2022 Summer Collections have been strongly influenced by euphoria. People are finally out together to enjoy their life and share happy moments. Their desire to get back to life and travel translated into a strong appeal of color, which was already anticipated in the trends and has been reflected in the collections, from luxury to the mass market. Colors, such as fuchsia, remain iconic for the season (with strong prospects), thanks to Valentino’s legendary monochromatic fashion show, celebrating “la vie en rose.”
Generally, an explosive wave of creativity has been translated into fashion with several artist collaborations, who made garments a canvas for limited editions- sought after by a connoisseur audience.
Another ubiquitous theme is body positivity: Flourishing with new muses and top models, with different body types outside the classic fashion stereotype create a new appeal: Different is beautiful, as Gen Z proclaims. Visionary creative directors like Alessandro Michele understood this well in advance, before it became a widespread concept that is reaffirmed by many brands.
In addition to this, returning to the roots, searching for meaning, for origins, has piloted collections to ethnic minorities, attentively recovering cultural or folk motifs, considering a right appropriation by brands.
Summer 22 Global Analysis
Global Assortment
RTW Segmentation
RTW has taken 73,4% of the global summer assortment. Topwear is leading with shirts, blouses, t-shirts, sweaters and adds up to a total share of 36,7%. You can see the details in the graph on the right. After the Covid loungewear era, trends bounce between casual comfort and going-out attire. Though T-shirts make up for the biggest bulk of new tops, retailers have pulled back on investments by -10pts% in their 2022 assortments compared to pre-pandemic levels. This saw T-shirt sell outs drop -12pts% vs. 2019, while more formal blouses surged +11pts%.
Dresses account average for 21% of the range. 44% of dresses are short, increasing by +4,41 pts%, while 36% are midi dresses (+1,77 pts% from last year) and 16% are long dresses, loosing -3,34 pts% from SS21.
Trousers are the top-selling sub-category within bottoms, driven by the demand for both formal and casual styles. Cargos came up to the 8th position of SS22 Top 10 Styles; however, straight and wide-leg tailored trousers outsold the casual cargo pants. For SS 2022, products nodding to the early and mid 2000s continued to be lucrative for the brands that invested. Cargo pants were driving +416% higher SKU-sell-outs YOY.
Talking about bottoms, Skirts represent avg of 5% within the global RTW mix, showing no variation from spring. Here, short skirts are clearly leading the way (52% of range), showing a +4pts% increase compared to last year. Micro mini skirts resonated with trendy customers, registering a +15% increase on 2021. Midi skirts remain a stable trend with substantial commercial performance, maintaining 34% of the skirt range. For skirts: globally the satin styles, ruched and wrap looks prevailed this season.
Knitwear looses -1pts% this summer on the assortment, but in other categories knit as a fabric increased (trousers and dresses). One of the favorite knit piece has been the Y2K cropped cardigan “à la Jacquemus”(making up for 7% of top styles selling out), since it perfectly bridges comfort and dress-up.
About Tailoring, blazers have been present in 4,3% of the assortment and designing fashionable relaxed linen looks for summer or more fluid and feminine options for celebrations. For Outerwear, obviously a small part of the assortment, the raincoat was an interesting piece for Spring collections, while for full Summer the vest remains a staple.
Tops
Talking about Topwear, the tank top came up as a major trend, showing a noticeable increase of +5,33 pts%. Tank tops write their success story now, noting an increase in pricing by +18% vs. SS21. Sweats are also start trending again with +2,3pts% more than SS21, announcing upcoming fall trends.
Blouses surpassed sweaters as the second top-performing style, with sell-outs surging +11pts%. Market-wide collections showed a majority of puffed sleeve tops (and dresses), yet sell-outs tumbled -13% YOY, testifying that consumers were less interested in the #Cottagecore trend this time, but exploring Y2K themes. By the end of the season, 62% of blouses with this feature were saddled with an average discount of -38%.
To note: The boyfriend shirt features as a quintessential piece, as an easy layering item. It’s a fresh antidote to sexy dressing renaissance for these minimalistic customers whom are centered around a more modest aesthetic and proposes paired-back merchandise.
Tank Top
Halter Top
Crop Top
Puffed Sleeved Top
Boyfriend Shirt
Dresses
Moving away from ceremony, dress styles for summer feel cooler, lighter in bohemian or new sexy aesthetics. Globally, the growth in “going out” product sell outs over the summer was noted. The most visible details speak of femininity-including gatherings, floss straps, cut-outs, slits or puffy sleeves. Many styles are body-hugging, as in tube dresses or corset styles, the other half is fluid but slinky; commercial as wrapped styles, delicately knotted at the waist or draped across. Such draped styles have raised from last year, even in details around the neckline. The most performing products of this category are slip dresses and the simple romantic boho dress.
