Li Edelkoort Thinks Coronavirus Will Change Consumer Behavior Forever

Lidewij "Li" Edelkoort doesn’t care about data. "By the time you have data, it’s too late," says the Dutch trend forecaster, who for decades has worked with brands in the fashion industry and beyond to predict consumer tastes. "By the time you can measure it, the thing has happened. It’s no longer in the future." Rather than rely on numbers, she says, she trusts her own curiosity, observations, conversations, and intuition to sketch a picture of where cultural forces are heading: "I try to understand currents, cast them in the right way, and connect the dots."