WGSN (trend forecasting)


WGSN is a trend forecasting company of parent organisation Ascential. WGSN was founded in 1998 in West London by brothers Julian and Marc Worth. Emap, a business-to-business publisher and exhibitions company, bought the company in October 2005 for £140m.

Recent history

In 2013, WGSN merged with its biggest competitor, Stylesight. Like WGSN, Stylesight had a vast library of fashion forecasting, trend information, archival photos, and even sketches and patterns for designers to use. Keeping the WGSN name, the new product has been designed around the technology developed by Stylesight and launched in 2014.
In February 2016, Ascential plc, an international media company that includes WGSN in its portfolio, was the subject of an £800m initial public offering.
In 2016, WGSN started a global series of summits known as WGSN Futures, with events in New York City, London, São Paulo, Cape Town, Melbourne, Dubai and Hong Kong.

Products

As an online service, the business derives its revenues from six different product subscriptions , a custom advisory business and a global series of events.
Its trend forecasting service includes what's new and next in apparel, beauty, colour, marketing, retail and wearables.
The firm has predicted that the smartphone will be obsolete by 2030.