Slip dress
Romantic Boho
Structured Bodycon
Cut out and Flossy
Draped and Gathered
Trousers
Trousers are an interesting category this season, with cargo coming up at the 8th position of the top 10 styles. Cargos, performing for a young consumer come up with 4,8% of the trousers range and gain +6,5pts% from SS21. Talking about the young generation, the baggy pant started to rise this season. Even if it is a very small part of the range, its positive trend curve grows with +0,39pts% from SS21. Flared pants have been an important style by their visibility (8,4% of the range), gaining +6pts% from SS21. Straight and wide-legs are another important trend. While Straight pants (7,2% of the range) are showing +2,84pts% of growth and good performance; wide-leg pants (6,9% of trousers) are decreasing slightly -0,54pts% but maintain a very good performer.
Globally skinny and leggings styles are decreasing this summer, while slims are up to +1,36pts.
Baggy
Cargo
Flared
Wide
Straight
Accessories Segmentation
The SS22 accessories represent an average percentage of the global assortment. Bags and Shoes are certainly statutory products, accounting for 52% of the mix.
For bags, crossbody, tote and clutch represent 59% of the assortment, while bucket bags remain stable. Clutches gain +31% from April, Hobo bags +249%, Belt bags +138% and Backpacks have shown a growth of +136%, announcing the back to school #accademia trend. Summery deliveries have been about straw and textile beach bags. These products have shown a good performance in their circle. Their natural materials propose an alternative to leather and were definitely featured widely during high summer. Woven, plain or colored, in mix & match with other materials, these styles are no longer a mere leisure item, but have taken the shapes of several iconic bags. Considering raffia beach bags, shapes moved away from the rounds of last year towards sleeker tote bags.
About Footwear, retailers continued to cash in on a streetwear and athleisure boom. More casual styles continue to influence buying with futuristic foam slides and dad sneakers.
The return of heels is still undeniable for Summer 2022, with heeled silhouettes out-selling flats by 8pts%. They compose for 51% of global ranges, with retailers highlighting platforms, clogs, chunky mules and occasion heels. However, the demand is currently outpacing the supply: an opportunity for retailers to invest stronger into occasion styles thinking ahead of the party season at the end of the year.
For more footwear information, see Accessories Details section.
Bags
Hobo Bags
Belt Bags
Backpacks
Clutches
Summer Leisure Bags
Color Assortment
From our quantitative analysis, black is still the leader of the color chart, be it clothing or accessories. However, black shows a clear decline compared to the past seasons, losing -2pts% compared to SS21. This decline proves that bolder and lighter colors are appealing to an optimistic and fun consumer. Considering the global palette, green and pink are still leading trendy colors, while orange and yellow have risen their trend curve, +1pt% for bright orange and +0,64pts% for yellow. Talking about commercial performance, pink and green showed to be a good investment for 2022, as the colors mid-blue, brown and red.
About classics, brown has shown a return, taking 5% of global assortment and strong visibility for burnt brown Sienna, a color that is promising to be relevant for SS23 too.
Considering Bags and Shoes, black is representing 30% of the range, but loosing -3pts% from SS21, followed by neutrals 12,4%, white 10% and brown 8,4%. Last year the trendy color for these category was focused around green and this year it is unquestionably pink, proposing colored accessories to boost the look.
Fabrics, Prints & Patterns
Florals are always the most represented and commercial pattern for womenswear, making up for 31% of top prints and gaining +2pts% from summer 21. Abstracts have been a growing trend, keeping to gain +2pts% in multi-colored motives and new tie&dye.
Summer’s boho influence saw paisley, ethnic and patchwork prints, as well as oriental flowers grow.
There has been increasing attention on material selection with a big drop of synthetics for premium brands and increasing use of sustainable materials, like viscose or tencel and natural fibers, from linen to organic cotton. Linen stands out as a key story (+15% uplift in linen apparel), in line with the casual chic of the “Coastal Grandmother” aesthetic. The raw aspect of fabrics is more and more appreciated, so hemp, bamboo are increasingly mixed with cotton, while raffia and straw lead in for accessories. Jerseys and fine knits maintained comfort and in tops, pants and skirts. Veiled fabrics play on layering and a new sexiness, but since see-through effects are not the best commercial option, openworks on knitwear and eyelets on cottons adapt here.
Glossy fabrics such as satin performed better on all markets this year, more ductile and functional now and wearable from the office to any special event.
