What are kids in Harlem wearing while waiting on subway platforms? What's in the windows these days at Milan boutiques? What are rock climbers wearing on the face of an indoor climbing wall in Los Angeles?
The cutthroat business of fashion forecasting -- also known as trend spotting -- makes its money, as well as its reputation, on the quick and accurate dissemination of such information.
This need has fashion forecasters hitting the Web. Designers, retailers and even fashion students can go to such companies as Worth Global Style Network, Fashion Shopper and Style Detective to see the latest interpretation of "cool."
But old-school fashion-watchers are wary of the online migration. The fashion world is built on feel and touch and firsthand opinions. It's built on instincts by experts who need to feel the fabric, or view a color at a high resolution. And those are qualities that just can't be translated over the Internet.
Furthermore, they're concerned that fashion designers and retailers have yet to become tech savvy.
"(Worth Global Style Network) grew out of the idea that the fashion world operates the same way as the financial world," said Roger Tredre, editor-in-chief of the London-based website. "Because the fashion market is such a changing market, we wanted to become the fashion version of Bloomberg."
Currently, many designers and retailers employ in-house trend-seekers to travel to international cities in search of the latest and the hottest.
These fashion sleuths usually don't find the real trendsetters -- the ones that can eventually cause a fashion impact -- because the sleuths are not familiar enough with the city, said Mitchell Kass, owner of the recently launched fashionshopper.com.
"Unless you live in the city and understand the culture, you're not going to find the real trends," he said. "The stuff that's advertised is not where the cool people are going."
Fashionshopper.com's site features photographs of boutique windows from Paris, London and New York, and offers color and pattern forecasts.
The WGSN site shows photography of streetwear, boutique windows and fashion shows, grouped by geographical location, including lesser-known fashion locales such as Antwerp, Cologne and Copenhagen. Also included on WGSN's site are color and textile trends, and articles about the fashion industry.
However, this vast amount of information can blur the ultimate trend goal of the designer or retailer, according to fashion veteran Carole D'Arconte.
"I got really nervous when all of this started," said D'Arconte, a 22-year veteran of fashion forecasting. "But then I realized that what's happening with trending on the Web is that there's too much information, and they don't know how to edit it."
For example, if a fashionshopper.com user wanted the latest trends in hats, he or she would have to sift through thousands of images. It's pretty much a do-it-yourself shop. Style Detective has some consulting services.
But D'Arconte believes these sites, regardless of level of services, can't match what full-service companies like hers -- Color Portfolio -- can offer.
Then there's the industry's apparent reluctance to embrace technology. Three years ago when Diana Duncan, owner of Style Detective, first started her business, she thought the Internet would be a perfect medium to showcase her finds.
"But the problem with being solely on the Internet," she said, "is that the garment industry was very late getting wired, and they weren't online to see my predictions. Also, the rest of the artistic world doesn't want to get too tech-oriented."
Today, Duncan advises her clients not only through her website, but face-to-face as well. Other experts in the industry feel that the forecasting websites and the offline companies can and should work together.
"I don't see it (online forecasters) as a replacement," said Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Institute, a color-consulting company. "I see it as a supplement. Most of the Web services are fantastic, but clients also need a consultant to steer them in the right direction."
The segment of the fashion population that seems to be getting the most out of these online fashion forecasting websites is the fashion students themselves. Fashionshopper.com and WGSN give fashion design students free access to their websites for learning purposes, and all three websites offer internships for students to learn more about fashion forecasting.
"It's incredibly useful," said Susie Draffan, a third-year student at Central Saint Martins College of Fashion and Art and Design in London. "It covers everything from what people are wearing at snowboard festivals to rock concerts in Japan. It's great for research purposes."
