01/16/2004 12:21:00 PM 
NYT article entitled, 'Instantly Passe Trend. The'
What makes a something cool to a youth subculture is its exclusivity - whether it's a piece of slang, a way of wearing your pants or a trucker hat, it becomes 'cool' because it belongs to a subculture and serves as a badge of authenticity and membership. The paradox, of course, is that brands and media companies that are constantly trying to capitalize on these trends actually destroy the very quality of exclusivity that make the trends cool to these young people. Once something is in department stores, on the cover of magazines or on prime-time, it's dead - it has lost its meaningfulness as a badge of being 'in,' and could even be interpreted as a badge of being (gasp) a follower, someone outside of the subculture who is taking cues from the mainstream media about how to seem cool. The subculture then rejects the trend and has to shift to other codes that they understand and their parents do not, other styles that aren't yet on the radar of mainstream fashion.
Therefore the content of what serves as a badge of authenticity has to change as fast as the brands and media companies can pick up and turnaround that content. With savvier trend-tracking and merchandise buyers, the life-cycle of individual trends is getting shorter and shorter.
That's why, now more than ever, it's invaluable for brand managers and creative directors to understand the underlying forces and logic behind what makes a string of trends cool: the arc over time, the motivational systems and meanings behind the constantly changing content. Only then can a brand create a credibly cool positioning and avoid chasing the curve with trend mimicry.
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