This book sheds light on the hidden history of one of the driving forces in the business of fashion trend forecasting. Exploring the inner workings of color and trend prediction for fashion over the past two centuries, from Europe to America to Asia, it offers the first historical treatment of the rise and growth of the industry within the global fashion system. The enigmatic information system of forecasting is often shrouded in mystery, yet it has been gathering and analyzing intelligence about colors, fabrics, silhouettes, and styles since the 18th century. Where did the practice of trend prediction come from? How did the industry evolve on both a national and international scale? How did it mature into the position of power that it holds in todays digital age of fast fashion, where subscription portals like WGSN are major providers of style information to the global fashion industry? We find answers to these questions by examining the entrepreneurs, trade associations, service companies, and consultants that have worked behind the scenes to generate the cultural data that connect fashion creators and retailers to emerging trends. Shifting the analysis of trends to business history, and bringing together new research in the archives of trend studios, color forecasters, and international trade fairs, plus interviews with leading contemporary forecasters, this book blends history, biography, and ethnography into a highly readable cultural narrative that will draw important ties between the birth and rise of the industry and its globally dominant position today.