Predicting trends has always been a trend in itself, and with so many companies (from social media platforms to the Big Four accounting firms to fashion magazines) doing the research and voicing opinions, we couldn’t help making an overview of what seems more or less safe to say today about the coming year.
Here come 7 of the most interesting lifestyle trends of 2022, through the lens of Gen Z youth.
Identity: pronouns going pro
Among Gen Zers, 59% believe forms asking about gender should have gender-neutral options available, and 50% think society is not accepting enough of people who identify as gender-neutral or gender fluid—after all, 35% of them know someone who uses “they/them” pronouns or something similar. And while adding pronouns to Instagram or Tiktok bios has been a thing for a while, it’s just recently that same became on the rise in the professional environment.
LinkedIn rolled out its pronouns field to the 200 million users this year, and so far 2 million users opted to add theirs. The normalization crosses over into the offline world, too—also this year, Columbia Sportswear Co. gave its 2500 retail associates the option to state their pronouns, with 260 opting in.
Fashion: bolder and more sustainable
A key factor for many Gen Zers choosing what they dress in will remain sustainability. For the youth, a product’s eco footprint is very important—a study found that about 73% of Gen Zers are willing to pay more for environmentally-friendly products (First Insight, 2020).
One example of a brand capitalizing on this is the clothing line Tentree. It quickly gained a massive following by launching sustainable materials-only products and associating with socially responsible supply chain partners.
And what’s the predictions in terms of actual looks? “After being confined to our homes people have been itching to re-emerge, feeling bolder and more risque on the cusp of a new era,” opines Celenie Seidel of Farfetch for the British Vogue. Her and fellow industry experts name unapologetically skin-revealing clothing, madly-designed shoes, and over-styled Y2K nostalgia among the key trends, along with Dark Academia and Goblincore aesthetics.
at Influencive
