Fast fashion and APIs (or why I don’t enjoy new year predictions)

There is a new style of dress among young women in London that I have come to call TikTokBeige.

The predictions we make at year-end are simply acknowledgements of what is top of mind

You know it immediately when you see it.

It’s usually a long-pleated skirt in a shade of beige or brown, a beige or white sweater (in winter) or plain t-shirt in a similar colour, tucked in at the front and at the front only. Then there’s a thin gold chain with a very discreet coin-shaped medallion. Or three gold chains of differing lengths. And a cross body bag. Small and resting just above the hip.

The look is wholesome, looks comfortable and it is part of formula-dressing, which I have also learned all about from TikTok.

I may or may not have bought one of those bags as a result…

TikTokBeige is prevalent.

You see the girls doing it on a budget and those doing it with cash to spare. You can almost tell the ones who have revamped their whole wardrobe or the ones who are ‘stealing the look’, making some creative substitutions.

Wasn’t it always thus? With fashion, I mean.

Of course it was.

But social media on our phones and the rise of influencers means it’s ubiquitous and constant. When I was a teenager, you would know the season’s must-have, and it may have been a pair of shorts… a pair of trainers… neon yellow socks (that my friend Ania *still* has and cherishes over 30 years on). And one awful summer… pastel coloured summer boots.

In Greece. In 45 degrees. Needless to say, that trend didn’t survive the summer and we will not speak of it again.

But there were folks who had them in pistachio green and peach pink, and you have to wonder… are those boots still at the back of their closets?

Meanwhile, with every passing decade, as media became more real time and fast fashion more accessible, the season’s must-have was no longer one item… and with social media influencers, it rapidly became a whole vibe, a whole look.

I want you to be thinking about this as we go into year-end, folks.

Not because I am about to give you a lecture on creating a capsule wardrobe and decluttering. You do you.

But because we are entering ‘Prediction Season’, when every man and their dog will be asking every man and their dog for their crystal ball moment: what does 2024 have in store for us?

And given it’s Christmas time, it is customary for the answers to stay positive.

However, the reality is that 2024 dawns filled with conflict. Conflict already raging. Conflict looming.

It dawns laden with poverty. People in full employment in the most advanced societies on the planet skipping meals as a matter of course.

Homelessness on the rise.

Violence in our societies on the rise. Between communities. Inside homes.

But no one in their right mind will come on a predictions show and say ‘2024 will be hard’.

They will talk about shiny stuff. We all will.

I bet you anything you like that 99% of predictions will be about the rise of GenAI.

And they will be right, albeit not very original. Yeah, of course GenAI. We are evidently at the early stages of an adoption cycle. If you had called it “the Christmas before ChatGPT came into our lives” I’d give you a prize. But now? Not so much.

The problem is, much like TikTokBeige, the imperative to get this season’s must-have in tech will be universal, but the itch will be scratched differently.

Some have the money and inclination to go all out. They will invest in this thing. Either because they believe it is the future or because they don’t want to be outdone. Remember the metaverse reports? Where are they now?

Some don’t have the money or inclination to do a lot, but they will scrape together one POC, something to point to, one TikTokBeige outfit approximation, even if those are definitely not the right shoes for the job or whatever.

And everyone will do this, knowing they did something very similar last year and the year before and the year before.

And much like fashion awareness in my youth, this horizon scanning and ‘predictioning‘ every Christmas started small.

15 years ago, the season’s must-have was a fintech collaboration. Pick a card, any card.

Then it was innovation centres. Then it was data. Then it was DLT. You catch my drift.

Some of those trends did catch on. APIs started like that. The cloud started like that. And now they are your little black dress, your charcoal suit (not to leave the lads behind). The base of your capsule wardrobe. You can’t imagine life without them.

Some of the trends we called too soon. DLT was de rigeur as a trend a few years back and we are still working things out.

I am not saying don’t buy new outfits.

I am not saying don’t make predictions.

I am not even saying don’t fall for the trends.

Do all of those things, but do them with your eyes wide open.

The predictions we make at year-end are simply acknowledgements of what is top of mind. The people who affect those changes through innovation and product design won’t tell you till they are good and ready to go to market. The rest is marketing and conversation.

So sure…. predict that GenAI will be top of mind next year. You won’t be wrong. And plan to spend some time and money on it. You won’t be wrong about that either.

But be prepared that it won’t be the only trend and you still have all the things you went for last year… and the year before. And some can be repurposed. Some are all-time classics and some are the tech equivalent of pistachio-coloured summer boots in a very hot climate and it’s time to declutter your wardrobe and your tech estate knowing full well that, if you follow the fashion trends, you will look great… but you will have waste. You will make calls that with hindsight will leave you wondering “What was I thinking?” and you will be ultimately following a TikTokBeige approach, too generic to be wrong… but blind to your organisation’s size, shape and needs.

And given that 2024 dawns laden with as much hope as it does worry for so many, I am not saying don’t make predictions. I am not saying don’t buy the boots. But let’s talk in context this time and from here on out.

Because all the things that are true at the same time need to be thought of in the context of each other, or it is easy to underestimate their cumulative impact.

#LedaWrites

Leda Glyptis is FinTech Futures’ resident thought provocateur – she leads, writes on, lives and breathes transformation and digital disruption.

She is a recovering banker, lapsed academic and long-term resident of the banking ecosystem. 

Leda is also a published author – her first book, Bankers Like Us: Dispatches from an Industry in Transition, is available to order here.

All opinions are her own. You can’t have them – but you are welcome to debate and comment!

Follow Leda on Twitter @LedaGlyptis and LinkedIn.