I generally agree that James Surowiecki is a keen observer of economic realities and an astute analyst of trends in markets and labor but I must admit that I find that his "tight" essay a little trite in its attempt to encapsulate all the levels of capital involved in a subject like -- the clothes the world wears on its back.

What I will offer is that that what drives the world production in apparel has very little to do what takes place on the runways in New York, Paris or Milan, (or any one of a dozen other fashion capitals)in any given year, or several in succession, and that what is available at any retailer- trend oriented or not, except in the highest quality brands has very little to do with what is seen on those runways- except in the broadest possible strokes. This is true in the transference of most new work in the applied arts to the mass market, except those things designed expressly for the larger market by explicit use of suitably inexpensive materials and production techniques.

Apparel trend is product of many influences, only a small part of which is the runway and attendant publicity campaign.

Designers at work are concerned primarily with quality in expression and in materials and they know that both are in such short supply that their duplication is an unlikely menace and that litigation surrounding their copying economically suicidal.

A worldwide trend would be an unbelievable outcome of any afternoon's work at the sketchpad, and
welcomed by anybody in the business, I assure you.