Can you start by telling us a bit about The Better Trends Co.? What’s the story behind the company, the founders and its mission?

The seeds of it all started at Top Drawer through a chance meeting! I was working for a large agency and was invited to give a talk about trends on the Retail Reveal stage. Natalie was an exhibitor who had come along to find out more, asked a few brilliant questions about why this information wasn’t accessible to SME’s…. And we started to chat and hatch a plan! It is still amazing to us that we are the official trends partner for Top Drawer, where it all started 3 years ago. 

What are 3 words to describe The Better Trends Co.?

Clear, accessible, expertise….. or “No bull sh*t” !

How do you stay ahead of the curve in such a fast-paced industry? What’s your secret to identifying the trends that will really resonate with your clients?

We stay ahead by not reacting to the micro but focusing on the macro:  when you research, analyse and immerse yourself in culture, in people and events, you start to see what is happening at a larger scale across macro factors of society, technology, environmental change and innovation. Only then can you understand what impacts your audience  and how that filters down into product, lifestyle and needs. If you start with trying to work out the details with no background, there is no reason or purpose and therefore, nothing will resonate.

Can you share a bit about your process for curating trends? How do you ensure they are not only relevant but also actionable for your clients?

We have a tried and tested methodology (from many years of doing this!) where we research the big picture drivers and filter that down to trends that relate to the industry and the audience that we are focusing on.

As we conduct thorough socio-cultural analysis, this ensures we end up with a positioning in the trends space that has longevity and is strategically right for our client and their target market.

Clients and Success Stories:

1. Can you share some success stories from clients who have used your trend insights? How have your services made a difference for them?

We have done a lot of re-brands and brand guidelines to refresh and redirect businesses into a space of alignment with their vision, values and trend right design assets that speak to the bigger macro trends and can live on past the current ‘fashionable’ font or colour. Clients love that we find a balance that is fresh but authentic and appeals to legacy and new customers alike.

2. How do you tailor your trend insights to meet the unique needs of different clients?

Depends on the brief but we always start with Brand values, Mission and audience - if we don’t know the what, who and why then it’s pointless! You need purposeful and engagement that resonates - if you don't then we are fuelling gratuitous hype and over consumption - we need to be responsible in how we work with trends.

3. Can you give an example of a particularly challenging client request and how you successfully addressed it?

Some clients can get overwhelmed with the amount of ‘trends’ out there. We can get bombarded with so much from social media, it is totally understandable that there are knee jerk reactions to fads or colours of the year. We only advise trends and specific design development that are right for you - there are so many trends, not everything is going to be for you or your brand audience, that’s ok and how it should be!

4. What feedback have you received from clients about the impact of your trend insights on their business strategies?

Clients appreciate that we are approachable, make trends and design strategies really clear and actionable - we don’t pretend they are difficult to understand - because that isn’t the case! You can be an expert, super knowledgeable and experienced and also empathetic and kind. That’s definitely one of our superpowers.

Clients are always surprised how much is inherently joined up and how trends aren’t a big separate ‘thing’ that needs to be chased. Once we lay out the roadmap of focusing on their audience and making people the key consideration, everything else is easier to understand.

5. How do you build and maintain strong relationships with your clients?

We build relationships from day one, we immerse ourselves in their brand world and make sure we understand their vision so we can advise them properly with creative strategic solutions that fit and not prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach. We are a small and agile team who work in a bespoke way for each brief and now count many clients as friends.

Part 3: The New Monthly Service

1. I hear you’re launching a new service. That sounds exciting! Can you tell us more about it?What can subscribers expect?

Yes! It is a brand new monthly members service that answers many of the problems designers and others feel they face when using trends. Our subscription provides trend insights, design direction and inspiration plus all access to insider knowledge from our industry guests and live chats and feedback on your work with the founders, me and Natalie. We set monthly design briefs that are taken directly from our trend reports that form building blocks to personalise for your brand which build iteratively on each other.

2. What motivated you to introduce this new service?

We are really excited as this is exactly where the trends and forecasting space needs to be - accessible and easy to understand - for both new and experienced designers and visual comms specialists. We aim to solve the information overwhelm, lack of actionable advisory and huge costs that gatekeep the trend and design industry for many people.

3. How does this monthly service differ from your more bespoke offerings?

We aim to keep it affordable, opening with a limited time founders rate, which, at £22 per month, allows many more creatives to have access to the trends, research and insider intel that is usually only available through our category specific trend reports or bespoke consultancy. 

4. What are some of the key benefits that businesses can expect from subscribing to your monthly service? 

Members will get a huge range of insights and inspo with practical ways to break down the key quarterly trends. Get a mood board, colour palette, print and pattern directions, typographic styles and more all made clear on a live call with us. We share our personal inspiration and methods to widen your scope of references, give you alternate spaces for design research and inform your design briefs.

Every month we have an industry connection from our insider network to give you the low down

on their work and perspectives on the trend and design of the season. We offer a live call for feedback on what works/what to improve plus a Q&A with founders. All of this is worth over £500 a month and members get access for just £22!

5. You’re unveiling three new trends at Top Drawer. Can you give us a sneak peek into what these trends are and why they’re important?

We always choose 3 very different trends from our research and curate them so they can appeal to different audiences, lifestyles and demographics. As I mentioned, we always base our trends in what is happening in the bigger picture culturally, so you’ll see our Art School trend is based in the analogue, DIY creative movement of expression and imperfection. Our Spring Soiree celebrates human connection, friendship and community and Grandma’s Attic nods to nostalgia, heritage and crafted keepsakes. These are all huge macro trends that are important to your audiences and are translated with key patterns, materials and colours for the year.

 6. What can I expect to see/ hear from you at Top Drawer? (talk/ trends/ meetings/ panel)

Come and visit us at our trends edit, an installation space in the National Hall where you can see the colours, and curated products of the season in our 3 key trends we have chosen exclusively for Top Drawer. We will also be walking you through the trends with a talk in the space on Monday at XX and talking about how we reject the hyper cycle of trends on the Retail Reveal stage on Monday at XX

7. What channels will you use to keep your subscribers informed about new trends and updates?

Follow us on insta and subscribe to our newsletter for offers, discounts and first signs ups for our FREE masterclass on January 21st!

8. Looking ahead, what are your long-term goals for The Better Trends Co.? Are there any upcoming innovations or features you’re particularly excited about?

We are super proud of this membership and think it will really change the landscape of the trend and design industry, allowing everyone to access trends and learning how to translate them for their design needs. We have more in the works and are planning an introduction to to trend forecasting course, based on my years of industry experience and academic teaching, with lots of ways to demystify the process and do it yourself! I’m really passionate about democratising access and empowering people with the tools they need.