RTW Style Details
Focusing on style details, Livetrend’s quantitative analysis shows high waist to stays the first choice for bottoms. As low waist styles are trending on Instagram (+274% YOY) and feature on SS22 shows, they are not yet performing substantially well, except for early adopters and young customers, where mass-market brands included more low-rise proposals. The low-rise trend is here to stay, fashionably in cargo and parachute pants as low-risk products for retailers to invest.
The utility trend, driven by functionality is generating products with pockets. Patch pockets on denims, pants and jackets, are slightly more visible than other seasons. Cropped styles are still increasing and it seems that a lack of materials and the price increase have found the right trend. Cropped styles on tops and knitwear perform better if the length is at waist and not shorter.
Ruffles are still a must for feminine dresses and tops. Followed by shirring and gathering as another big trend altogether with draping. Those details are designing new essential products with an edge of minimalism and modernity.
Compared to that, pleats are showing moderate visibility. Yet, the dad pant and tennis or academia hype propose pleated styles as another big trend for the next winter. Cut-outs are a statement with high visibility on Instagram and e-com. A multitude of summer dresses and tops embrace this feminine detail, but not commercially. Another trendy style is the bustier with strong adoption on Instagram. It has been slowly increasing its performance and visibility on the market. While quantities were low, several out-of-stocks styles were present across bustier tops. This detail should be studied for the next seasons for feminine novelty with a fashionable but wearable approach.
High-rise vs Low-rise
Patched Pockets
Everything cropped
Enhanced Femininity
Accessories Details
Since we have been focusing more on Bags in the chapter before, we are now concentrating more on footwear details.
Livetrend data shows how straps and lacing have a big visibility for summer shoes and sandals. At second place, toe shapes are revealing that round-squared and squared ones are leaders, while pointy toes are rising, gaining +49% on the last trimester and confirming an announced feminine trend.
Bows and knots represent 14% of details, often placed on mules, slides and heels.
For soles, platform and flat-form shoes are part of the top ten products by their visibility, with chunky soles accounting for 11% of the assortment. The deliveries of platforms have reached their peak in April and demonstrated a very good performance until June.
Talking about sneakers, the dad sneaker is still a must, but new retro styles like court styles are adding a classy chic and timelessness to the offer.
Shoes
Straps & Lacing
Round, Squared to Pointy ?
Chunky Soles & Platforms
Padded
Bows & Knots
End of Season Sales
Despite the phenomenon of revenge spending, brands face excessive stock levels as high returns and inflation that led to a +3pts% increase in unsold inventory at the end of June. Inflation led to average order values to rise by +9% YoY, indicating that increased price tags do not deter current consumer’s spending. However, orders with promotions rose by +8pts% YoY, impacting retailer’s profitability. Plus, an influx of returns (return rates grew +4pp annually), so that retailers closed the first half of the year with a glut of unsold inventory. This will add to the challenge of winter, when consumers are expected to be even more frugal with discretionary spending as heating and energy bills soar.
It was expected that retailers would take a more restrained approach to discounts to protect their margins, facing higher costs of raw materials. However, this did not happen. The proportion of discounts steadily increased in the US in Q2, leading to a four-year high in June of 61% discount items.
However, a substantial change in collection strategy is underway with actions and initiatives varying across different brands. Before setting your own strategy, have a look at your price dashboards on Livetrend Analytics.
The data you need to master your market
This analysis is done by collecting e-commerce data based on in-stock products from 1/04 to 1/08/2022, including more than 200k items from top demanded brands on Livetrend Analytics.
The commercial performance is calculated by analyzing out-of-stock products or attributes in this given time. Our analysis is done by average, without diversity from mass to premium market. But trendy high street labels see upcoming trends flourish and perform thanks to their attractive pricing.
While Several premium brands are less experimental, betting more on core and iconic products, being less influenced by micro-trends and more focused on products that will last over time and communicate the brand DNA.
This season, the industry continued to be affected by challenges outside brands’ control: With a war, looming recession and continued Covid challenges impacting businesses with China. The Russian-Ukraine war is having a big impact on resources, hitting gas, energy and food prices first, expecting fashion price tags to climb soon.
The industry expected a more optimistic year of trade for 2022. However, the soaring oil prices, coupled with low unemployment and the rising of the cost of living crisis, underscore the importance of expanding entry-level categories or, where possible, keeping prices stable going forward, as well as being strategic with markdowns to protect margins.
Amid the volatile landscape, it is essential to invest some of your time in Livetrend Analytics to wisely study your offer and pricing and to make more informed decisions at scale.