Lasting Fashions Some Clothing Trends Are More Than Passing Whims; Here Are Some Styles You Can Count In In The Years Ahead

Fashion’s minute-by-minute upheaval seems never to slow. But in the last years of the ‘90s, several significant changes have profoundly altered the way we shop, what we wear and how we wear it.

Some of the biggest fashion changes of this decade promise to continue into the next. Here’s a look at several trends that turned out to be more than passing whims.

The athletic wear boom. Boys from the ‘hood in the newest Air Jordans. Trendies in trainers and track pants. Seniors in silky jogging suits. Athletes aren’t the only ones dressing for sport these days.

As the nation’s preoccupation with sports and casual dressing has grown, active wear has morphed into everyday wear. A 73 percent increase in women’s sports participation during this decade also has helped fuel the boom.

Running shoes, the top-selling type of athletic footwear, have been joined on the shelves by shoes for every specialty from skateboarding and mountain biking to river rafting. But 80 percent of all athletic footwear is worn primarily for activities other than sports or fitness, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA).

The casual world. Workers have demonstrated they’re more than happy to give suits the boot.

A majority of American office employees - more than 40 million people, in fact - are now permitted to dress casually during the work week, according to the latest national survey commissioned by Levi Strauss & Co.

As more people continue to wear more casual clothing, retailers, manufacturers and designers must produce apparel for a less-dressy world.

Fabric innovations. It’s hard to imagine how the world coped without Lycra leggings, Polartec pullovers and Gore-Tex jackets.

The past 50 years of fabric research have produced more breakthroughs than the first 5,000, and advancements have come even more rapidly in the past decade. Now, high-performance fabrics reach even into the rarified air of the couture salon: Gianni Versace’s studded vinyl dresses are but one example.

In the 1990s, American designers have taken up fabrics with science-project overtones and made them cool. They’ve offered stretch dress shirts, reflective tuxedos, bulletproof Kevlar vests and Tyvek wedding gowns that can’t be torn. Clothing manufacturers across the board have welcomed stain-resistant Teflon and water-resistant microfiber polyester.

Stretch fibers, once the province of active wear, have invaded every aspect of fashion from street to couture. Even Dallas menswear maker Haggar recently introduced stretch cotton trousers for the mass market.

Environmental concerns helped push other fiber innovations. Wellman Industries showed how to recycle plastic soda bottles into a new kind of polyester called Fortrel EcoSpun, which is often used in synthetic fleece. Natural fibers returned to favor, with newly engineered cotton plants that produce longer, stronger fibers. Cotton now commands 50 percent of the women’s wear market.

Rayonlike Tencel, the first new fiber in 30 years, was recently introduced by Courtaulds Fibers. Tencel, the brand name for lyocell, uses wood pulp from managed forests; solvents used in its manufacture are recycled.

In recent years, fabric makers have also introduced washed silks and new types of prewashed denim. Coming in the fall of 1998: a machine washable and dryable wool.

The shrinking middle. Cheap stuff or luxury indulgences, and not much in between. Stores are following shifts in society, and “the biggest change has been the shrinking of the middle and the growth of the upper end and the lower,” says Gerald Celente, author of “Trends 2000: How to Prepare for and Profit From the Changes of the 21st Century.”

Celente looked at the past few years and saw specialty and luxury retailers such as Neiman’s, Tiffany’s and Saks thriving, along with discounters such as Target and Wal-Mart.

“The stores like J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward and Sears are losing their market as society shifts,” he says.

In a parallel move, Celente says, rich stores are getting richer by consolidating their wealth.

The instant trend. In the old days - say, five years ago - a top level designer could expect to see lower-priced knockoffs of his or her work a season after the originals landed in stores.

Now the knockoffs may get there first.

Fashion technology and information have combined to spin the trend cycle at super speed. As TV coverage of fashion shows broadens, fashion fans get to see collections at the same time as manufacturers, retailers and the press do.

They see, and they want. Now. Stores search for instant look-alikes to meet the demand.

But technology, hailed as an inventory manager and profit protector, has a downside for stores, says Dallas retail consultant Carl Youngberg. Computerized sales and inventory systems allow stores to quickly gauge what’s selling. As a result, says Youngberg, stores tend to jump on the early winners and play down the rest.

“We are whipping through cycles before the customer becomes accustomed to it,” he says. “You’ve robbed them of the time it takes to warm to a trend.”

He says creativity and experimentation suffer, so customers see the same kinds of items everywhere.

“There is a lot of commodity clothing. But is there uniqueness?” he asks.

And there is backlash. Now most trendsetting teens search for new looks in old clothes: For them, vintage stores have become the source of style.