Information Cascades: How Men’s Fashion Trends Spread
https://www.businessinsider.com/fashion-trends-data-2016-10#mens-leather-backpacks-are-selling-out-1
Information cascades are a social catalyst in which information is passed rapidly across group of individuals. A cascade begins with one individual’s choice, and connected individuals subsequently make their own choice based on their inferences on why the initial individual acted as they did. Such a phenomenon can be observed in a plethora of fields and scenarios, but one especially interesting case is the world of men’s fashion. Clothing and footwear are known to be very cyclical, certain styles fall in and out of favor sometimes in as little as a few months. However, when observing these trends in an empirical fashion their origin becomes more clear, as done in the linked Business Insider article.
It is no secret that fashion is a copy-cat game, and any given style will explode in popularity given enough support. In order to decipher why, we must first look at where these trends begin. Actors, Hip Hop artists, sports stars, and other prominent social figures are the first individuals to trigger the cascade. These people can be thought of as “Super-influencers” as their fashion choices are well documented, and they have the access and means to dress in any style they desire. While they represent a fraction of a percentage of the population, their status allows them to influence the masses. Those who follow these trend setters will inevitably adopt some of their style, and therefore expose others in their circle to this up and coming trend, thus continuing the cascade. However, fashion is unusual in that if a particular style oversaturates a certain social segment, it may lose its allure and again fall out of favor.
An example of this phenomenon at work can be seen with the rise of jogger-style sweatpants, a particular style in which the bottom of the leg is tapered and cuffed. The cut of these sweatpants emphasizes your shoes, hence their initial popularity with “Sneaker Heads”. Joggers became popular with athletes and Hip Hop artists, especially those who collect expensive designer sneakers, sometime between late 2013 and early 2014. Over the next two years, sales of this style exploded, quickly becoming a staple not only in streetwear circles, but in any wardrobe. Sales for this style have steadily risen over the past few years, begging the question: are joggers due to become a main-stay in men’s fashion or will their popularity rebound as they oversaturate the market?