In this episode of Five Minute Friday, Samantha Conner of The Boutique Hub delivers a concise yet detailed fashion‑trend briefing aimed at boutique owners preparing for the fall/winter 2026 and spring/summer 2027 seasons. She introduces a three‑bucket decision framework—what to BUY, what to WATCH, and what to TEST—to help retailers allocate inventory with confidence. Conner highlights bold monochromatic colors (orange, cobalt blue) and a resurgence of animal prints (zebra, snakeskin, Bambi) and explains how to evaluate their fit for a store’s customer base, historical category performance, and exposure levels, recommending low‑risk testing via accessories. She then outlines key dress trends for spring/summer 2027—maxi, romantic, ruched, sheer, defined waist, and day‑to‑night versatility—emphasizing the importance of multi‑occasion wearability. The discussion moves to denim, noting a mix of slim, wide‑leg, relaxed‑fit, and barrel styles, with cautions around low‑rise and the need for careful testing. Conner flags “watch” trends that are more extreme, such as transparent garments, viral micro‑trends (micro minis/shorts), novelty pieces, and runway‑level looks, advising boutiques to monitor customer demand before committing. She stresses that trend momentum on social media does not equal customer demand, urging owners to know their customer persona, listen to dressing‑room behavior, and rely on staff insights. Practical risk‑management tips include protecting open‑to‑buy plans, avoiding over‑buying every forecast color, and not prematurely replacing best‑sellers. The episode closes with Conner inviting listeners to meet her on the show floor, followed by host Ashley Alderson’s call‑to‑action for feedback, sharing, and subscription.
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Hey guys, it's Samantha Conner here from the Boutique Hub, and I wanna talk to you about my favorite topic, which is fashion and trends. So I was in New York for Fashion Week. I saw a lot of amazing things come down the runway in September. I'm feeling super confident about the styles that you are choosing to put in your store for fall/winter 2026, and even more excited about what's coming your way for spring/summer 2027. So first of all, let's all rejoice. We are going back to some maximalism in a new way. We're seeing new animal prints, bold, bright colors, and exaggerated silhouettes. This is exciting. This is a sign that fashion is going to be fun again. But for you, there's 3 things you need to consider when you are investing in this fashion, because after all, you're basically trying to look into a crystal ball and predict what's going to sell over the next 6 months, and that's no easy feat. You guys are amazing. I'm going to give you some tips that are going to help you make that vision and that prediction A little more clear. So we're going to talk about things that we're going to buy. We're going to talk about things we're going to watch, and then we're going to talk about things we're going to test. And those three buckets are how you're going to be organizing the inventory that you're bringing into your store over the next six months. All right, so the first thing is let's talk about bold colors. Now you guys might be surprised to hear we're going to see a lot of orange, that cobalt blue, and I'm seeing a ton of. Now, we know that a forecast color is not an automatic, this is going to sell for your customer. We know that. So what we have to do is we have to ask ourselves a few questions. 1, does this color work for my customer? 2, does it perform in my strongest categories? 3, how much exposure do I already have? 4, has this similar color performed well for me in the past? And then 5, Can I test it through accessories first? So what we're seeing in this category, like I said, are those bold monochromatic colors, but we're also going to see the inclusion of some new animal prints. Now you guys know how I feel about the Bambi print. Obviously I'm wearing it now even though it's 95 degrees outside, but guess what? Inside it's a cool 70 degrees. Bambi print's going to be coming. We're seeing a lot of zebra and snakeskin as well. Cheetah will always be here. She's always a neutral, but these other animal prints that are being mixed in are fun ways to bring more excitement to your customer. And when she comes in and says, what's new? You've got something to show her. Now, when we think about the buy, test, and watch categories, we have to think about how these colors are going to perform. So a great way that you can bring in either a fun pattern or one of those bold, bright colors is through accessories. That's a safe way to test it. Another thing is to look at your top-performing categories. Let's say you do really well with dresses, then that's a great place to invest in color. If you don't do very well with denim, don't go very heavy in a cobalt blue or orange denim. That's not going to work for you. Look at the categories that have done well for you historically in the past. If they're strong sellers, then let's try some of these trends in them. Another safe way to do it is to bring in an accessory. So that could be a jacket, which I consider an accessory as we're just layering it on. It could be purse, it could be jewelry, it could be a ballet flat, a shoe. Those are great ways to test if you're not quite sure if it's going to do well for your customer. Now when I tell you orange is trending, that doesn't mean go out and buy 30 orange dresses. Let's consider what we have data on. All right, now speaking of dresses, dresses are going to be a key category in spring/summer 2026. I wrote down some of my most favorite things that I noticed about dresses for this new category is maxi, We're going to see a lot of romantic. You're going to see ruched and draped, lots of strapless, sheer, a very defined waist, and a day-to-night. So as your customer is looking at dresses this next season, she's going to be asking herself, how many places can I wear this? We need more than one occasion to have a high commercial appeal. So can I take this from business to the bar? Can I take this from the beach to the bar? I see there's a pattern here. There's a lot of going to the bar. That may not be the case for your customer, but she is going to want to wear it twice. So can she wear it from day to night? Can she wear it from something that feels like a work mode to maybe a date event with her husband or with her girlfriends? How can she get more than one wear out of a piece that you're selling her? All right, low-risk ways to test. We talked about accessories already. Now here's the big thing that I would test before I was