This week my friend Claire Howard Jewellery did an excellent blog about predicted trends in jewellery for the coming year. It was very interesting and reminded me that I have a large collection of brooches that I never wear, but should. It made me wonder what predicted trends for 2026 might be, so I did a bit of research and thought you might be interested in what I found.
Firstly, I wondered about colour. The Pantone colour for 2025 was ‘Mocha Mousse’ and I do not think that anyone noticed. The most on trend colour for winter, I think, was burgundy in all its variations. I could not keep any of the variations on my shelves, including my own hand dyed ‘Damson Jam‘. The colour for 2026 is called ‘Cloud Dancer’ and is basically white. This seems rather boring to me. I understand that one of the stand out colours on the catwalks was Cobalt Blue – a really strong blue – which is rather less boring, and in fact I have already noticed people asking for it, so I will be making sure that we have as many variations of the colour as possible. For Spring, according to Vogue, tomato reds and limes and yellows are strong contenders and interestingly all these colours sit well against a white background, so perhaps the Pantone Colour is not so mad after all. So it seems that we are looking at jewel colours for 2026. I will be interested to see if the trends come to Fakenham – and of course I am at the mercy of my suppliers and their colour palettes up to a point. I am not averse to a step back from the recent trends for subtle tones and delicate neutrals, but that might be because I am getting older and braver about bright colours. And of course everything might change by Autumn/Winter.
What about knitting styles? Balloon sleeves and large floppy sleeves are predicted to be in, as are cropped knits (only for the slim and young in my view). I do not think the fashion for fluff is going to go anywhere soon, but I may be wrong. I hope not, because I have 1kg of mohair/silk sitting here waiting to be dyed when I have the confidence and the time. Perhaps I will do them in jewel colours and see what happens. It is also predicted that set in sleeves, rather than drop sleeves or raglan, will dominate. My heart rather sinks. Setting in sleeves is not that easy.
I have also seen predictions for gradient colour work, which I think is a very interesting. This works well with hand dyed yarns – so you could knit a garment from one or two skeins and still have a range of colours, and I will be interested to see what patterns people find. Similarly there seems to be trend towards big, textured knits – that is layers of cables, moss stitch, bobbles. This will be a contrast to the ongoing trend for minimalist garments knitted in stocking stitch in gentle neutrals (probably with fluff). But I think PetiteKnit can rest easy for another year. As an example the current top pattern on Ravelry – the Soft Current Sweater – mixes both texture and minimalist elegance. I must stop looking at these patterns – I have too much on my plate as it is.
In any case, knitting and crochet themselves are on an upward trend at the moment. I love the fact that we are seeing more and more younger people than my usual demographic, and that they seem to understand and enjoy natural and sustainable fibres. So many of them are so amazingly creative as well – some have studied textiles and design their own garments, some just go wild with their imaginations (and usually chunky hooks/needles/yarns). Many have been encouraged to knit by their mothers and grandmothers so sometimes we will have several generations of people in the shop choosing yarn. It is so encouraging to see.
Have you spotted any interesting trends? Are you somone who follows trends or do you prefer to go your own way? I would be interested to hear your thoughts.