Everyone wants to spot the next big trend before it hits the runway, the feed, or the shelves.

Whether you’re forecasting colors, styles, products, or cultural shifts, knowing what’s coming gives you a serious edge.

In this guide, we’ll break down a simple method for forecasting trends with surprising accuracy—plus how to put it into practice today.

We’ve used this exact approach to spot TikTok (January 2019), pickleball (June 2019), Substack, OnlyFans, Temu, and more long, before they hit the mainstream.

Step 1: Find a quantifiable signal of interest

Most people “spot trends” by noticing something more often in their everyday lives—like a certain shoe showing up more on the street.

But there are two problems with this:

  1. It’s subjective — you only notice the things you already pay attention to.

  2. It’s late — by the time you’re seeing it everywhere, the wave has already crested.

What you want instead is an early signal that’s both:

  • Quantifiable — something you can actually measure

  • Objective — not dependent on your personal surroundings or biases

The best signal we’ve found? Google search data.

It’s massive (8.5B+ searches/day), unbiased, and shows what people are actually interested in. If searches for something have been growing steadily for months or years, there’s a good chance that interest will continue to climb.

Step 2: Separate the signal from the noise

Once you’ve identified a signal, the next challenge is filtering out the noise. Not every rise in search interest means a long-term trend—some are just passing fads.

For example, see the difference in searches for "mob wife" and "clean girl":

fad v trend

There's been no shortage of fads like mob wife, but there have also been countless long-term shifts that started small and are now massive—from aesthetics like clean girl and old money to platforms like TikTok and Substack.

To avoid wasting time chasing hype, you need a simple way to filter the long-term search trends from the short-lived bursts.

What we look for:

  • Steady growth over time (not just one viral spike)

  • Consistency across related keywords

  • Real-world applications (not just curiosity or memes)

If it’s still growing after 12 months, it’s probably a trend. If it vanishes after 2 weeks, it was just noise.

How to Do It

So, now you know what to look for:

  1. An objective, quantifiable signal (e.g. Google search volume)

  2. A way to filter trends from fads

The next question is: how do you actually do this?

You could spend hours downloading Google Trends charts, cleaning spreadsheets, and trying to decide what matters.

Or you could just let Glimpse do it for you. It tracks millions of keywords across Google, detects the fastest-growing ones, and shows you the long-term winners—all in real time.

Let’s say you want to spot new search trends in fashion.

Just type “fashion” into Glimpse, and you’ll instantly get a sorted list of emerging, fast-growing trends—all backed by search data.

fashion discover - glimpse

To find these, we built an algorithm to track millions of keywords' Google searches over time and only surface the terms that are growing consistently, not just going viral for a week.

For example, searches for “denim purse” have been rising steadily for years. Based on this trajectory, Glimpse can forecast where it’s headed next with over 95% accuracy.

denim purse - glimpse

Instead of chasing hype, this approach enables you to spot real demand early enough to act on it.

You've Spotted a Trend — Now What?

Spotting a trend early is only half the job. The real leverage comes from knowing how to act on it.

Here are a few ways to apply what you find:

  • Designers: Pull references and moodboards from rising aesthetics early before they’re everywhere.

  • Brands & marketers: Build campaigns around emerging cultural shifts to stand out and prove relevance.

  • Retailers: Use growth indicators to plan inventory and develop new products.

  • Creators: Publish content that aligns with trends just gaining traction—not post-hype, otherwise you'll look like you're late to the party.

In all of these, the key is timing: the earlier you act on a real trend, the more impact it will have.

Conclusion

Whether you’re designing for next season, building a campaign, or shaping your creative direction—knowing what’s coming gives you a serious advantage.

Glimpse helps you see the signals early, so you can design, plan, and execute with confidence.

Try it free and find your next big trend today.