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."