`memos/trend-board.md`

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# Trend Board — 2026-07-27 refresh

**Cost:** $0 (built-in WebSearch, 14 queries — Exa MCP permission-blocked in this
non-interactive session for the 3rd straight pass; est. ~$0.07 had Exa run, cap was $2).
**Catalog:** still 38 designs, unchanged since 07-02, all DRAFT. **Three scans, 21 briefs,
zero generated** — the bottleneck is the gated generation step, not research.

## What changed since 07-20

1. **Tiger replaces leopard — the sharpest new signal.** A 7-outlet press wave
   (WhoWhatWear "Leopard, you're done", H&G, Livingetc, Marie Claire, House Digest,
   1stdibs) + Spring 2026 runways (Gucci, Chanel, Alaïa, Chloé, Jacquemus) formally hand
   the It-animal-print crown to **tiger stripe**, migrating into interiors. Our written
   **Verdant Tiger Stripe** brief is promoted to **priority #1** (add a caramel+sand
   runway colorway); Rosewood Cheetah demoted within the lane.
2. **Checkerboard/gingham upgraded to a full wave.** H&G/Yahoo "Checkerboard is back for
   2026", Homedit's 16-idea gingham roundup, gingham floors, plus Patternbank SS27's
   "colorful checks" (tartans/ginghams/windowpanes). New **Butter Gingham** brief joins
   Sage Cottage Check as a two-design check family; cream+brown named the 2026 combo.
3. **New lane: Art Nouveau / "Floral Symmetry".** Named by Patternbank SS27 AND the trade
   press ("Victorian, Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau reimagined in modern colorways").
   New brief **Whiplash Garden** — strictly botanical linework; the classic
   peacock/dragonfly Nouveau motifs are settlement-adjacent and explicitly excluded.
4. **New lane: Maxi Floral.** SS27's "oversized flower heads with blurred painterly edges"
   + Creative Market's "huge dahlias over rough linen." New brief **Blurred Dahlia — Linen
   Ground** double-dips the texture mega-trend.
5. **Equestrian matured to mainstream** (HomeGoods top-2026 list, 93% jump in
   farm-inspired projects). Register broadened: press now names **clean-line monochrome
   horse silhouettes** for Scandi-Japandi rooms → new brief **Silhouette Canter**.
   Window is aging: **ship the equestrian trio this cycle or demote next scan.**
6. **What's-OUT press reshapes two lanes.** Designers call high-contrast B&W geometrics,
   large repetitive prints, flat faux-texture, and "harsh bold geometric shapes" dated.
   → 70s-geometric lane **downgraded + respec'd** (soft low-contrast terracotta/clay, not
   mustard/chocolate contrast); Deco stays parked; texture briefs must render visible
   depth, never flat.
7. **Nursery: misty-forest murals** named (soft pines in fog, subtle deer/fox, makes small
   rooms feel larger) → new brief **Misty Pines Mural**; Woodland Storybook palette
   updated to creamy-white/misty-taupe/moss + mauve.
8. **Mural lane reframed**: Etsy's mural bestseller is now "Classic Landscape — Antique
   Forest Painting" → garden panorama brief reframed as **Antique Forest Panorama**.
9. **Texture/quiet-luxury re-confirmed a 4th time** — "the new quiet luxury feature wall
   for 2026" (Nobletts). Still our biggest unfilled commercial-volume gap.

## Top priorities

1. **Verdant Tiger Stripe** — season's It print, zero coverage, brief ready.
2. **Texture pair** (Linen Weave Plain, Sage Ogee Whisper) — 4 scans unfilled.
3. **Equestrian trio** (Heritage Canter, Cognac Tack Room, + new Silhouette Canter) — now or never.
4. **Check family** (Sage Cottage Check + Butter Gingham, 4 colorways each).
5. **Whiplash Garden + Blurred Dahlia** — the two new forecast-named lanes.

**META:** the board's real top priority is Steve green-lighting a **first generation
batch** — everything above is settlement-safe-briefed and waiting on the gated
generate step (wallpapersback-agent) and gated listing.

## Ops signals

- Etsy digital intel: bundle 5–10 coordinating patterns → premium $8–20 listings;
  commercial-license tiers command 3–5×. Our multi-colorway briefs are already
  bundle-shaped — list as families.
- Pre-approve `mcp__exa__*` for this skill's non-interactive runs (3 passes blocked), or
  amend the skill doc to name WebSearch as the sanctioned path.