WGSN on the West Coast
On the West Coast, Sally Lohan is the face of WGSN. As West Coast content manager, Lohan helps track down emerging trends on the left coast from young designers and new boutiques to lifestyle trends just beginning to bubble up in the collective consciousness. She also hosts WGSN’s West Coast trend presentations—including three planned for the upcoming MAGIC Marketplace. And she gets to scout new locations in the Americas for WGSN’s comprehensive coverage. California Apparel News caught up with the British expat recently to talk about her background, her travels and the scope of WGSN.
How long have you been with the company?
I've been with WGSN nearly three years, starting in October 2004 in Los Angeles.
What were you doing before you joined WGSN?.
When I first moved to Los Angeles from London, I was designing and building Web sites, mainly for clients in fashion and entertainment. In London, I wrote for the Daily Express newspaper for five years. Before that, I worked for a number of different newspapers and fashion magazines in London.
How often do you travel?
I travel back to London every six months when we do our seasonal trend research. We have a series of brainstorming sessions when all the trend analysts get together. People come in from all over the world. It’s quite intense. It’s why WGSN is able to offer such a global perspective on trends.
In the last two years, I have been traveling a lot to South America—Rio and Satilde;o Paulo in Brazil; also, Medelliacute;n in Colombia. I hope to build on this and go to more countries in South America and Central America.
Has there been anything that you were surprised to find on the site—or a segment of the market that the site reaches that surprised you?
I wouldn’t say “surprised.” But one of the interesting things about WGSN is, although we focus on fashion, it certainly doesn’t stop there. We have subscribers in technology; we have car manufacturers; we have many different branches of the [design] industry. We really are offering insight into consumer attitudes and lifestyle, not just fashion.
We look at what’s happening in the world, trends in advertising, marketing, lifestyle, art and more. Anybody who is interested in style, fashion and lifestyle trends or needs to understand certain demographics benefits from WGSN.
WGSN has a large staff—nearly 200. The depth and breadth of our coverage is unmatched. And [because we are] online, we are able to produce new content everyday.
When I studied at the London College of Fashion, we thought it was amazing; it was the most fantastic tool. Especially in this day and age, when everything moves faster and faster, we can cover a trend very quickly.
We also cover far-flung places. We go to Medelliacute;n, [Colombia]; we go to Reykjavik, [Iceland]. We give customers a global perspective on what’s going on.
