Book Description

Remember when body piercing was radical? Now it's another fad practiced by suburban kids. Retro sixties and seventies? Done that; the self-indulgent eighties is the decade of the moment. But what about the trends of tomorrow? How do you find out what's in store for the youth generation before it hits the mainstream? Listen to the people who make it their business to track the trends: Janine Lopiano-Misdom and Joanne De Luca of Sputnik, an innovative market research firm that examines today's alternative youth cultures for clues to tomorrow's mainstream trends and markets. Street Trends offers an engrossing, provocative look at the hidden centers of urban street cultures, identifies important new trends emerging from the streets and predicts how they will impact the culture at large. Take veganism. It's a good bet that this hot fringe trend will negatively affect the booming meat industry. And MTV? Its glory days are numbered as more and more suburban kids, following in the footsteps of their more hard-core urban counterparts, tune in to the more thoughtful Discovery Channel. The accuracy of Sputnik's predictions has earned them a client base that includes high-profile companies such as Reebok International, PepsiCo., Levis-Strauss, Burlington Industries, Shiseido International, and the National Football League Properties. Venturing deep into the fringe subculture, Lopiano-Misdom and De Luca identify the latest trends to emerge from the street: The Bionic Being--the urge to take their bodies and minds to another place through herbs, exercise, drugs, implants and clothing Freestyling--the no-rules approach to everything they do, with an emphasis on spontaneity and creativity DIY--do-it-yourself--and entrepreneurial creed that finds succeeds outside the confines of the corporation Technorganics--a new generation utilizing technology to create traditions, customs and a sense of family and community The Immaculate Perception--the ultimate in hygiene, whereby kids go to new lengths to protect themselves against germs, pollution and a stressful environment to reach their own "purtopia" Intriguing, enlightening and relentlessly fascinating, Street Trends is the pipeline to the underground that businesses need to anticipate the consumer markets of the future.