The LA Times has published an article about the death of coolhunting. With the proliferation of the web and in particular blogs it is no longer just professional coolhunters and trendspotters who know about the latest and greatest scenes, products, looks and fashions.

'Today, fads ping across continents and disappear so quickly that the coolhunter, even the whole notion of "cool," has become passé. Every big-city scenester or bored teenager on the planet has a blog or mass e-mail anointing the moment's hot restaurants, hobbies and handbags. Add to this, mass obsession with celebrity style and global corporatization and you can get nearly the same chai latte or straight-off-the-runway skirt in Columbus, Ohio, that's available in Manhattan or Milan...'

'Trend-spotting has, in essence, become just another trend. Consequently, the most successful trend forecasters are repositioning themselves as something more than mere arbiters of taste. They're now social scientists with a hipster edge.'

We've also picked this up on PSFK and Piers has posted this excellent article.

The value of coolhunting or trend spotting has always been in it application. Once you have mined the raw data (whatever that may be) how do you apply it to your business or your client's business? For bright people with an eye for trends there will always be a market.
Tags: Trends, coolhunting