#TRT - Athleisure, Travel Culture & Working from Home

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It’s not even 2017 yet, but it seems we’re setting the horizon for 2020. No, I’m talking about Kanye’s run for presidency. I’m talking about working from home.

According to a study by Intuit, 40% of Americans will work from home by the year 2020. Let’s say this again. Nearly half of the U.S. workforce will be working from home in just over three years. This might just seem like great news for Austin traffic, but it means so much more than that. Workspace changes like this will inform the evolution of lifestyle branding for the next few years.

When I first read this prediction, my mind went immediately to athleisure. There’s a trend that’s not going anywhere. Especially since almost half of the nation’s workforce will be making their living from the comfort of their fave coffee shop, couch or even airplane. In fact, the Intuit report asks readers to imagine a world where companies motivate and manage employees who never set foot in their corporate office.

Travel will be forcibly made easier, quicker and more accessible. Picture Airbnb on steroids. With the world truly as your oyster, consumers will take advantage. Traveling will be more spontaneous and trips will be shorter. As far as travel-culture goes, the world will shrink even more because nothing hold workers back from hopping on a plane and finishing that report poolside.

This shift in work/life balance will also change the buying patterns of consumers. Millennials are already prioritizing experiences over material thingsand this shift will continue as our lifestyles make room for all new kinds of experiencing. We’re truly shifting to an experiencing-rather-than-owning culture, where ridesharing and home-sharing become the new normal. As the children of a divorced generation, commitment or the idea of staying in one place will be a hard sell. We can expect the coming workforce to work better on their terms and prefer online meetings. In addition, one can expect consumers to continue investing in a high-quality, lower-quantity collection of things. All the much easier to pack into a carry-on just in time to work from the plane.