping and returns policies made it easier than ever to shop online.
5. Retail becomes more than selling off a stall
2014 saw boutiques fight back, using their real world locations to deliver unique experiences away from laptops and social media. While it’s unlikely that brick-and-mortar retail will ever level head the all-conquering internet, retailing experiences for customers has once again became an enjoyable task and in some cases, an art spectacle. Whether it was Sneakerboy pioneering a direct delivery model via in-store iPads, KITH’s grandiose installations by Daniel Arsham’s Snarkitecture, Dover Street Market opening another genre-defying madhouse or the POOL aoyoma’s breathtaking interior and rotating thematic collections, this year saw brick-and-mortar retail shift ever more experiential as online stores’ vast product ranges and increasingly convenient shipping and returns policies made it easier than ever to shop online.
6. Hip-Hop’s Finest Flirt with High Fashion
The ever-prominent coupling between hip hop and the fashion newest and most prestigious fashion houses blossomed even more this year. 2014 gave the land of hip hop acceptance from the fashion world and vice versa. As rappers’ name dropped designers in every flow, they also donned on their namesake, with clothing labels looks set to overtake record labels in terms of significance and street cred. this year we saw Travi$ Scott promenading down the catwalk for Mark McNairy ,A$AP Rocky appearing in numerous fashion editorials, Pusha T dropping outstanding take on adidas’s EQT Running Guidance 93 and that's to name a few. With this being said, all i can say is expect even more collaboration spilling on the the footwear and sartorial scene in the year of 2015 from the ones we love.
7. From Hip Hop culture to Skate culture, the boarders have come to play
In 2012/2013 we saw a huge surge in interest for skating brand 'Supreme'. With the skate game expanding, we saw everyone trying to cop their hands on some well designed supreme gear. this attraction brought forward the likes of the already established Nike’s SB program (especially in footwear: Janoski's and P-Rod's) as they became the accompanied threads for Supreme. this was met with new opposition from a further wave of independent brands drawing influence from skateboarding’s DIY roots. Spearheading the revival was London based 'Palace' and New York based 'Stussy'. As Palace lead the new independent brands into battle (Diamond Supply Co., ONLY, The Hundreds), Stussy almost lead the reincarnation (Vans, Dickies, Levi Denim). I know that you are thinking that Levi Denim was not a skate brand at all but early on in skating history, Dickies and Levi's became choice of leg-wear for skate crazed Californians and the affiliations have been rife ever since. that brings me on the the fact that further attraction saw other brands and designers become synonymous to skating despite their original humble beginnings (Pretty Green, Northface). BACK to Palace though... they made themselves known and put themselves on the design map a board-friendly Adidas and Reebok collab. this brought a wave hipsters and fashionistas don the brand in the same way they donned Supreme. Interestingly, the renewed interest in this genre brought forth with it a new interest from fashion designers sharing the sport/lifestyle’s rebellious nonconforming culture. As Dover Street Market honoured Palace and Bianca Chandon in their 10 year celebrations, Rick Owens dropped a completely unskateable $15,000 “RICKBOARD” and Selfridges enlisted the likes of Hood By Air, Dries Van Noten and Maison Martin Margiela for their contentious “Board Games” project. New genre, new possibilities. It's exciting for streetwear and high fashion alike.
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