Along with New Year resolutions January brings a flurry of articles on predictions about consumer trends in the year ahead. In recent Wall Street Journal reports textiles play a role in determining what consumers will wear and their shopping behavior in 2020. Here are three good examples:

WSJ article “Top Consumer Trends for 2020”: Reuse is the New Recycle with new business models aiming to promote sharing, reusing, refilling and renting to avoid waste that are powered by younger generations’ increased environmental awareness. Product “must haves”: a balance of sustainability and convenience.

WSJ article “The Future of Everything”: The new power suit is described as a mood sensing sweater, lab-grown textiles and touch screen jacket. The clothes we wear to work will be sensor-embedded and connected, monitoring stress levels, reminding us of appointments, alerting us and others when there’s important work to be done and more, according to Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, author, Smart Textiles for Designers: Inventing the Future of Fabrics

WSJ article “Fashion’s Future, Foretold”: The vanishing of sizes will be the new normal, as standard sizing gives way to custom fit clothing. The technology is at the ready; now production capabilities are in catch-up mode. The result is “made to order” models with the benefit of reduced excess waste.