20 Trends for the 2020s

As we leave the decade that brought us Netflix, Millennial pink, Whatsapp, #ad and meme culture, we truly see just how much can change in 10 years. Looking into the 2020s, increasingly intelligent technologies, social uncertainties, along with efforts to balance careers and lifestyles all contribute to ensure the world will look very different come 2030.

At WGSN, we’re constantly tracking consumer attitudes to ensure brands create the right products, services and experiences for their consumers at the right time. Influenced by this research, we’ve called out the 20 crucial trends that will impact purchasing decisions of future consumers. Some are on track to become mainstream in the near future, while others will materialise much closer to 2030. Read on for three of our need-to-know trends.

Forecasting the new ‘20s

Fashion & Lifestyle

Boro

In recent years, the rise of fashion resale, the use of biodegradable materials and waterless production are examples that demonstrate how we can produce more consciously and operate in a sustainable way. Waste is a design flaw and technologies are working to eradicate it throughout the supply chain, but what happens to all of the ‘stuff’ we already have? Using Boro – a term borrowed from Japanese tradition, meaning born-out-of-necessity patchworking – we look back to our own personal throwaway products to give them a new lease of life.

Insight

Intimacy Schools

As reported in Relationships Redefined, 43% of Americans feel that their relationships aren’t meaningful and are isolated from others – especially prominent in Gen Z, conceived to be the loneliest generation, a cohort whose usage of digital devices supersedes other group. Online relationships overtake IRL ones and constant digital connection has led to a disconnect in real life. Qualities such as vulnerability, setting boundaries and communication within relationships (platonic or romantic) have been lost, replaced with love heart eyes . This is where intimacy schools come in, set to be holding classes near you this year and beyond. You can sign up for a lesson on emotional literacy.

Beauty

Nanoswimmers

The lines between beauty and medicine have become increasingly blurred. Tweakments, non-invasive clinical treatments such as ultrasound skin tightening, microneedling and even injectable moisturiser gels, have risen in popularity. Over-the-counter skin peels and laser treatments are no longer exclusive to beauty buffs and have really hit the mainstream. How will this progress for the 2020s? At the latter end of the decade, we expect to see robots being used to deliver ingredients, nutrients or medicine from inside the body, directly to the bloodstream. While still in its infancy, we expect the applications for beauty to be vast, introducing injectable beauty bots. 

WGSN subscribers can read the full 20 Trends for the 2020s report here.

Not a client yet? Get a sneak peek on some other favourites from the full list.