Decoding AW26 trends and shifting consumer patterns: Heuritech's AI-driven forecasts

Since its launch in 2013, Paris-based trend forecasting platform Heuritech has relied on artificial intelligence (AI) to formulate its own forecasts for each season. Its technology scans millions of social media images monthly, receiving data points on what consumers are wearing and identifying over 20,000 trends spanning material and silhouettes to colour and print. The language model then learns the behaviour of the trends and can therefore predict future shifts, boasting a 90 percent accuracy rate.

The platform is now in the process of analysing the autumn/winter 2026 season, looking into how materials, colours and prints will chop and change over the coming year. In an interview with FashionUnited, fashion analyst Frida Tordhag, speaks on what to expect from womenswear, how trends themselves are evolving and the impact of heightened regulation on design.

What kind of textile innovations do you see dominating the AW26 season?

There is Ego-Eco, which captures fashion’s desire for environmental responsibility. There is also a lot going on within Europe in terms of new regulations on fast fashion and a more circular economy for textiles.

In terms of fabrics and materials, there has been an increase in the use of organic cotton, low-impact wool blends and soft-tactile finishes. This also reflects what the consumer will be wearing in the upcoming AW26 season, which is heavy on fabrics.

In the way of heightened regulation, such as DPPs, how is this changing landscape going to influence fashion and clothing trends in the coming years?

This is something that will take many years. It unfortunately won’t be as quick as SS26 and AW26. Something we have spotted, and that our data is now backing, is how people are moving away from microtrends.

People have a deeper access to knowledge, so we have seen higher expectations on fashion houses and brands on what they are putting out, when compared to a couple of years ago. Big fashion houses need to understand and give what consumers want. The power of the consumer is only growing stronger, because they have so many different

With this in mind, how are trends themselves evolving?

What we have seen, particularly among Gen Z over the past two years, is a huge amount of microtrends due to TikTok and social media. It shows how Gen Z and some other age groups have been constantly seeking stimulation in the way they use social media. If they go to a restaurant, they never want only one dish, they want to share and try everything. That is similar to how they are consuming fashion, too. It’s the desire for constant novelty. That’s why we have seen such a rapid turnover of styles and aesthetics.

But people are getting fed up by this – not only by fast-moving trends, but also the way we use social media. They want to cut their screen time and view being offline as a new luxury. We see it in marketing too. Before, it was about catching attention-spans. Now, marketing trends are leaning into the feeling of relaxation and slowing down.

This leads into the way we consume trends, and with this, we can also see the growth of personal style becoming an important part of expressing your identity. This is due to many reasons, like the economy but also environmental factors where fashion is entering this phase that values individuality and craftsmanship over hype. Also storytelling over surface-level trends.

Are fashion seasons shifting, too?

When speaking about fashion trends, it’s important to reflect back on autumn/winter 2025 and the upcoming SS26. One thing that we have seen is that compared to just a couple of years ago, seasonal fashion is really fading out. It’s not that strong a contrast between spring and summer to autumn and winter, both due to the climate but also because we consume so much global content at all times. We can be inspired by Australia that has a different seasonality than Europe, and so on.

What kinds of prints will we be seeing in AW26?

Animal prints have had strong growth over the past year. However in AW26, we actually see a 16 percent decline in animal prints, so they won’t be as visible. The prints we will see more of within the animal category are reptile skin prints, specifically crocodile, which has a forecasted growth of 54 percent during autumn. What will be noticeable with crocodile is how it’s incorporated into leather and darker hues like brown, black or the classic autumn colour, burgundy.

Another print that has grown during SS25 and is continuing to grow into 2026 for both seasons are small and big dots. They have been linked to the animal print category due to Dalmation-inspired prints, seen in asymmetrical dots. However, during winter, big dots are expected to grow in visibility by 115 percent, which is a strong growth compared to the year before. Small dots will see a 38 percent growth compared to AW25. It will also be a check-heavy season, with different kinds of checks at play, like plaid and gingham, which are both expected to grow by 16 percent.

For prints, we will see – not so much a shift away from ‘quiet luxury’ or minimalism, as those will always be around more or less – a more print-heavy season, with individual and personalised style. It’s about making fashion fun again.

Do you see any shifts in colours?

Colours are more or less similar to what has been seen in the past. The colour brown, especially during 2025, was almost considered as the “new black”. For the upcoming autumn season, we see warmer and lighter hues of brown growing, with cinnamon brown forecast to grow 9 percent. Chestnut brown is forecast to grow 11 percent, and camel 5 percent. We’re moving away from darker brown hues, and stepping into lighter ones.

We also see colours like a darker yellow and slightly green khaki hues increasing. Cardboard khaki and moss khaki, for example, are expected to grow 6 and 5 percent. It creates this forest-inspired palette, mixing lighter hues of brown together with a combination of mustard yellow and beige brown.

Another thing we have spotted and is on the rise for 2026 regarding colours is “colour block” styling. So layering with the same colour: styling grey pieces with other hues of grey, creating a monotone look.

And for fabrics?

This can be seen in fabrics too. We have spotted “fabric blocking” growing more prominent, this time mixing contrasting fabrics into the same piece. Let’s say a sweater combines knitted fabric together with suede, with details of suede incorporated into the knit. Suede is a fabric that is estimated to grow 45 percent during this season.

We have also seen feather and fur details in pieces, often along the hemline of sweater sleeves or dresses. Fur details are estimated to grow 14 percent, and feathers 12 percent.

Another fabric forecast growing strongly both in SS and AW is lace, specifically the incorporation of lace as a styling element, such as a lace trim at the bottom of a tank top, lace stockings or a lace bralette peeking through under your top. It's a continuation of the SS26 forecasted trend of romantic and delicate fabrics, tapping into femininity and women being in a more feminine era.

Is there also a continuation in any silhouettes over the year?

Yes, AW26 will be similar to SS26 in that there is a big emphasis on volume. We see that draped pieces, such as draped tops or dresses, are forecasted to grow strong because they add a fluidity, a different kind of volume to a piece. A bubble hem is expected to be popular in SS26, but those shapes are often created using very thick, summery fabrics. The autumn version will incorporate more draping.

This season sounds more extravagant than those of previous years. We’ve seen the rise of ‘quiet luxury’ and the casualisation of fashion. What kind of movements do you envision defining AW26?

As mentioned, there is a moving away from seasonality, but AW26 will also be about blurring the lines regarding specific genders. In fashion, however, contrasts do exist, so we also see this season strongly gravitating towards dramatic femininity and darker romance, as seen in extravagant fashion trends like feathers or lace.

Why are people moving away from quiet luxury?

There could be different influences. Fashion has always been a way of self expression. I think that, in a world that is going through everything from an economic turndown to political challenges and climate change, fashion can still be an industry that allows people to dream, and not be too serious.

Over the past year, quiet luxury has been a very minimalistic, very serious and conservative trend. Now we can see how, as a reaction to that, fashion is becoming more fun and playful again. That being said, as I mentioned before, opposites always exist, and quiet luxury will still be around, but less as a trend and more as a mainstay.