buying. We're gonna be looking for those dresses, those romantic dresses, the fluid maxi, the lace, the texture. Remember, we're gonna go day to night. That's an automatic yes. Color and statement are yeses as well, and we're continuing to see the repetition of sets. Why do people like sets so much? Because they take the guesswork out of putting together an outfit. You look polished, you look put together, and you didn't even have to think about it too hard. All right, things that are in the testing mode for me right now, and what I'm seeing top retailers do as well, is the new glam. New glam is going to be very exaggerated silhouettes, whether it's large or skinny jean. This is a testing area. Orange, I love orange, but I'm telling you guys, this is a test area. Tread carefully, hit it in accessories first before you go heavy in full-on looks. Pepulum, the pepulum is adorable, but not everyone wants to exaggerate their waist in that way. Depends on body style, so bring those in cautiously. All right, we already talked about slim denim. Slim denim we know is coming, but we've spent a long time telling our customer about Wide leg, relaxed fit, and barrel jeans. So we can't just pull the rug out from underneath her and say, okay, now throw away all those, we're going to slim, because that's not true. What we know is we're going to see a mixture of them, but now is a good time to start testing them and bringing them in and showing her how to style and wear them. All right, low rise. I'm going to say test very, very carefully on low rise. How many of you grew up with that little tiny zipper inseam about this big? Low-rise, we have to be very careful with because it's only for a specific customer. So test it carefully. All right, things that I would watch. I said these are more extreme trends, so take a look, watch, and see if your customer's asking for them before you go into them too much. One would be transparent. We're seeing a lot of transparent dresses, tops. That's got to be done carefully. Next is the viral micro trend. Micro minis, micro shorts. This doesn't work for everybody. Test it first and watch. All right, novelty pieces. Novelty pieces are things that almost feel costumey. They may work for a special occasion like going to a concert or an event, but they're going to be hard to get more than one wear out of. So that's an area that I would tread lightly. And then finally, bringing a literal runway look to your customer. Remember, the runway is inspiration. We're pulling trends and pieces from it. We're not going to bring the exact full-on look. It's just too much. It's too much for our girls, so we've got to be careful there. All right, another thing: don't confuse trend momentum with customer demand. I wrote this down. I thought this was so interesting as I was walking the show floor in New York. Although a trend may feel like it's everywhere and you're seeing it all over your Instagram, it doesn't necessarily reflect to you what your customer wants. So how do we know what customer demand will be? Well, we've got to know our customer. We've got to name her. We've got to figure out what her problems are, where she's going, who she's talking to, and what solutions clothing serves in her life. Next, we've got to listen to the customer. What do they take into the dressing room? And more importantly, what never makes it out of the dressing room? Now, this is where you're gonna have to lean on your staff because if there are things going in the dressing room and they get stuck, they stay there, they never make it to the checkout, that's indicating customer demand is lacking and we need to be aware of that. So protect your open-to-buy plan, right? Don't purchase Every forecast color. I've talked about purple. I talked about green in the past. Today we've talked about orange and cobalt blue. You don't need to buy every forecast color. Don't replace a bestseller prematurely, right? You've got things that are coming in that are doing really well. You may say, okay, that's already sold. I'm done with it. Don't replace it prematurely because it may have longer legs than you actually thought. All right. Viral micro trends. The micro trend that I'm seeing right now, that's the most micro trend is the literal micro trend. Micro minis, micro shorts, micro jackets—teeny, teeny, tiny things that aren't necessarily realistic for real wear. Now, micro trend can also be these things that pop up. Remember when we did the what was it called? It was the mob boss wife. Remember the mob boss wife when she was in all leopard and leather and red lips and bustier? And we all got really excited about that, but then it went away really quick. Some people went too heavy in that. There's ways to pull out a red lip. There's ways to pull out the leopard, but we don't need to go so heavy that we're telling every customer. She needs to dress literally like a mob boss wife. That's too much. All right, and then don't assume what's right for one boutique is right for another, right? Just because your customer or your friend down the road is selling this cute Bambi print and you think, well, maybe I should have Bambi print, I better bring a bunch of it. That's not true. You know your customer better than anybody else. So look at the data, look at the past sellers, look at top-selling categories, and listen to customer demand to determine which trends are gonna be right for your store. Remember, fashion tells you what's coming, But intelligence tells you what will sell, and that separates the boutiques that are up here from the ones that are down here. So look at that data, know your customer, evaluate trends carefully, and remember, we can always put things into 3 buckets: what to buy, what to watch, and what to test. And if you ever see me on the show floor, please join me for a tour because I have no more joy in life than walking the show floor and finding product that I think will sell in your stores and help you make those decisions. As always, I'll see you on the show floor. I'm Samantha Conner.
Hey guys, thanks so much for listening to 5 Minute Friday. I love getting to hang out with you here on the podcast. As always, if you love this episode, send me a message, AJ Alderson on Instagram or @theboutiquehub, and I would love to chat with you, hear your feedback, and hear what you're doing while you're listening to the episode. If it was impactful to you, please share it with a friend or subscribe and leave a rating and review wherever it is you're listening to podcasts. You guys, I appreciate you being here. Thanks for showing up. Have a great rest of your week, and I'll see you next week on 5 Minute Friday.
