Trending Vs. Timeless: The Creative Balance That Builds Lasting Licensing Success

Let’s be honest. Skew helped create a monster.

We were the first agency to bring a trend-led approach to licensing, way back when that meant 24 month lead times. Colour cards for yarn dyers. Early access to retail calendars. The lot.

But the landscape has shifted. What used to be a pipeline has become a loop. Culture now feels like it’s spinning on the spot, remixing itself endlessly. If you feel like you’ve seen the same style guides for the past five years, you’re not imagining it.

Trend is eating itself

The licensing world is still asking for Glitchcore, rubber-hose illustration, and 8-bit nostalgia, long past their sell-by date. Too often, trend forecasting becomes a grab-bag of aesthetic effects — applied whether or not they fit the IP.

Why?

Because trend used to be directional. Now it’s decorative. And with consumers using AI to remix visual culture faster than we can agree what decade we’re in, we’re seeing surface-level “trend” that lacks both originality and longevity.

In fast fashion, quick turnover is the model. In licensing, that pace creates more problems than it solves.

What Skew is doing differently

We still use trend. But not like that. Here’s how we’re helping partners get sharper, faster and more future-proof:

1. We focus on the macro, not the micro

Forget the noise. We’re tracking long-term shifts in consumer behaviour, material use, and visual culture. Not fads. This gives brands a clearer view of where they fit — and how far they can stretch without snapping.

2. We build creative strategy first

We map brand DNA against macro-cultural movements, not just aesthetics. This helps our clients understand why people care about their brand — and where that emotional relevance can be extended.

3. We synthesise, not just scan

We take a white view — WGSN, internal trend decks, street culture, and social signals — then use AI tools to sort signal from noise. The result is a practical, forward-facing map for creative development, not a look-book of someone else’s mood boards.

4. We create playable territories, not target windows

We give clients a range of stories and styles they can grow into. The aim isn’t to hit a fleeting trend window. It’s to offer design solutions that are contemporary, own-able, and long-lasting.

The fast fashion trap

Here’s the hard truth: if you’re a brand with anything less than year-round high street exposure, over reliance on fast fashion trend packs can do more harm than good.

They’re:

• Too generic to cut through
• Too narrow to flex across partners
• Too disposable for licensing cycles

It’s no wonder we’re seeing more traction with creative that adapts by opportunity — a better fit for the partner, but guided by the brand.

A better approach to trend

We recently worked with a client who wanted four design trends for an e-commerce project. We pushed back.

Instead, we offered 14 smaller, sharper design stories. Each mapped to their brand’s DNA. Each relevant to the macro picture. None of them chasing short-term fashion. All of them viable — depending on where, when and how the IP shows up to a partner.

Because great brand extension doesn’t start with what’s trending. It starts with what’s transferable.

What have we learned?

There’s a reason our streamline is “Part Strategy. Part Style. All Substance." If you’re in licensing, you’re not just selling style. You’re selling meaning. Relevance. Audience access. A point of view.

So:

• Less chasing trends
• More building on understanding your brand’s cultural value
• Map that to consumer personas
• Build creative that flexes across categories and lasts longer than a TikTok cycle

Want to lead your own piece of culture? Think less like a trend forecaster, more like a brand strategist. We can help.