Highsnobiety x Lyst The Next 20

Highsnobiety has partnered with global fashion platform Lyst on The NEXT 20, a new approach to fashion forecasting.

Highsnobiety has partnered with global fashion platform Lyst on The NEXT 20, a new approach to fashion forecasting. The first of its kind report predicting the next-generation brands and cultural pioneers on the rise. Although marketing strategies and supply chains have been upended by Covid-19, youth culture doesn’t stand still. As the machinery of influence has been democratized, it is no longer dominated by giant brands and mainstream celebrities alone — the playing field of those driving culture forward has not skipped a beat.

The innovators of today no longer need the backing of traditional media, big retailers, and celebrity endorsements to get ahead. Today, the fact that emerging figures and brands write their own rules is more evident than ever before. With this in mind, Highsnobiety has partnered with Lyst — the world’s biggest fashion search platform — to present The NEXT 20, an in-depth quarterly report ranking next-generation brands and cultural pioneers (an emerging group whose power lies in their authority, not necessarily their reach — those who are the first wave to drive culture forward) on the rise. The core mission of this project is to improve the way forecasting in the fashion industry is done. In order to accomplish this, we gave the power to the public and enlisted external industry experts to go beyond personal opinion alone.

Those making up our NEXT 20 Brands and NEXT 20 Cultural Pioneer rankings range in size, social following, background, and age, yet they are unified by their current impact on youth culture, each having found a core community of influential, devoted fans. They challenge the formulaic blueprint set by mega brands and talents, respectively leading the charge and ultimately setting the stage for those who come next.

Methodology and Advisory Board Scroll Down To determine the NEXT 20 Brands and the NEXT 20 Cultural Pioneers for Q1, the Highsnobiety and Lyst teams formed an advisory board of leading industry experts to consider more than 250 brands and 300 cultural pioneers.

Lyst then created bespoke algorithms to analyze over 11,000 data points indicating breakout potential. The algorithms were designed to weigh the more established next-gen brands and cultural pioneers fairly against those who are still emerging. Data considered included Google search volume, social media performance, press, blog and online discussion metrics, and, for the brands, proprietary insights from Lyst’s fashion search platform, which is used by more than 100 million shoppers a year.

Data only paints part of the picture. Therefore, the NEXT 20 Brands and NEXT 20 Cultural Pioneers that emerged from the data were then reviewed once again by our advisory board for further commentary, adding human experience and qualitative insights to finalize our rankings.

Sarah Andelman (Founder | Just an Idea)

Serge Carreira (Head of Emerging Brands | Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode)

Saam Emme (Fashion Business Consultant)

Leila Fataar (Founder | Platform13)

Jo-Ann Furniss (Editor and Consultant)

Julie Gilhart (President | Tomorrow Consulting. CDO | Tomorrow)

Yiling Hong (Founder | Canal Street Shanghai)

Stavros Karelis (Founder and Buying Director | Machine A)

Olga Karput (Founder | KM20)

Lulu Kennedy (Founder and Director | Fashion East)

Mitsuhiro Kubo (Founder | GR8)

Stefano Martinetto (CEO | Tomorrow)